Mason's Mailbag: Noah Fant was the right choice for many reasons

[Miles]

Is there any way the list of 100 can be expanded for fans to consider?


It blows my mind that Jack Dolbin isn’t listed, a player Paul Zimmerman considered one of the most overlooked guys in the game. And fan favorites like Glenn “Lumpy” Hyde or Chip “Myrtle’s Turtles” Myrtle or Larry “The Mailman” Canada and so many others.


It is fine to write them in but it does a disservice to those guys to not have their names listed.


-- Pablo Dorzweiler


The write-in vote is the only way to vote for them, sorry. There wasn't room for all of them on the ballot.


When I worked on creating a list of 200 nominees for the ballot, the first item to handle was to make sure every player who made at least one Pro Bowl as a Bronco was on the list. Then it was creating standards at each position, based on productivity, games started, etc. For Hyde, that's where he came up short compared to other offensive linemen; he started just 12 games as a Bronco. Dolbin ranked 23rd in Broncos history in receiving yardage, although I must note that he was on the cusp of being on my list of 200.


Players with notable accomplishments who had short Broncos tenures were among those making the ballot cut. For example, I don't think you can have the ballot without kickoff and punt returner Trindon Holliday. While wearing a Broncos uniform, he had the greatest postseason return game in NFL history, becoming the only player to ever return a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown in the same postseason contest.


As a college-basketball enthusiast, I view this through the prism of selecting the field for the NCAA Tournament each March. Occasionally, you hear bubbles of sentiment for expanding the field to from 68 teams to 96 or even 128 teams (which would be absurd). Some feel this would reduce the debate over the final teams in. It won't. All it will do is change the landscape of the debate. Instead of arguing over a cluster of power-conference teams with records in the 20-12 range and mid-majors in the realm of 25-8, you'd shift the ground of the debate to power-conference teams with .500 records and mid-majors with 10 to 12 defeats.


So no matter where the line for making the ballot was drawn -- at 150, 200, 250, or 300 -- there would be a bit of controversy. That debate is a healthy thing -- and part of the fun of selecting the #Broncos100.