Falcons: Tommy Nobis somehow still not in Hall of Fame after 50+ years

There is nothing more that can be done to get former Atlanta Falcons linebacker, Tommy Nobis, into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Selection Committee should be embarrassed. It has been over fifty years and there is still no bust of Nobis in Canton, Ohio.

Fifty years, fifty years to get it right, fifty years to get a guy who is known as ‘Mr. Falcon’ into the Hall of Fame. I think the writing is on the wall; Tommy Nobis will likely never be a Hall of Famer.

Former Falcons LB Tommy Nobis not being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a pure blunder

Clearly, I wasn’t ever able to see Tommy Nobis suit up for the Atlanta Falcons but it doesn’t take seeing him live on the gridiron to know that he should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. For heck’s sake, the dude is known as ‘Mr. Falcon.’

Having the title: ‘Mr. *mascot of the team you play for*‘ should get you a free ticket into Canton. It doesn’t matter that his teams went 50-100 over his 11 years in the NFL. He played linebacker, what do you want him to do? Play every position on the field? He did everything he could do.

He was the first player taken in the 1966 NFL Draft and the first player drafted by the Atlanta Falcons. He went on to become the NFL Rookie of the Year (impressive considering the Falcons went 3-11), made five Pro Bowls, was an All-Pro twice, and made the NFL’s 1960s All-Decade team.

Sure, five Pro Bowls and two All-Pro seasons doesn’t scream “first-ballot Hall of Famer” but again, he had only two seasons where his team was over .500 and we all know how hard it is to get recognition when you play on a terrible team (after all, that is the sole reason this even has to be discussed).

Unfortunately, tackles were not officially recorded back then, but if you want to trust Wikipedia (which you shouldn’t), Nobis had 1,688 tackles in his career—more than Ray Lewis who is officially number one in career tackles.

Needless to say, Tommy Nobis should have given a Pro Football Hall of Fame speech decades ago, but even following his death in 2017, it seems like he will continue to be forgotten, which is despicable.