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In his first year of eligibility, former Pittsburgh Steeler safety Troy Polamalu is a semifinalist for the Hall of Fame. For most, the prestigious honor is the ultimate goal. To be permanently enshrined among some of the sports best — its what most players work their entire careers for.
But Polamalu isn’t most players. In an interview on The Jim Rome Show, the former Steeler let it be known how he really feels about the accolade.
“Honestly, I’ve kind of been really indifferent toward seeing any type of award or recognition,” Polamalu told Rome, “because for a sport like football, it’s such a team-oriented sport, it’s hard to really talk about individual players, especially coming from the team that I’ve been a part of — thank God — for the 12 years that I played for the Steelers. There’s definitely more than a handful of players that I know that I’ve played with that are more deserving of this award. I could even point out players on other teams that had they played with the James Harrisons, the [James] Farriors, the Ike Taylors under Coach [Dick] LeBeau that perhaps could have been even more successful or just as successful as I’ve been.”
Polamalu entered the league in 2003 as a first-round pick out of USC. Right away, Polamalu had the makings of a star.
The 2010 NFL Defensive Player of the year recorded 720 tackles, 12 sacks, 32 interceptions and three touchdowns in his 12-year NFL career.
The sic-time All-Pro safety’s career achievements are certainly worthy of a Hall of Fame induction. But, again, Polamalu isn’t like other players and instead, he’s more focused on the team achievements throughout his career rather than the individual.