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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Allison Koehler

L.C. Greenwood latest ‘Steelers backlash’ victim among Hall of Fame voters

After a second reduction vote, 31 senior-category candidates remain in consideration for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2025 — and, somehow, Pittsburgh Steelers legend L.C. Greenwood is not among them.

The Hall of Fame released the list of remaining candidates on Tuesday.

All of Greenwood’s 13 seasons were spent in Pittsburgh, where he was the starting defensive end on four Super Bowl-winning rosters.

Greenwood was named to the Pro Bowl six times and an All-Pro twice. He logged 78 career sacks, good enough for second in franchise history, although sacks were not a tracked stat in Greenwood’s era.

Gerry Dulac, Steelers insider for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, lobbied for Greenwood as he has on several occasions. He suggests that Greenwood being consistently overlooked is an issue of bias.

“Greenwood is likely the victim of what can only be described as a ‘Steelers bias’ or ‘Steelers backlash’ among Hall of Fame voters,” Dulac wrote. “With so many Steelers from the great Super Bowl teams flooding annually into Canton, Ohio, it is not unreasonable to think some voters thought it was about time to turn off the spigot.”

It’s a shame that Greenwood even needs the senior committee to gain entry into the Hall of Fame. He earned and should’ve been gold-jacketed long before.

Greenwood died at age 67 from kidney failure on Sept. 29, 2013.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2025 will be announced at February’s “NFL Honors” in New Orleans, La., and enshrined next August in Canton.

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