Washington great closing in on football immortality after long wait

Joe Jacoby’s annual flirtation with the Pro Football Hall of Fame has reached the next level.

The former standout offensive tackle, who was an integral part of the Hogs in the 1980s, has advanced to the next round in the Seniors category for induction in Canton. He is one of 34 veterans to make it this far. The list will be pared to nine semi-finalists in about a month.

Jacoby played 13 seasons for the team now called the Washington Commanders from 1981 to 1993. He was a three-time Super Bowl champion, made four consecutive Pro Bowls, and was chosen as a first-team All-Pro in 1983 and 1984.

The undrafted free agent out of Louisville has been close before, including two years ago when he was a semi-finalist. But the ultimate prize has eluded him. Will this be the year he finally gets recognized?

This could be the year that Joe Jacoby finally makes the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Jacoby is one of five offensive linemen amongst the final 34, and the Seniors committee is generally friendly to the position. That may be because it is the single least stat-dependent position on a football field, and assessing individual performance is very difficult.

Consequently, it is easy to overlook worthy players. Voters often seek to correct that inherent bias.

I won’t rehash Jacoby’s résumé. It has been done often enough. In the past, I have quoted his contemporaries like Randy White and Lawrence Taylor — both in the Hall of Fame — speaking glowingly of the man who blocked them for many years.

The knock on Jacoby is usually that he wasn’t elite for a long enough period of time. There seems to be a belief that the Hogs have already been properly honored with the induction of his sidekick on the left side of the line, Russ Grimm. It is not common for teams to have multiple linemen from the same era receive recognition.

But it has happened. Three linemen from those great Green Bay Packers teams of the 1950s and ‘60s are in Canton. Jim Langer and Larry Little from the 1970s’ Dolphins are as well.

One of the linemen Jacoby is up against this season — Bob Keuchenberg — would be the third member of those Dolphins lines to get in, but that's unlikely.

Two of the others — Al Wistert and Mike Kenn — can make stronger cases. But if a lineman is going to take Jacoby’s spot this year, it will be Jim Tyrer, who was a little bit of the Joe Jacoby of his era.

Like Jacoby, Tyrer redefined just how big and athletic tackles could be. He did it for the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1960s and has no shortage of All-Pro honors. His candidacy has been hampered by the fact that he played most of his career in the AFL, before the AFL and NFL merged.

Tyrer played his final NFL season for Washington in 1974. He is one of several players on the list of 34 with ties to the franchise that are more tenuous than Jacoby's. Wide receiver Henry Ellard and cornerback Lemar Parrish both had a good run of productive seasons in D.C., though their best years came with other clubs. Tyrer, like Carl Banks and Maxie Baughan, played one undistinguished season in Washington.

There are two other players with local ties. Quarterback Charlie Conerly, who starred for the New York Giants in the 1950s, was initially drafted by Washington, but was traded to New York before playing a single down. And Chuck Foreman, one of the best early dual-threat running backs for Minnesota in the 1970s, was born and raised in Maryland and played for Frederick High School.

Foreman advanced along with three other running backs, though one — Cecil Isbell — should probably be considered as a quarterback. Larry Brown, one of Washington’s most beloved running backs, missed out on the latest cut. So did cornerback Pat Fischer.

So Washington’s hopes for Hall of Fame glory rest primarily with Jacoby.

It's tough to predict what the Seniors committee will do at any position, and the offensive line is the most difficult of all. But Jacoby has a pretty good chance this year.

We should learn more in November.