Philadelphia Eagles: Eric Allen got snubbed by the Hall of Fame

There’s been a lot of talk about the Hall of Fame as of late among fans of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Part of this is natural, as players like Jason Kelce are getting up there in age, and former players like Jason Peters and Darren Sproles approaching eligibility a few years down the line. The other Hall of Fame craze was user-generated, if you will, by Darius Slay, who took it upon himself to campaign for the Eagles’ last Pro Bowl cornerback, Asante Samuel.

From one Pro Bowler to another, the respect was real, and upon evaluation, Samuel’s case is legit (more on that here) but one collection of people who apparently don’t feel the same way are the voters for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as they just announced the finalists for their 2022 class and there’s a notable omission.

Needless to say, Philadelphia Eagles fans probably won’t be too pleased with this one.

Will any former Philadelphia Eagles cornerback ever get some HOF love?

On September 22nd, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced their 122 modern-era nominees for their class of 2022. The list was long, expansive, and featured hundreds of combined Pro Bowl appearances between the players.

Among that unit was Asante Samuel, who officially retired from the NFL in 2013 following five seasons in New England, four seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, and a final two-year run with the Atlanta Falcons.

All in all, morale was high. The Eagles had two cornerbacks in the HOF conversation in Samuel and Eric Allen, who played for the team from 1988-94 and there was a decent enough chance that one or both of those players could see their bust immortalized in Canton in 2022.

Fast forward to November 24th, when the 26 man semifinalists list was announced and the odds of Philly scoring back-to-back Hall of Famers was dashed in half, as only Allen made the cut.

Unfortunate? Most definitely but hey, maybe Allen would make it, right? He turned in seven really good seasons for the Eagles from 1988-94 before leaving for Oakland and has about as good a resume as any other semifinalist, right?

As it turns out, the answer to that question is a resounding “no”.

After further pairing down the list from 26 to 15, Allen, too, found himself in the outside looking in, joining Samuel in the “better luck next year,” camp of Hall of Fame hopefuls.

Sidebar: Don’t feel too bad for Allen, since retiring from the NFL, the pride of Arizona State has begun working as an analyst for both ESPN and the Pac-12 Network and even tried his hand at coaching defensive backs for the San Diego Fleet of the AAF. Still, it sure would be nice to see another Eagle in the Hall.

What gives? Allen was a six-time Pro Bowler, an All-Pro, and one of the few players in NFL history to intercept more than 50 passes. He’s also a member of the Eagles Hall of Fame, a member of their 75th-anniversary team, and will forever be remembered fondly by fans in the City of Brotherly Love.

If that’s not worthy of a spot in the Hall of Fame, then frankly, I’m not sure what is.

Maybe one day Eric Allen, Asante Samuel, and Darius Slay will all exchange their midnight green for Canton gold, and fans of the Philadelphia Eagles will toast their accomplishments of auld lang syne. But unfortunately, that won’t happen in 2022, which is good news for Slay, as he’ll hopefully be starting at cornerback for a playoff team.