Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022 picks 10 who belong in Gold Jackets in Canton

CANTON - After a week in the Pro Football Hall of Fame sun, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022 warmed up to the final question.

Who's next?

On a stage in Memorial Civic Center on which Class of '22 members Tony Boselli, LeRoy Butler, Richard Seymour, Dick Vermeil and Bryant Young shared inside stories, closed with the million-dollar question, posed by emcee Steve Wyche.

Who doesn't have a gold jacket but deserves one? Who do the new Hall of Famers want to see in future Enshrinement classes?

All had opinions. Every name they shared was mainstream, save for one. Young made the longest case of the session for a fellow San Francisco 49er, John McVay.

"His name needs to be mentioned a lot more," Young said.

McVay played football in Massillon, coached at Canton Central Catholic, and was head coach of the New York Giants.

He was pushing 50 when he joined the 49ers in 1979. Over the next two decades, he worked under different titles that amounted to general manager. The 49ers loudly won Super Bowls capping the 1981, 1984, 1988, 1989 and 1994 seasons. McVay, an understated leader with a dry sense of humor, smiled in the shadows.

"John is under the radar, but he was a huge part of constructing all those championship teams, and making the numbers work, and working behind the scenes," Bryant said. "Before there were numbers guys, he was the numbers guy."

McVay was general manager when the Young, a defensive lineman out of Notre Dame, was targeted in the 1994 draft. The 49ers traded up from No. 15 to No. 7 to get him.

Young instantly became a key man in the last burst for one of football history's great dynasties. Joe Montana, Bill Walsh, Jerry Rice and Steve Young were among the faces of the era.

"John is the guy who in my opinion is underserved a little bit," Bryant Young said. "He really was the foundation of all those championship teams and making all the pieces work.

"He doesn't get a whole lot of credit, but he deserves to be in."

Seymour, the ex-Patriot, made a case for an obvious future Hall of Famer, Bill Belichick. Here are 10 other names that came up when the Class of 2022 opined on who among those who have been waiting belongs in Canton.

Former Jaguars teammate Boselli, an offensive tackle, said:

1, Running back Fred Taylor

"Forget about Pro Bowls or All-Pros and just go talk to anybody who ever tried to tackle him. He was as good a running back as I've ever seen."

Taylor ran for 11,271 yards for the Jaguars from 1998-08 and played his final two seasons with the Patriots.

2, Running back Roger Craig

He played on three of the 49ers' Super Bowl winners and was NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 1988. In 1985, he ran for 1,050 yards, amassed 1,016 receiving yards, and scored 15 touchdowns.

"I didn't play with him," Bryant Young said, "but I admired him. He set a standard. I thought he would have definitely been in the Hall of Fame before me."

3, Coach Marty Schottenheimer

Schottenheimer, who coached the Browns to four straight postseasons in the 1980s, compiled a 200-126-1 regular-season record. He went to 13 postseasons in 21 years as a head coach but never reached a Super Bowl.Vermeil, whose regular-season record was 120-109, said Schottenheimer, who died in 2021, is one of several coaches who belong in.

"Marty is a Hall of Fame coach," Vermeil said. "I just don't want more quality coaches to have to go in deceased."

4, Coach Mike Holmgren

Prior to a short run as president of the Browns, Holmgren went to 12 postseasons as a head coach with Green Bay and Seattle.

Butler was a fourth-year Packers safety when a blustery Holmgren introduced himself in the locker room, where Butler was wearing a Michael Jordan shirt. Butler re-told this great story Sunday:

"Holmgren asked me, 'Why don't you have your own shirt? I said, 'I don't have my own shirt.' Mike said, 'Precisely. Now go do something.'"

Butler and Vermeil both said Holmgren did enough to be in the Hall of Fame. Vermeil said he told Holmgren he would have voted for Holmgren ahead of himself.

5, Linebacker London Fletcher

Class of 2022 member Sam Mills, deceased, was an undrafted rookie cut by the Cleveland Browns before proving a 5-foot-9 linebacker could make it in the NFL.

"I brought London Fletcher to the Rams became of the impression Sam Mills made," Vermeil said.

Mills' last year in the league was 1997. Fletcher, a 5-foot-9 linebacker out of Cleveland St. Joseph High School and John Carroll University, was an undrafted Rams rookie in 1998. He played 16 NFL seasons.

6, Wide receiver Sterling Sharpe

He caught 108 passes in 1992 and 112 in 1993. A neck injury limited his career with the Packers to seven years, in which he had 8,134 receiving yards.

"If my fantasy league started this week, my first pick would be Cooper Kupp," LeRoy Butler said. "But Sterling Sharpe caught 100 balls when catching 100 balls was hard."

7, Historian/publicist Lee Remmel

Remmel worked for the Packers into his late 80s. Touted by Butler, Remmel reflected everything that goes into a fabled franchise owned by a small community.

One of the "superfans" who paraded through the Civic Center Sunday wore a cheesehead with the words "team owner."

8, Coach George Seifert

His regular-season record with the 49ers after succeeding Bill Walsh was 98-30. Walsh went 92-59-1 from 1979-88.

Both Bryant Young and Vermeil said Seifert, who won two Super Bowls (to Walsh's three), belongs in. John McVay, incidentally, worked the entirety of Walsh's and Seifert's runs.

9, Wide receiver Torry Holt

He was a rookie No. 6 overall draft pick in 1999 when he gave the Rams six catches for 109 yards and a touchdown in a 23-16 Super Bowl win over the Titans.

"Torry was never a rookie," said Vermeil, who was Holt's head coach that year.

Holt had six straight years with 1,300 or more receiving yards.

"They keep changing the rules to enhance wide receiver performance," Vermeil said. "Some of those rules were made since Torry retired. I talked to him last night. He's not sitting there pissed off at not getting in the Hall of Fame. I've been around guys who were."

10, Coach Tom Coughlin

In Jacksonville's second through fifth years as an expansion team (1996-99), they went 44-19 under Coughlin. The Giants went 4-0 under Coughlin in the 2007 and 2011 postseasons.

"He was miserable to play for," said Boselli, who was with Coughlin in Jacksonville, "but it was always purposeful. He was a master of getting a team ready."

Vermeil had Coughlin, Dan Reeves and Mike Shanahan on his list of coaches who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Top 10 of who should be in Hall of Fame picked by Class of 2022