Corey Dillon was one of the most dominant running backs in the league for several seasons, finishing with more career rushing yards than Hall of Famers O.J. Simpson, Earl Campbell, and Larry Csonka. For that reason, he thinks he belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
During a very candid interview with The Athletic this week, Corey Dillon first blasted the Cincinnati Bengals for not including him in the team’s Ring of Honor, and then made it clear that he thinks he belongs in Canton, too.
“I want it all,” Dillon said. “I am coming for it all. You know why? Because I earned it. I’m not one of these borderline guys sitting on my [butt] reminiscing, talking about, ‘Oh, if I had this, shoulda, coulda, woulda.’ No. I’m justified.”
Dillon was arrested for DUI and one for spousal abuse in 2010, though the DUI was reduced to reckless driving, and the assault charge was dropped due to lack of evidence. He was also charged with fourth-degree assault of his wife in 2000. He thinks those incidents are what’s keeping him out of Canton, but he doesn’t think that’s fair.
“That’s why I resurfaced, man,” Dillon said. “Because there has been a lot of wrong that needs to be un-wronged. Nobody gets this. I don’t want to get into people’s personal business, but there are a lot of Hall of Famers that did far more worse [stuff] than I did. We can cancel out that excuse. There is no excuse for that. On top of that, I thought the game was predicated on numbers. Are people looking at the numbers like, ‘Nah, nah’? I don’t think so.”
We’ll have to see if Dillon is able to get himself into consideration for Canton.
