Ken Riley favored to receive Senior nomination for Hall of Fame

The Cincinnati Bengals fight to get more of their former players recognized by the Hall of Fame rages on. We just watched another class get enshrined without representation from Cincinnati.

Apparently, we may not have to wait that much longer for another Bengal to get into Canton, though.

According to Sports Illustrated’s Clark Judge, who has some insider information as the host of Talk of Fame podcast and a Hall of Fame voter, Ken Riley is the favorite to get the Senior nomination:

Riley is the favorite for three reasons: 1) He had 65 career interceptions, tied with first-ballot Hall-of-Famer Charles Woodson (Class of 2021) for fifth all time; 2) there is only one other Bengal in Canton, and that’s Anthony Munoz and 3) he pulled more votes than everyone but Pearson the last time a senior was chosen.

Riley would still have to be voted in by the voters this January, but that would be a huge step in the first for Cincinnati to have someone aside from Anthony Munoz in the Hall of Fame.

Judge already brought up how Riley is one of the biggest missing pieces of the Hall of Fame. He is surrounded on the all-time interceptions list by Hall of Famers. It is just frustrating to watch as he gets passed over continuously despite that.

The Bengals helped Riley become a more appealing option as well by starting a Ring of Honor this offseason that will include Riley as one of the inaugural members. However, him being added to Canton would make that Ring of Honor look that much better.

Next up for the Bengals includes names like Chad Johnson, Ken Anderson and Corey Dillon. Riley was just the most obvious of the bunch that is looking for the jungle to takeover Canton.