Many Hall of Fame candidates watch their push for the Hall build and build.  This doesn’t seem to be the case for Lester Hayes who was a finalist in his first four years of eligibility but has only been a semi-finalist six years there after.

Lester Hayes is best known for two things.  The first was in 1980 where he had 13 picks and won the Defensive Player of the Year award. The year after the “Lester Hayes” rules were put into effect banning players from the use of “stickum”, an adhesive that Hayes was using to get a better grip on the ball.  Hayes was more than that, with hs bump and run coverage and route distruption showing few peers in professional football.

A lot of people talk about “Playstation” numbers whereby offensive stars put up offensive numbers that don’t seem realistic.  John Hadl was putting up those types of numbers when Quarterbacks generally were more conservative and decades before the Madden craze took over.

On three separate occasions, John Hadl eclipsed 3,000 yards passing.  This is expected out of many Quarterbacks now, but it was very impressive considering the era he played in.  He was one of the game's early gunslingers and as such posted very impressive Touchdowns Pass numbers.  Subsequently, this led to a copious amount of interceptions and he did finish his career with more picks than TD passes.

Maxie Baughan had a successful eleven-year career in professional football, making the Pro Bowl for nine of those years. Despite this, he has not received the recognition he deserves from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Baughan started his career at Georgia Tech and played for the Philadelphia Eagles.

He was a key player in their championship-winning season in 1960, and his skills as a linebacker made him the team's best defender. He was named to the Pro Bowl five times and was a First Team All-Pro while playing for the Eagles. However, as the team's fortunes declined, Baughan was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 1966.

Baughan continued to play well for the Rams, earning four consecutive Pro Bowl selections and four Second Team All-Pros from 1966 to 1970. He was a great fit for the team's Head Coach, George Allen, who knew how to make the most of Baughan's skills. After an injury-plagued 1970 season, Baughan retired but later rejoined Allen as a player-coach in 1974.

Baughan's acrimonious departure from the Eagles likely delayed his induction into their franchise Hall of Honor until 2015. It's unclear when he will be recognized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Punters typically don't have much of a chance to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. However, Deron Cherry's focus on being a Safety paid off and he became one of the best at his position, benefiting the Kansas City Chiefs. Using his athletic abilities, Cherry became a top defensive star in the NFL and was consistently one of the league's best players. Even though he never led the league in interceptions, Cherry was an exceptional open-field tackler and rarely lost in one-on-one situations. As a result, Cherry was selected to the Pro Bowl six times and was named to the NFL All-Decade Team for the 1980s.

Cherry's impressive skills allowed him to record 35 interceptions and he ranked in the top six in that category five times, including a second-place finish in 1986. It is surprising that he was never named as a Finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.