"Bullet" Bob Hayes was elected posthumously to the Pro Football Hall of Fame(PFHOF), and I say, "IT'S ABOUT TIME!"
Most athletes can't say they changed the sport in which they played, but former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver "Bullet" Bob Hayes can say that he changed professional football.
Hayes won the gold medal in the 100 meter dash and the 4x100 meter relay in the 1964 Olympics. The Cowboys drafted the fastest man in the world in the 7th round and unleashed his speed on the NFL in 1965. Speed that the rest of the league could not handle.
NFL defenses typically played man-to-man in the secondary. Hayes scored 25 touchdowns and averaged over 20 yards a catch against that man coverage his first 2 years with the Cowboys. The rest of the league got wise and started playing more zone defense, and defenses in the NFL are still playing zone whether the team they are playing has a guy as fast as Hayes, or not. By the way, Hayes scored 20 more touchdowns the next 2 seasons against zone defenses.
His final numbers, 371 receptions for 7414 yards and 71 touchdowns, are not eye-popping like Jerry Rice's, and he doesn't have as many Super Bowl rings as Lynn Swann, but he still leads the Cowboys in TD receptions, and neither one of those guys fundamentally changed the game of football.
Sammy Baugh changed the game of football. He was in the 1st class of the PFHOF. Lawrence Taylor changed the way outside linebacker is played. He was elected to the PFHOF on the 1st ballot. Bob Hayes changed the way the NFL plays defense. He was FINALLY elected to the PFHOF 29 years after he was eligible and 7 years after his death.
It took 29 years, but The Bullet is in the Hall of Fame.
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