The NFL has teamed up with Van Heusen and JC Penney for the first "Pro Football Hall of Fame Fan Vote." Although the voting process will not have any effect on the actual Hall of Fame voting this year, it shows some added interest from the league to see what fans think.
If you recall, this was posted about back in November, as some of you reminisced about some of the Browns' greatest. The Selector Board for the NFL recently named the top 25 candidates for this year's voting. Did any members of the Browns make that list?
Please note that this is a sponsored post, but there's nothing wrong with thinking back to some of the better days.
Back in November, the former Brown with the best chance at making the cut according to the fans was Clay Matthews, who was ranked at #54 overall. Other candidates included owner Art Modell, DL Michael Dean Perry, RB Greg Pruitt, DB Frank Minnifield, and RB Leroy Hoard.
So, did any of them make the top 25? Sadly, none of our players did, although that owner everyone hates is still a candidate. None of them made the Fan's Choice for Top 25.
There were some changes at the top of the leader board though. Back in November, Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, Cris Carter, Shannon Sharpe, and Otho Davis ranked 1-5, respectively. These are now the top five voted players:
1. Jerry Rice, WR – 20,599 votes
2. Emmitt Smith, RB – 17,523 votes
3. Ray Guy, P – 12,899 votes
4. Tim Brown, WR – 11,868 votes
5. Cris Carter, WR – 11,720 votes
Sharpe and Davis fell to sixth and seventh on the list. Modell isn't in the running for the fan's choice anymore, but he is still contending on the official ballot. To see the full list of 25 people contending for the official Hall of Fame, click here.
If you're interesting in narrowing the field of 25 down even further, head over and cast your vote. If you have any thoughts on the candidates specifically, feel free to post them here too.