Former Chargers quarterback, current CBS broadcaster and Hall of Famer Dan Fouts had a Hall of Fame vote for the first time this year, which meant that he was one of the people in the room when it came time to decide if Terrell Owens would be granted admission to Canton.
For the second straight year, Owens did not make the cut from 15 to 10 in the first round of voting and the thumbs-down from the selection committee received almost as much attention as the group of seven men that were ultimately voted into the Hall. Owens tweeted after learning his fate that it is a “flawed process” but Fouts said the wideout got a fair shake and won’t help his cause by slamming the people doing the voting.
“I think his numbers are very worthy, but again on the other side of it, I think his actions on and off the field, on the sidelines, in the locker room, and the fact he played for so many teams and was such a great player, the question that comes back to me is if he was such a great player, why did so many of those teams get rid of him? And I think we all know the answers,” Fouts said on The Midday 180 in Nashville, via ESPN.com. “I think he did receive a fair evaluation of his career, both pros and cons. But obviously ripping the Hall of Fame in the process, what good is that going to do. I just don’t understand that. I didn’t understand a lot of things he did in his career.”
Owens’ reaction to the vote shouldn’t hold any weight in deliberations about his football career, but, as Fouts and others have made clear, football isn’t the problem for Owens when it comes to the Hall of Fame.