Bobby Beathard Named Contributor Finalist for HOF

[Fleet]

Bobby Beathard, former Washington Redskins and San Diego Chargers general manager, has been named a contributor finalist for the 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class.

Beathard won two Super Bowls as GM of the Redskins from 1978 to 1988. He also guided the Chargers to one Super Bowl during his 11 seasons at the helm in San Diego.

"There's nothing I love more than football," Beathard said Friday, per a release by the Hall of Fame. "I feel like I've gone through life without a job and got paid for it."

In Washington, the general manager led the Redskins to a 105-63 regular season record, a winning percentage of .625 that was tops in the NFC and second-best in the NFL over his 11 years there. Beathard was inducted as the 49th member of the Redskins' Ring of Fame last fall.

Beathard was the director of player personnel for the Miami Dolphins during two Super Bowlcampaigns, including the 1972 perfect season. Beathard also worked as a scout for the Kansas City Chiefs during their 1966 AFL title season and for the Atlanta Falcons for four seasons.

Beathard is the patriarch of a football family. His young brother, Pete Beathard, played quarterback at USC and in the NFL. His son, Kurt Beathard, was most recently the offensive coordinator at Illinois State. One of his grandsons, C.J. Beathard, is currently a rookie quarterback for the 49ers.

The 48-member Hall of Fame selection committee ultimately will determine in February if Beathard will be enshrined as part of the next Hall of Fame class. He must receive 80 percent of the committee's votes in order to be inducted.

Beathard's nomination is part of a recent push by the NFL to recognize more contributors. Before the bylaws changed three years ago, contributors were voted in the same class as modern-era players. Next year, two contributors will be nominated as finalists for induction and, starting with the 2020 class, one will be nominated each year moving forward.

Others who were considered among the favorites for nomination included: Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, ex-Cowboys scout and NFL.com senior analyst Gil Brandt and Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

The 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class will be revealed at NFL Honors on Feb. 3, a day before Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis.

[Maverick]

Can you imagine what Beathard's already-legendary status "could have been" had Leaf panned out?

Obviously Leaf never amounted to anything & likely set the franchise back a decade or so.....but I sure remember being happy on draft day when we were able to get him rather than Manning.

Funny how this article doesn't even reference the infamous "Leaf selection"....lol.

[6025]

Hopefully Coryell can be nominated and elected in the contributors category someday too.

[Maverick]

Hopefully Coryell can be nominated and elected in the contributors category someday too.

Yep, so dumb that he's not already in the HoF in any capacity.

[Coachmarkos]

Beathard should get in. Leaf notwithstanding, his team got to SD's only Super Bowl, and he had some great Redskins team. He's deserving.
(regardless of how he finished)

[Bolt-O]

I'd rather Coryell first before Beathard, but Bobby is 80 and above dirt level. There is a chance that he won't get voted in, as they passed over Tagliabue. I wonder if the San Diego press will still have a vote in the committee.

[Boltergeist]

I can't really argue that Beathard doesn't belong because he probably does, but Coryell did sooooo much more for the game it's not even funny.

[captaind]

Glad someone agrees with me. If he gets in and Coryell doesn't, that would piss me off.

[Big Dog]

You totally nailed it !!!

Every passing tree in the NFL has Coryell written all over it ... he is the father of most modern passing offenses too!

[Boltergeist]

Maybe he can get Mikhael Ricks to introduce him.

[Big Dog]

That's gonna leave a mark

[Steve]

Hopefully Coryell can be nominated and elected in the contributors category someday too.

Coryell is not eligible in the contributor category since he was a coach. He can only get elected as a coach or in the seniors, which would mean some player who has been passed over a bunch won't get in this season

Coryell was a good, but not a great coach (thinking record and championships), and doesn't deserve to be in based on what he accomplished in the coaching alone.

In terms of innovations on offense, there are few that can challenge what he did. The I-formation running game and modern passing game are all a direct result of things he innovated. Sid Gilman, Bill Walsh both contributed to the West Coast offense, but much of what they did was just an extension of what Clark Shaunnesy did with the Bears and then refined at Stanford in the late 1930's and 1940's. They also get a lot of credit since they won more games and more championships. But Gillman and Walsh still ran the largely split backfield T formations and passing that Shaughnessy started and they refined it.

Coryell started using multiple receiver formations, single back offense, pass protection schemes, modern pattern concepts, bunch concepts all flow from what Coryell started and largely implemented in that time right .in the period before and right when he took over. Modern running game is largely flowing out of what he did too, which you can't say about the west coast guys, since their running plays are largely gone away.