AD: From your time covering the Broncos, what are your recollections of Steve Atwater, and what do you think of his chances in a crowded safety group?

AM: "I know, it's so tough. And one of the things — and I hope voters don't feel this way — are there going to be some [voters], and I'm asking this rhetorically, who say, 'Well, we already have one safety going in. We only want one safety. We don't want one safety, because we'll have one wide receiver and one offensive lineman and one other position … one tight end.' For voters that do it like that, it's going to be really tough if Ed Reed ends up getting the first-ballot induction like so many of us believe is going to happen. With Steve, he was a sledgehammer on defense. He set the tempo for what Denver was doing even before I started covering the team for the "Rocky Mountain News." We're still talking to this day about his hit on Christian Okoye as one of the most devastating plays in the history of the NFL. That speaks volume about Steve Atwater. You think about when he wiped out three guys, including two of his teammates I think, in the final minute of Super Bowl XXXII to help preserve the victory for the Broncos. That was a play that we're never going to forget.

"He was a model of consistency, he played through injuries. It didn't matter. He just set the tempo for a defense that was pretty darn good. And when I was covering the Broncos, I always wrote about him as future Hall of Fame safety Steve Atwater. I really believed that. I was young. I didn't feel though that I was being out of turn, because I just thought I was seeing real greatness for a guy who just brought so much to the game, so much to his team. But again, are there going to be three safeties going in? Are we pitting John Lynch against Steve Atwater? Is that how some voters are going to look at it, that they would vote for one or the other? Again, that's where it starts being messy.

"We had a logjam — seven or eight years ago by now — with three wide receivers who were drawing equal numbers of votes, it appeared: Cris Carter, Andre Reed and Tim Brown. It was almost like they were nullifying each other. Finally, Cris got in, and that opened the door up for the other wide receivers. Because at that point, then, the logjam was broken, and you just started systematically to vote these guys in. That's what I think may have to happen with Steve at some point. But the more a guy gets into the room — into the room is how we like to describe it as voters — when you're there year after year, you get to a point and you say, 'Yeah, it's their time.' And sometimes voters [just] have that feel. Maybe it was like that with Charles Haley. He had been nominated multiple times, but ultimately it was like, 'OK, this is his year. This is his time. It just feels right.' I don't know how to describe it to outsiders, but there just seems to be a vibe sometimes in the room that a guy — I don't want to say has paid his dues in the room — but he's been there long enough that you realize it is time for them to get the honor of being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.