NEW ORLEANS – Suggesting that Eddie DeBartolo Jr. doesn't deserve a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame sends Steve Young into an agitated state.

"I would challenge anyone to say that what Eddie did didn't have a huge impact on moving this game forward," Young said of the San Francisco 49ers' former owner. "I go around the league in my job as an analyst and see things that the 49ers put in with Eddie and Bill Walsh. Whether it is tactically or how players are treated, things that were initiated with the 49ers have taken root in the league. … When I go to New England, it reminds me of the 49ers."

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Like so many other 49ers, including fellow Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, Richard Dent and Fred Dean, Young leads a loud contingent of former players who say DeBartolo deserves his place in the hall. On the flipside of that is a strong-yet-silent group of NFL executives and owners who chafe at the mention of DeBartolo, particularly when compared with former Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell and New York Giants coach Bill Parcells. Those three are among 17 men who will be considered Saturday for induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Or as one owner said after giving a long and passionate endorsement of Modell, "I have nothing to say about Eddie DeBartolo."

DeBartolo's aggressive and hyper competitive mentality remains a sore point among owners. They note that he broke salary-cap rules in the 1990s and got into trouble with the law (he was eventually convicted in a corruption case involving former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards). Those incidents ultimately led to DeBartolo being forced out of the league and surrendering ownership to his sister, ending a run that included five Super Bowl-winning teams between 1977-2000.





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But as one NFC team executive admitted in noting that DeBartolo dominated the NFL like no other owner: "Eddie pushed the entire league to be better. He drove people crazy trying to keep up, but he was the model. Whatever it took to win. The reason we have a salary cap is because of Eddie. He was willing to spend whatever it took to win."

That last part is oversimplified – the cap is there for multiple reasons, including a financial floor to make sure everyone spends a minimum amount – but there is a vein of truth to the general argument. Between hiring Walsh, building the first modern training facility and creating an organization that featured players such as Young, Lott, Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, DeBartolo constructed a football Valhalla.

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