Ball-hawking safety joins first-ballot teammates Ogden, R. Lewis
For an agonizing 12 years, Baltimore football fans begged for a new team to become a reality. This weekend, Ravens fans got to celebrate immortality and, remarkably, for a third time in a seven-year span.
Ravens free safety Ed Reed–seventh on the NFL’s all-time interception list and the all-time record holder in interception return yardage and Baltimore’s 2002 first-round draft pick–was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday in his first year of eligibility.
Offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden, the franchise’s first-ever draft pick, was the first homegrown Raven to get elected and inducted into the Hall in 2013. Inside linebacker Ray Lewis, the second draftee, followed last year, and Reed becomes the third.
A teary-eyed Reed–presented by his father, Edward Reed, Sr.–was the sixth of this year’s eight inductees to speak at the ceremony. His speech lasted 36 minutes, the longest of the three Ravens enshrinees.
Brandishing a cigar and sporting a yellow fedora hat that matched his gold jacket, Reed belied his flamboyant appearance by showing his social consciousness. He made references to victims of mass shootings, civil rights marchers, Freddie Gray, mentoring kids (as he has done at the Booker T. Washington Elementary School and the SEED School), and encouraging others to provide a boost to those around them.
“I ask America, ‘What’s our standard?’” Reed said. “… I (always tell children) to make sure you have the right people around you.”
Naturally, Reed paid tribute to his adopted hometown of Baltimore, thanking the fans because “you’re the ones that made it fun for us. You pay the bills. You’re the reason I did it so hard…. There’s no place like Baltimore.”
Reed was formally inducted into the Hall during the shrine’s annual enshrinement weekend Saturday night at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, along with fellow Class of 2019 modern-era members, such as cornerback Champ Bailey, tight end Tony Gonzalez, center Kevin Mawae, and cornerback Ty Law.
The induction class included four defensive backs, a tribute to their play in what has become a passing-dominated league. Like Reed, Bailey, and Gonzalez were in their first year of eligibility.
Contributor nominees included Pat Bowlen, the longtime and recently-deceased Denver Broncos owner, and Gil Brandt, the noted Dallas Cowboys executive, along with Senior nominee and Kansas City Chiefs legendary safety Johnny Robinson.
There are now 326 total inductees in the Hall, which opened in 1963. That represents roughly one percent of the over 25,000 players that have taken part in at least one NFL game.
Five are modern-day University of Miami alumni: Reed, Lewis, WR Michael Irvin, DT Warren Sapp, and QB Jim Kelly.
In 174 career games, Reed racked up 643 tackles, had 139 pass deflections, intercepted 64 passes, made 34 tackles for losses, recorded six quarterback sacks, forced 11 fumbles, recovered 13 more, scored nine touchdowns, and was named to nine Pro Bowls and five All-Pro teams. He was the 2004 Defensive Player of the Year. All that earned Reed a place on the NFL’s All-Time Team of the 2000s.
Reed also accumulated 1590 yards while running back interceptions, which is also a league record. His 107-yard jaunt against Philadelphia in 2008 broke a record that he had set himself four years earlier against Cleveland. Reed also registered an NFL-record-tying nine postseason pickoffs, one more than the combined total of the six players ahead of him on the all-time regular-season interception list. In Super Bowl 47, he became the first to record a pickoff against a San Francisco quarterback in a Super Bowl.
Even though the Ravens were born in 1996, it took until 2002 for the franchise to register its first blocked punt. That came from Reed, who did so on a Monday-night telecast against Denver. He recorded three blocked-punt touchdowns in his career.
Ravens majority owner Steve Bisciotti has repeatedly told the story of how, before the 2002 draft, he thought the team needed a cornerback more than a safety with the 24th overall pick and wanted the team to take Lito Sheppard, who went on to a fine career in Philadelphia.
But Reed, a University of Miami playmaking safety, was the choice instead of as the Ravens, fresh off a salary-cap-fueled implosion of their roster, began to rebuild. Thanks in part to Reed, the youthful Ravens went 7-9 and nearly made the playoffs before winning the franchise’s first AFC North Division crown the following year.
According to reports, the discussion in the Hall of Fame voting room regarding Reed took a mere two minutes and 20 seconds, the shortest of anyone on the ballot. Reportedly, the debate surrounding Ogden took up only nine minutes. Reed becomes the first pure safety to be selected on his first ballot since Ken Houston in 1986.
Like most sports halls of fame, the Pro Football version does not officially attach a team affiliation to any nominee. Baseball’s Cooperstown, New York-based museum is the only one that does. That’s because a team logo is affixed to every player’s cap on the plaque that is displayed in Cooperstown–unless the inductee or his family decides to have no logo included, as was the case this year with Orioles standout Mike Mussina.
However, even though Reed ended his career with short stints with Houston and the New York Jets, his 11 years with the Ravens is when he made an undeniable impact.
A player must have sat out five full seasons to become eligible on the following year’s ballot. That waiting period is waived for owners, coaches, and deceased players.
For the Ravens in the future, even though linebacker Terrell Suggs and guard Marshal Yanda are almost sure-fire bets to be inducted, the team’s first majority owner, Arthur B. Modell, still is not enshrined. Modell did make the final voting list twice, in 2002 and 2013.
Since 2015, Modell has been included with other owners and general managers in the ‘Contributor’ category. He could be one of the Class of 2020 nominees when that list is revealed sometime later this month. Usually, two Contributor nominees are chosen for odd-numbered classes, such as this year’s, and one is submitted for even-numbered classes. However, that is going to change in 2020–thanks to an announcement made by the Hall on Friday–that could, ostensibly, boost Modell’s chances for election and induction.
In recognition of the league’s 100th anniversary, a special 20-person class will be inducted next year, one that will include three Contributor nominees that need to get the required “yes” votes of at least 39 of the 48 individuals (80 percent), mostly comprised of media members, who serve on the Board of Electors. Voting totals for individual honorees are not disclosed publicly.
The Contributor and Senior categories usually alternate by year regarding how many nominees are sent to the voting committee. For the 2020 class, it would have been one Contributor and two Seniors, but in next year’s one-time-only 20-person class, it will be three Contributors and ten Seniors, along with the customary five modern-era players, as well as two coaches.
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ELIGIBLE PLAYERS, FUTURE YEARS
Here is a list of notable first-time eligible players for the next Hall of Fame class, as well as those in future classes. A number of former Ravens are highlighted here: Matt Birk, Bart Scott, Todd Heap, Derrick Mason, Willis McGahee, Ricky Williams, and Matt Stover are among those already eligible.
2020
Reggie Wayne
Troy Polamalu
John Abraham
Lance Briggs
Maurice Jones-Drew
Patrick Willis
2021
Peyton Manning
Logan Mankins
Charles Woodson
Jared Allen
Heath Miller
Calvin Johnson
2022
Steve Smith, Sr.
Andre Johnson
Vince Wilfork
DeMarcus Ware
Anquan Boldin
2023
Matt Forte
Nick Mangold
Darrelle Revis
Joe Thomas
Devin Hester
Dwight Freeney
James Harrison
2024
Haloti Ngata
Ben Watson
Jordy Nelson
Julius Peppers
Rob Gronkowski
Sebastian Janikowski
LOCAL HALL OF FAMERS
With Ed Reed’s induction, here is a list of Hall of Fame honorees that have Baltimore or Maryland pro/college football ties, listed by year of election and induction. If a player or coach made his primary mark outside of Baltimore, the years during which he played/coached in Charm City are listed in parentheses.
1968 — Colts DT Art Donovan
1969 — Colts RB Joe Perry (1961-62)
1971 — Colts QB Y.A. Tittle (1948-49, AAFC; 1950, NFL)
1972 — Colts DE Gino Marchetti
1973 — Colts WR Raymond Berry; Colts T Jim Parker
1974 — T Mike McCormack (Colts head coach, 1980-81)
1975 — T Roosevelt Brown (Morgan State); Colts RB-WR Lenny Moore
1976 — DE Len Ford (Morgan State)
1978 — Colts head coach Weeb Ewbank (1954-62)
1979 — Colts QB John Unitas
1981 — Colts QB George Blanda (1950)
1985 — QB Roger Staubach (Navy)
1986 — LB Willie Lanier (Morgan State)
1989 — T Art Shell (Maryland State, now Maryland-Eastern Shore)
1990 — Colts LB Ted Hendricks (1969-73)
1992 — Colts TE John Mackey
1994 — RB Leroy Kelly (Morgan State); DE Randy White (Maryland)
1997 — Colts head coach Don Shula (1963-70)
1998 – LB Mike Singletary (Ravens linebacker coach, 1998)
1999 — TE Ozzie Newsome (Raven’s general manager, 2002-2018)
2009 — Ravens S Rod Woodson (1998-2001)
2011 — Ravens CB Deion Sanders (2004-05); Ravens TE Shannon Sharpe (2000-01)
2013 — Ravens T Jonathan Ogden
2018 – Ravens LB Ray Lewis
2019 – Ravens S Ed Reed
