Bruce Smith unhappy with Tony Boselli’s Hall of Fame selection

Hall of Fame defensive end Bruce Smith asked why supporters of offensive tackle Tony Boselli used Boselli’s performance against Smith in a 1996 AFC wild card game as one of the main reasons for electing Boselli in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In a lengthy statement posted to Instagram Monday night, Smith said voting Boselli into the Hall of Fame based in part on his performance in a game “sets a horrible precedent” for future nominees to run.

“Much of the campaign to promote Tony Boselli to the Hall of Fame seems hyper-focused on a single successful performance he had against me in a playoff game in 1996,” Smith said. written in his statement. “On the one hand, I’m quite flattered to be considered the gold standard by which another player’s play can be measured to determine their qualification in the HOF. But on a more serious level, I and other HOFers believe it sets a horrible precedent to focus negatively on a permanent member of the Hall’s play in order to validate a candidate’s candidacy.