The latest person to weigh in on this year’s decisions by the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee is Hall of Famer Troy Aikman, who is wondering what his old teammate Charles Haley has to do to get in.
Aikman is obviously biased in favor of Haley, but he says is Bias is rooted in the fact that he doesn’t know if he’d have his three Super Bowl rings without Haley.
“I’ve been very outspoken as far as his candidacy and how much I think he belongs,” Aikman said on KTCK, via the Dallas Morning News. “If there’s a defensive player in the [Hall of Fame], I think Charles Haley should be in the [Hall of Fame], and I’ll leave it at that. Because as a teammate, he was a great player.”
Haley had 100.5 sacks in his career and was a key player on the three Cowboys Super Bowl teams with Aikman, as well as two 49ers Super Bowl teams. Aikman thinks it’s hard to justify excluding Haley from Canton.
“When you go back and you look at the teams that won those five Super Bowls, he was a big part of those teams that won those five Super Bowls,” Aikman said. “That’s meaningful to me. And having had him on my team for three of them, I’m not so sure we would’ve won any of them if it weren’t for him. I’m pretty adamant about the fact that I believe he deserves to be in and I’m pretty disappointed that it hasn’t happened.”