Hall of Fame Seniors Committee Selects "The Enforcer" as the 2017 Nominee

LOOKING AHEAD
By John Turney

The Seniors Committee of the Hall of Fame met today and selected Ken Easley as their nominee to be presented to the Hall of Fame Committee as a whole next February. We feel it is an excellent choice and expect he will get the 80% of the votes needed for induction.

In a 1980s interview with Easley, he was asked if he was "vicious" in his play on the field, he responded, "Oh, I'm vicious, I am definitely vicious". Yes, he was. In additon, Easley was:

1984 AP and PFW NFL Defensive Player of the Year
1983 Football News AFC Defensive Player of the Year
1984 AFC Defensive Player of the Year by Kansas City 101 Club
1984 NFL Alumni Defensive Back of the Year
He was First-team All-Pro in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985
He was Second-team All-Pro in 1987
He was First-team All-AFC in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985
He was Second-team All-AFC in 1986 and 1987
He was a Pro Bowler in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1987
He was a member of the Hall of Fame 1980s All-Decade Team
He was All-Rookie in 1981

He was ranked the #1 strong safety in the NFL by Mike Giddings in 1982, 1984 and 1985.

In 1984 he won numerous national awards; here are his 1984 game-by-game statistics. He led the NFL in interceptions (10) and in interceptions returned for a touchdown (2). Among his 75 tackles were 3.5 stuffs (tackles behind the line of scrimmage).

Note: Easley had 3 FFs in 1984, however, sometimes they are not all credited at the time of the printing of the game book, therefore we do not know which game the 3th ff occurred.

In addition, he returned 16 punts for a 12.1 average in 1984.

Easley's career was cut short due to a kidney disorder, he contends was from taking 16 to 20 tablets of Advil daily for a few months straight. After he was traded to the Cardinals he found out how serious the disease was. Easley failed the physical and he had to retire immediately.

We can only wonder what his career might have been had he been healthy enough to play 10-12 years.