There were many worthy candidates for election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, but former Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis looked like the surest bet to get elected when the selectors met in Minneapolis on Saturday.
That’s just what happened and Lewis has been elected to the Hall on the first ballot.
Lewis was selected in the first round of the 1996 draft and spent his entire 17-year career with the Ravens. He won a Super Bowl and a Super Bowl MVP after the 2000 season as the linchpin of a defense that’s among the best of all time. Lewis then earned a second ring in his final NFL game when the Ravens outlasted the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans.
Lewis was twice named the NFL’s defensive player of the year and was selected as a first-team All-Pro seven times during his run in Baltimore. He will join Brian Urlacher, Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, Brian Dawkins, Jerry Kramer, Robert Brazile and Bobby Beathard as members of the Hall of Fame’s class of 2018.
