"Get out the way" - Deion Sanders explains how he'd gatekeep Pro Football Hall of Fame

Deion Sanders, a Hall of Fame defensive back, isn't a fan of the Hall of Fame these days because it's been "watered down" in recent years.

He recently sat down and spoke with sports reporter Peter King of SI Sports and ProFootballTalk about a new proposal for the Hall-of-Fame.

He proposed the idea of having an upper room for guys who have changed the game such as himself, Lawrence Taylor and others.

Sanders said:

"You gotta have an upper room... The game decides who’s in it. You know who changed the game. Like, if you just say OK, you’re gonna put LT [Lawrence Taylor] beside some of the guys that you’ve been putting in the last few years, you just gonna have them sit beside LT like it’s cool? You guys [selectors] can’t feel good about this stuff but you have a quota. You shouldn’t have to meet a quota every year to send guys in. If they ain’t that, they ain’t that."

He went on to say that it should be up to the players, not the NFL committee or journalists, to decide who goes into the "upper" hall of fame.

Sanders added:

“You know who should decide? We should decide that. Y’all need to get out the way and let us decide the upper room. Y’all have done your thing and I appreciate that. I appreciate it immensely. You earned a right to be on that committee to vote. The upper room, that should be us. Because when we’re together, we know who ain’t got no business in there.”

What would an "upper" Hall-of-Fame that Sanders proposed look like?

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As of the 2023 Hall-of-Fame class, there are now 371 total members of the Hall-of-Fame. That's a lot of members considering the Hall-of-Fame opened up in 1963.

Sanders believes that obtaining credentials and becoming a Hall-of-Famer is too easy these days and that the league is simply allowing "certain guys" in who don't deserve to be there.

In the same interview with King, Sanders thinks guys who "changed the game" should be in the upper room. Guys such as himself, Lawrence Taylor, Don Hutson, Larry Allen, and Tom Brady are figures who specifically changed the game or had such a big impact that impacting the game should be in the more prestigious category of the award.

If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Deion Sanders, Peter King, ProFootballTalk, and H/T Sportskeeda