The Pro Football Hall of Fame includes most of the best right tackles in league history.
Dan Dierdorf, Ron Yary, Jackie Slater and the late Rayfield Wright are included in that category.
However, there is at least one omission from that illustrious group. Bengals alum Willie Anderson, who was a four-time Pro Bowl right tackle during his 13 seasons (1996-2008) in the league, has a theory why there has not been a right tackle enshrined in the Hall for at least 18 years.
Anderson cites the popularity of the best-selling book and subsequent movie—“The Blind Side”–for the disregard of the right tackle position. Ravens left tackle Michael Oher’s inspiring early life and his career in the NFL captured the imagination of the country when the movie hit the screens in 2009.
“The whole ‘Blind Side’ thing made left tackle the glamour position on the line,” says the 49-year old Anderson. “Those of us on the right side of the line got pushed away. I think the media had a bias because they didn’t understand the importance of the guys we blocked were some of the best pass rushers of all time.”
Anderson runs the eponymous “Willie Anderson Lineman Academy” in Dunwoody (GA) and says the left tackle position is more popular than the right side even among today’s aspiring college and NFL linemen.
“I have my guys at the Academy who are 18, 19 years old,” he explains. “They’ll tell me ‘I only want to play left tackle’. The kids, their parents and the media pushing left tackle is a huge deal. But they don’t realize in today’s NFL even guards are getting paid crazy money. It’s definitely changed for the better for linemen, I think, because these pass rushers are coming from everywhere now…right side, left side, over the center, everywhere.”
The Hall of Fame media voters meet again in a few months to select the 2025 Hall of Fame Class. Anderson, a three-time finalist in recent years, hopes they will keep an open mind. Meanwhile, he will have to patiently sit back next weekend and watch this year’s Hall of Fame inductees in Canton giving their acceptance speeches to the throngs of admiring fans. This year’s Class includes five defenders but zero offensive tackles—left OR right!
