The Pro Football Hall of Fame will induct their class of 2016 tonight and with that comes the inevitable speculation of who should have or shouldn’t have been inducted.

The Hall of Fame has historically not been kind to the New York Jets all time greats, as they’ve had just four members of their team inducted throughout the years.

But that number should be higher.

Although the Jets don’t have the illustrious history of their crosstown rival, New York Giants, or like many other NFL teams, they have had many great players over the years who deserve a shot to be inducted into Canton.

We’ve gone back and looked at some of the greatest players to ever wear a Jets uniform and selected the top New York Jets who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

No. 5 – Larry Grantham LB 1960-1972

Larry Grantham is an original New York Jet, or I should say New York Titan.

The Titans selected Grantham in the first round of the 1960 AFL draft in the team’s inaugural season, and he stayed with the team for the duration of his 13 year career.

Grantham was part of the core group of players that help turn the Titans into the Jets and eventually into Super Bowl champions in 1968.

At just 210 pounds, he was the backbone of one of the great defenses in New York Jets history in the late 1960’s. A defense that helped stifle the high flying, heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III to just seven points.

Over the course of his 13 year career with the franchise, Grantham missed just seven games and recorded 24 interceptions and ten fumble recoveries.

Grantham was honored, along with other Jets greats in their first Ring of Honor class of 2010, and for Grantham this meant more than being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“I’m not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and sure, that’s a great big honor, but to me this honor with the Jets is unbelievable.” Grantham said. “Just think of all the players they’ve had up there from 1960 till now. It’s something I can’t put into words. I don’t have the vocabulary to tell you how excited I am about it.”

Among his accolades were five AFL All Star games and five first team All-AFL selections as well as the team MVP in 1971.

No. 4 – Mark Gastineau DE 1979-1988

Mark Gastineau was the first true sack master in the National Football League.

As many know, quarterback sacks have always taken place, but it did not become an official statistic until the 1982 season.

Enter Mark Gastineau.

Gastineau made a career off of terrorizing opposing quarterbacks, and helped form the New York Jets “Sack Exchange” with teammates Marty Lyons, Joe Klecko and Abdul Salaam. The four outstanding lineman would combine for a league leading 66 sacks in 1983.

Gastineau also became well known for his antics on and off the field.

Every time Gastineau would record a sack there would be a subsequent dance that accompanied it. He was so physically intimidated that quarterbacks would lose sleep the night before the game thinking about how they were going to avoid getting crushed by the Jets flamboyant defensive end.

He twice led the NFL in sacks, including a then NFL record 22 sacks in 1984, a record that would stand for 17 years until Michael Strahan broke it in 2001. He was also voted the leagues “Defensive Player of the Year” that same year.

Gastineau retired with a franchise record 107.5 sacks and was selected to five pro bowls in his 10 year career.

He was inducted into the Jets Ring of Honor in 2012.

No. 3 – Winston Hill OT 1963-1976

Winston Hill is without a doubt, the greatest offensive tackle to ever play for the New York Jets.

As quarterback Joe Namath’s blind-side protecter, he made the Pro Bowl eight times, starting 174 consecutive games from 1963 to 1975 despite suffering numerous injuries along the way.

Hill was originally drafted by Jets head coach, then Baltimore Colts coach Weeb Ewbank in the 11th round of the 1963 NFL draft, only to sign with the New York Jets in the upstart AFL that same year.

After the Jets drafted Namath in 1965 and began to turn their fortunes around, Hill would begin an unprecedented streak of seven consecutive Pro Bowl’s beginning in 1967.

A lot of the success of Joe Namath and the New York Jets wide-open passing attack goes to Hill for being an indestructible figure at left tackle all of those years.

Hill was inducted as part of the original class of the New York Jets Ring of Honor in 2010 and is on the 2nd team All-Time AFL roster.

No. 2 – Kevin Mawae C 1998-2005

Kevin Mawae will go down as possibly the greatest free agent signing in New York Jets history.

One season after taking over as head coach of the New York Jets, Bill Parcells began re-tooling the Jets offense.

He went out and traded for Curtis Martin, and signed Vinny Testeverde and Kevin Mawae. The Jets now had one of the best offenses in the AFC.

Mawae was a special player. He revolutionized the center position by using his speed and athleticism to pull like a guard normally would on running plays.

He helped pave the way for several of Curtis Martin’s 1,000 yard seasons with the team, and along the way was selected from 1999-2004.

Mawae would make a total of eight pro bowls in his 16 NFL seasons with the Jets, Seahawks and Titans. He was also a first team All-Pro a total of thee times.

Mawae will not be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, as he was a semi-finalist for the second consecutive year, but it’s only a matter of time before he becomes the eighth modern-day center to be enshrined into Canton.

No. 1 – Joe Klecko DE/DT 1977-1987

Joe Klecko is the only player in the history of the National Football League to be selected to the Pro Bowl at three different positions.

Whenever the discussion of who SHOULD be in the Hall of Fame arises, he is usually one of the first guys mentioned. He has been eligible for over twenty years now, and has never been able to make the final cut.

In fact several players who are in the Hall of Fame have spoke openly as to why Klecko deserves to be honored among the games greatest players, but Klecko himself harbors no discontent with the Hall of Fame voters.

“I give it no validity one way or the other,” Klecko told NJ.com. “The guys in the Hall of Fame that I played against know what I did. And that committee is the guys that’ll put me on the ballot.”

Outside of Joe Namath and Curtis Martin, Klecko is likely the greatest player to ever wear the New York Jets green and white. In ten seasons he made the Pro Bowl four times, but it wasn’t his statistics that made him a great player, it was his versatility.

Klecko moved from defensive to defensive in 1983, and was named to the Pro Bowl at his new position in 83′ and 84.’ The Jets then switched to a 3-4 alignment in 1985, forcing Klecko to learn a new position, nose tackle. He led the Jets with 96 tackles and five forced fumbles, and tied for second with 7.5 sacks and once again made the Pro Bowl.

His number 73 is retired forever with the New York Jets and he was also a member of the original Ring of Honor class in 2010.

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Joe Lacalandra is a contributing writer to “Jets Wire.” Joe can be reached on Twitter (@JLacalandra), or via email (jlacalandra@gmail.com)