Cincinnati Bengals great Corey Dillon is not happy with the process the team has for selecting new members of their Ring of Honor, or the voting process for the sports Hall-of-Fame.
Corey Dillon was taken 43rd overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1997 NFL Draft. While the franchise likely had high hopes for what the star from Washington could do for their franchise, surely none foresaw the legendary career he would end up having for the franchise.
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During his seven-year run with the team, Dillon made three Pro Bowls and ran for well over 1,000 yards in all but one of those seasons. In his rookie year, he racked up 1,129 yards despite only starting in six games and twice tallied 10 touchdowns on teams that were often at the bottom of the AFC North standings.
In those seven seasons, Dillon built an uncanny legacy as he became the best running back in Cincinnati Bengals history and currently is their all-time leading rusher. Yet, the 48-year-old who retired nearly 20 years ago is not in the team’s Ring of Honor or in the pro football Hall-of-Fame.
Cincinnati Bengals great claims recency bias has kept him out of team Ring of Honor
- Corey Dillon stats (Career): 11,241 yards, 4.3 YPC, 82 TD
It’s shocking considering the fact that he broke Jim Brown’s rookie rushing record that stood for 40 years and is one of just 10 players with over 10,000 rushing yards and a career 4.3 yards per carry average. Eight of those 10 are in the Hall-of-Fame or surely will be when they become eligible.
That is something that does not sit well with the Cincinnati Bengals icon and he unloaded his frustrations during an interview this week with The Athletic. When it comes to the franchise’s Ring of Honor, Dillon believes there could be a recency bias since voting is done by season ticket holders and not team officials.
“I’m pretty sure they will put [expletive] Jon Kitna in there before they put me. Matter of fact, Scott Mitchell will end up in that mother[expletive] before I do. … I think they are mad at me for being vocal and going on to win a championship. That’s the only thing I can think of.
“… To be honest, to keep it real, I’m the most decorated Bengal, period, outside of Anthony Muñoz — much respect; that’s one of my idols. He put in the work. So did both Kens [Riley and Anderson]. Other than that, I should have been the next dude on.”
– Corey Dillon
Dillon left the Cincinnati Bengals in 2004 and won a championship with the New England Patriots. If there is some pettiness going on that keeps him out of the team’s Ring of Honor, he should still be in the sports Hall-of-Fame, yet he has been held out of there as well. That fact irks him especially since he believes far worse human beings have received that honor instead of him.
“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 [expletive] 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.
“I set out to accomplish what I really wanted to accomplish, and that was winning that Super Bowl. That meant every-[expletive]-thing to me because now I can talk [expletive] forever because it validates every-[expletive]-thing I’m saying. Everything. So, in hindsight, I’m just coming from a place now — now that we’re talking about it — I want the whole pie.”
– Corey Dillon
Hall-of-Fame voting for the 2024 class will begin in January.