The Raiders' franchise has won three Super Bowls (XI, XV XVIII), and Jim Plunkett was the starter for two of them. He was Super Bowl XV MVP, as he threw for 261 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-10 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Being the quarterback for two Super Bowl winners gives Plunkett a special place in Raiders' lore. He also spent roughly half his 15-year NFL career with the team, having spent five seasons with the New England Patriots and two seasons with the San Francisco 49ers before joining the Raiders in 1978 and basically not playing for two seasons.
Two Super Bowl rings would seem to make Plunkett a virtual no-brainer for enshrinement in Canton. But he continues to wait, until at least the 2026 class now (40 years after his final season).
Hall of Fame committee member explains why Jim Plunkett is not in
On Monday's episode of his "Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast", Hondo Carpenter of SI.com addressed an email from a viewer about Plunkett and the voting process for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The emailer expressed concern about the 77-year old Plunkett getting the honor while he's still alive, perhaps in acknowledgement of another former Raiders quarterback (Ken Stabler) getting the honor posthumously.
Carpenter then welcomed long-time NFL writer and Hall of Fame committee member Rick Gosselin to talk about Plunkett.
"I went through and put together a list of over 100 players that I thought were worthy of Hall of Fame consideration," Gosselin said. "There are eight NFL MVPs, two defensive players of the year off the 50th anniversary team. A player on the 100th anniversary team. There are players with seven, eight, and nine Pro Bowls."
"Now every franchise, feels it has three to five players that has been passed over by the Hall of Fame process in this pool", Gosselin said. "For instance ...the Raiders... Lester Hayes, Jim Plunkett, Jack Tatum, Art Powell, they all feel like these guys have been passed over in the process. Now we bring out, two senior candidates a year off this list of hundred and every year more players go in."
Gosselin noted how five Raiders have been nominated by the Hall of Fame Senior Committee since 2006, while a few teams have had zero nominees in the more than 50 years of that process. Four of those Raiders' nominees since 2006 (John Madden, Ray Guy, Stabler and Cliff Branch) were inducted.
"Everyone looks at the guy they want, and they look at Jim Plunkett ... I got to look at the hundred players on this master list and figure out who are the most deserving. A lot of guys that I had in the initial list...I still have 100 names" Gosselin said. "Jim Plunkett is one of those 100 names, and we got to figure out where does he fit...The senior committee is not a clearing house for any one team and here we got five Raiders since 2006...you want to kind of spread it around...Now is Plunkett better than a player in a quarterback who was the best player in a single season. Plunkett won two Super Bowls with great teams ... It is a numbers problem."
The senior committee has to whittle a long list (100 names, apparently) down to no more than three nominees each year, and not all of those nominees end up as finalists/get inducted. Gosselin fully acknowledged the "numbers problem" Plunkett is caught up in, among that big picture of senior candidates and among worthy senior candidates who played for the Raiders.
Gosselin also made it sound like Plunkett is not necessarily close to being a senior nominee for Hall of Fame induction. A lot of fault can be found with that process, including Gosselin indicating a desire from the senior committee (or a possible mandate from somewhere) to "spread it around" among teams as much as plausible.
Carpenter's conversation with Gosselin is at the beginning of the video below.