It wasn’t a “now or never” moment, but Tim Brown figured if he didn’t make the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015, he would be old and gray by the time it finally happened.

“I have to tell you I told my wife that if they put Marvin Harrison in before me, this thing could be elongated,” Brown said in a conference call Thursday. “If they put in another receiver, it could be a very, very long wait.”

Brown will be enshrined Aug. 8 along with Jerome Bettis, Charles Haley, Bill Polian, Junior Seau, Will Shields, Mick Tingelhoff and Ron Wolf.

The previous five times Brown was eligible, he failed to gain induction, including two years (2011, 2012) when no wide receivers were inducted. Brown, as well as Cris Carter (2013) and Andre Reed (2014) were forced to wait.

“Those are the only years I cry about,” Brown said. “My whole thing is I wanted to see a wide receiver go in. To go two years without putting anybody in was tough to deal with, no doubt about it.”

Brown said he went so far as to tell Frank Cooney, the media member responsible for stating his case, to lend his support to Carter or Reed if it looked headed that way.

One of the NFL’s most prolific receivers remained productive despite a revolving door of quarterbacks, head coaches and offensive coordinators. The Raiders seldom had a second receiver who put up big numbers until Jerry Rice came along.

“I enjoyed the process I went through,” Brown said. “It was very difficult, but I was able to get done what I needed to get done to accomplish personal things on a year-to-year basis. I just never allow myself to go there as far as thinking about what if I’d had Joe Montana or John Elway for my whole career.”

Brown in fact almost did play with Elway when he signed a free-agent contract with the Denver Broncos after the 1993 season for four years and $11 million. Raiders owner Al Davis could either match the offer or let Brown go to Denver.

According to Brown, Gunther Cunningham, the Raiders’ defensive coordinator at the time, told Davis, “We don’t have anybody who can cover him, so you’d better bring him back. … I think if it had been a team other than Denver, they might have let me go, but I don’t think they wanted to play me within the division twice a year.”

Before signing with Denver, Brown said he toyed with the idea of playing with his hometown Dallas Cowboys, only to have the idea shot down by wide receiver Michael Irvin.

“I sort of happily walked up to Michael thinking it would be a great concept, and he got so upset and said, ‘Tim Brown, don’t you ever think about coming here!’ ” Brown said. “He said, ‘I’m calling Jerry (Jones) right now and to tell him don’t do it.’ I was a little upset because I wanted to go home and play for the Cowboys, but I’m happy with the way things worked out.”

Brown said he remains a Raiders fan, taping every game, and feels good about the direction the franchise his heading under Jack Del Rio.

“I’m looking forward to this team playing better football,” Brown said. “I think Jack is a tough, tough guy. Not just as a coach, but he was a tough player. I think that mentality, he’s going to get into the team some kind of way and I think this is going to be a mentally tougher team and a physically tougher team.”

Brown is also enamored with first-round draft pick Amari Cooper, whom he met at the Heisman Trophy ceremony.

“This guy is just a superb, great receiver, and I think he’s going to be dominant on day one,” Brown said. “I told him at the Heisman deal I hoped he’d be there when the Raiders picked because there’s no way they could bypass him. I thought he was a can’t-miss kind of pick. He’s just got to get used to playing 20 games now. If he can figure that out, he should be off to the races.”

For more on the Raiders, visit the Inside the Oakland Raiders blog at ibabuzz.com/oaklandraiders. Follow Jerry McDonald on Twitter at twitter.com/Jerrymcd.