NFL Hall Of Fame 2011 First Cut: Jerome Bettis, Cris Carter Don’t Make It

The photo above comes from my seat at the live NFL Network broadcast of the Hall of Fame announcement at the Sheraton Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

We started the day with 15 modern era finalists for the 2011 Pro Football Hall of Fame and on the live NFL Network broadcast they announced the first round of cuts.

Here’s who made the first cut from 15 to 10: Dermontti Dawson, Richard Dent, Marshall Faulk, Cortez Kennedy, Curtis Martin, Andre Reed, Willie Roaf, Ed Sabol, Deion Sanders and Shannon Sharpe.

This is not the final list as that list will be cut down to the final five.

That means the following players were eliminated on the first cut: Charles Haley, Tim Brown, Chris Doleman, Jerome Bettis and Cris Carter.

The most interesting note of that group, to me, is that Reed came out ahead of Brown and Carter among the receivers. Receiver is the third least represented position in the Hall of Fame.