(ThyBlackMan.com) The February 2025 announcement of the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2025 had some intrigue in it. Two-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Eli Manning wasn’t chosen and that was considered a mild upset considering he played for the New York Giants and quarterbacked the Giants to two upsets of the dynasty New England Patriots in Super Bowls including the then-undefeated 2007 Patriots team. Former Carolina Panthers star linebacker Luke Kuechly and Super Bowl-winning kicker Adam Vinatieri were also not chosen in their first years of eligibility.
Regarding those selected for Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement for 2025 were the four-member class of tight end Antonio Gates, cornerback Eric Allen, defensive end Jared Allen and wide receiver Sterling Sharpe. However, Gates might be a controversial selection for the Pro Football Hall of Fame based on how the National Baseball Hall of Fame has treated some of its candidates.
Based on the statistics as a tight end, along with his production and talent, Antonio Gates clearly had a Pro Football Hall of Fame career. However, he did have a notable aspect of his career that should not be overlooked. In 2015, Gates was suspended the first four games of the 2015 NFL season for violating the NFL’s rules on performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). When the suspension happened back in 2015, he blamed his positive test on “supplements and holistic medicines” he used in an effort to recover from the 2014 NFL season. He also said, “I understand that I am responsible for what is in my body and I have always believed that ignorance is no excuse when it comes to these issues. I take full responsibility for my actions.”
It is good that Antonio Gates made a statement of accountability back in 2015 after his PED suspension but it also is important to note that he was entering his 13th NFL season in 2015. He was an NFL veteran who likely understood the importance of taking care of his body including everything he puts in his body from a supplement or medicinal standpoint. He clearly tried something new that set off the positive test but didn’t get it cleared by the NFL before he used the substance that caused the positive PED test. It is a challenge to assume that an NFL veteran over a decade in the league didn’t know that what he was using wasn’t legal from a banned substance standpoint.
With Gates’s induction, the voters of the Pro Football Hall of Fame are not using a similar criteria to elect candidates into the Hall of Fame as many of the voters of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The most obvious eligible athletes not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame other than Pete Rose are Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who are arguably the most accomplished position player and pitcher of all-time respectively. Both Bonds and Clemens, with all of their awards and records and no positive PED tests during their playing careers, fell off the ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. As the faces of baseball’s “steroid era”, they didn’t get enough votes every year eligible for ten straight years and fell off the ballot.
For what it’s worth, there is someone who has been outspoken against a PED user being selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and that is current Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Lane Johnson. In an interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia back in 2019, Johnson said that he shouldn’t be selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame because of his two PED suspensions during the course of his career saying, “As far as the Hall of Fame. I don’t think I deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. Even if I did accomplish those things. Because of my suspensions. I don’t think it would be right.”
Staff Writer; Mark Hines
