New York Jets: Joe Klecko can finally make it into the Hall of Fame in 2020

In this profile, we are going to take a look back on the legendary career of former New York Jets star Joe Klecko. Here’s why he deserves to be in the HOF.

Joe Klecko was a defensive lineman who excelled like no other as a member of the New York Jets. He was a key cog of the famous New York Sack Exchange that terrorized opponents in the 1980s.

The last piece to the puzzle is his Pro Football Hall of Fame candidacy that could come in 2020.

Per Jim Reineking of USA Today, the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s board of directors voted to allow 20 inductees in 2020 as part of the NFL’s 100th-anniversary celebration. The proposed breakdown of 2020 honorees would include five modern-era candidates, 10 senior nominees, three contributors, and two coaches, Pro Football Hall of Fame President and CEO David Baker said.

Which means that some long-overdue senior nominees will breakthrough and finally get enshrined into Canton.

Klecko appeared in the Pro Bowl while holding down three different spots. He got selected to the Pro Bowl in 1981, 1983 and 1984. He played a solid defensive end, tackle, and he even played nose tackle.

Klecko is a former All-Pro team selection while playing excellent defense at two different spots on the field there too.

Klecko’s best moment of his career came during the 1981 season when he led the league in sacks with 20.5. That was also the year when teammates Mark Gastineau and Marty Lyons went off in their respective careers and recorded a whopping 66 sacks and became the trio to be later dubbed and remembered as “The New York Sack Exchange”. That was a very memorable moment in both Klecko’s and the Jets’ history.

Klecko makes a strong case to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. How he isn’t in is disrespectful to the New York Jets organization, Klecko’s career achievements, and quite frankly the system in general.

Joe deserves to be a Hall of Famer based on his credentials. If those aren’t enough several current inductees have made open pleas as to why he deserves to be immortalized. What else do you need?

Klecko’s worst Jets moment of his career is actually now. He recorded incredible statistical achievements and earned the respect of his teammates and opponents alike. The last missing piece of his career is the validation of the league that allowed him in to dominate. Final grade: Joe Klecko gets an A.