Terrell Davis, headed to Pro Football Hall of Fame, believes voters are changing their views.
For nearly 15 years after his career was cut short by injury, Terrell Davis had to search for a retort to the one question, the one doubt to his otherwise illustrious NFL career.
Davis — a Super Bowl MVP, league MVP and the Broncos’ all-time leading rusher — played “only” seven years. Not long enough for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s selection committee. At least, not for the first 10 years in which Davis was eligible.
So when he was asked again and again, and when people repeatedly approached him and said, “I’m sorry your career was so short,” Davis would respond with the highlights of when he was healthy and playing. His 2,008 yards rushing in 1998, the pair of Super Bowl titles, the three Pro Bowl and first-team all-pro selections, the two offensive player of the year awards, the 1,140 total yards rushing and 5.6-yard average in eight postseason games, and on and on.
“Even though it was short, it was a blessed career. It was a little unique in that perspective,” Davis said Thursday during a conference call for the Hall of Fame. “Now that this has happened, I don’t ever have to worry about that being an issue anymore. Because it was in the back of my mind that, ‘Man, maybe I didn’t play long enough and maybe that would be the one thing the voters would hold against me.’ I feel great that I no longer have to answer that.”
In February, Davis was surprised with a knock on his hotel room door from David Baker, the president of the Hall of Fame. In a year when he thought surely he would be rejected again because LaDainian Tomlinson was expected to be lock selection, Davis became a Hall of Famer on his 11th try. For 10 consecutive years, he made it to the semifinal round of voting. The past three, he was finalist.
The evening of Aug. 5, Davis will be enshrined along with the rest of the Class of 2017. He will get to show off that gold jacket that recently arrived by mail and unveil that bronze bust he sat for hours to see through completion.
“You just remind yourself that this is happening and it really is a surreal moment to watch it happen and you think about the impact of what’s happening,” Davis said. “You have a guy making a bust of you. That bust is going in Canton, Ohio. And it’s going to remain there for eternity and you think about who can go see it and where it is and who it’s going to be placed next to in that room that it’s in and all the great history.
“That’s when it gets a bit overwhelming. Because I never saw myself as a Hall of Famer. I tried to see myself as a guy who wanted to work hard and try to win games and championships. But they put me in this room and they selected me, so I’m just grateful for it.”
And he probably will always root for the players whose careers are doubted or question because of time. Davis got seven years — “I think seven, eight years is a pretty long time to play in the National Football League,” he said — but many others get fewer. The Wall Street Journal analyzed data from 2008-14 and found that players averaged only 2.66 years in the NFL.
“I think that’s the one thing that shouldn’t really be evaluated when you talk about players making it to the Hall of Fame, is the length of their career,” Davis said.
“A lot of people believe that before Sterling (Sharpe) got hurt — if he didn’t get hurt, this man probably would have been one of the greatest wide receivers to play the game. And I agree with that,” Davis added. “So I’m always going to root for the guys whose careers are probably taking a knock because they didn’t play long enough, because I know how that feels. But I think things are changing and I think the mentality and the attitude toward longevity is starting to shift a little bit. And I’m happy to see that.”