In an era during which the running back was the lead position on the offense, Terrell Davis led the Broncos to their back-to-back Super Bowl wins in 1997-98.
Davis is one of the best postseason running backs in NFL history, but he can’t get a sniff of the Hall of Fame.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2016 was trimmed to 25 Tuesday with Davis being named a semifinalist. This could be seen as a sign of progress but Davis has been a semifinalist 10 times already without ever being chosen for the final 10.
The knock on T.D. has always been that he only played seven years with the Broncos, from 1995 to 2001. Those were very good years however. Davis is the team’s all-time leading rusher with 7,607 yards. He rushed for over 1,000 yards in each of his first four seasons before having his last three years derailed by injuries.
During his peak seasons, 1995-98, Davis rushed for 6,413 yards and 56 touchdowns.
In the 1997 season Davis ran for 1,750 yards, 15 touchdowns and earned Super Bowl MVP honors. The following season, he one-upped himself with 2,008 yards, 21 touchdowns and earned NFL MVP honors.
The best case for Davis is to look at the players currently in the Hall of Fame who are ahead of him.
Former Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers played seven seasons and also had his career cut short due to injuries. In only two of those seasons did he amass 1,000 rushing yards and yet he was a first ballot Hall of Famer. Sayers rushed for 4,956 yards and 39 touchdowns. He also was a prolific return specialist with eight career punt and kick return touchdowns.
The Broncos have only have four players in their history in the Hall of Fame — John Elway, Gary Zimmerman, Floyd Little and Shannon Sharpe.
Let’s hope Davis will soon be the fifth.
CHEW ON THIS
— Peyton Manning will be out longer than just this week.
— Broncos won’t be able to pay all of their defensive playmakers this offseason. Will they be able to keep Malik Jackson?
— Brock Osweiler still has to do more to impress store retailers to stock his jerseys.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY
It’s an all-Philadelphia-Eagles edition of birthday mentions today. Eagles head coach Chip Kelly turns 52 and former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb turns 39.
Cameron Wolfe: 303-954-1891, cwolfe@denverpost.com or @CameronWolfe
