He appeared in 216 games over the course of 15 season. He has won three Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots. He has been voted to five Pro Bowls. And now Ty Law, one of the best and most successful cornerbacks of his era, is one of 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2017.
Law was originally drafted by the Patriots in the first round of the 1995 draft and spent his first 10 seasons in New England. During his tenure with the team, he became the all-time franchise leader in interceptions (36; tied with Raymond Clayborn) and made one of the most memorable plays in Super Bowl history. In 2005, amidst a contract dispute with the team, Law was released by the Patriots and went on to spend his final five seasons in New York, Kansas City and Denver.
In 2014, Law returned to Foxboro to be enshrined into the team’s Hall of Fame. Now, two years later, Law has reached the final round of the Hall of Fame voting process for the first time ever. The Hall’s Twitter account announced him as one of the finalists yesterday – and he joins an illustrious list of players:
K Morten Andersen
OT Tony Boselli
WR Isaac Bruce
HC Don Coryell
RB Terrell Davis
FS Brian Dawkins
OG Alan Faneca
OT Joe Jacoby
CB Ty Law
SS John Lynch
OC Kevin Mawae
WR Terrell Owens
LB Jason Taylor
RB LaDanian Tomlinson
QB Kurt Warner
The number of Hall of Fame enshrinees varies from year to year. Overall, a minimum of four and a maximum of eight players will be inducted, depending on how the selection committee votes. In order to get elected in the first place, a finalist must receive at least 80 percent approval by the committee’s 48 members.
Could Law make it? Based on his consistently strong play and the accolades he received because of it, he does have one of the strongest candidacies. The question is if the voters agree or if they opt to go with narratives and underdog stories instead (as they have done before). On February 4, the day before Super Bowl LI, we will find out.
If he made it, Law would become the fifth member of the Patriots to join the Hall of Fame. John Hannah, Nick Buoniconti, Mike Haynes and Andre Tippett are the others enshrined, with former Patriots Curtis Martin, Bill Parcells and Junior Seau inducted as members of other teams. The latter would also be true if former New England offseason member John Lynch, whose major contributions came with the Tampa Bay Buccanneers, would be enshrined.