Everson Walls says he had "fallen into the abyss."
Whether he can climb out will become evident Saturday once the 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame class is announced.
Walls is a modern-era finalist for the first time since his 13-year NFL career as a Cowboys, Giants and Browns cornerback concluded in 1993. Counting the mandatory five-year waiting period before becoming Hall eligible, that 19-year span is the longest for any of the annual group of 15 contenders since St. Louis Cardinals cornerback Roger Wehrli broke through after 17 years in 2005.
Wehrli then went through three voting cycles before finally being elected. After almost two decades, Walls makes it clear he doesn't want to wait any longer.
"You talk to your friends and associates and they’re like, ‘Man, you should be in,'" Walls said. "This is as close as I'm ever gonna get at this point for that to come into fruition."
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Walls brings a 186-game resume that includes his standing as the only cornerback in NFL history to lead the league in interceptions in three different years (1981, 1982 and 1985). No other player — let alone rookie — has tallied as many INTs in a single season since Walls had 11 during his 1981 Cowboys debut.
Of the 17 other players who posted at least 57 career interceptions, eight are already in the Hall, with two others (Ed Reed and Charles Woodson) considered locks once they become eligible.
"He just had a feel for the game," said long-time Cowboys executive Gil Brandt, who signed Walls as an undrafted college free agent from Grambling State. "You couldn't beat him deep even though he couldn't really run that fast. But more than anything ability, Walls had the ability to make plays on the ball, which some guys don't have."
Walls has earned praise for other parts of his game, as well.
He is known for being the defensive back that San Francisco tight end Dwight Clark beat on his legendary game-winning touchdown catch in the 1981 NFC title game. But redemption (and a championship ring) would come almost a decade later when Walls was playing for the 1990 Giants.
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After helping the Giants beat the 49ers in the NFC title game and reach Super Bowl 25, it was Walls who prevented Buffalo running back Thurman Thomas from scoring or getting deep inside New York territory on a sprint-draw with a solo tackle late in the fourth quarter. The Giants would win the Lombardi Trophy when Bills kicker Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field goal in the closing seconds.
New England coach Bill Belichick, who was New York’s defensive coordinator at that time, told the Boston Herald that the Giants “wouldn’t have won if (Walls) didn't make that tackle.”
"That was the play of the game," Belichick said.
Bill Parcells, Everson Walls and Bill Belichick (Getty Images)
Such praise begs the question of "Why now?" for the 58-year-old Walls becoming a Hall of Fame finalist for the first time. There isn't just one clear reason.
Not enough voters from a previous generation believed Walls was Hall-worthy. But that electorate also felt the same way about Wehrli and fellow cornerback Emmitt Thomas, who went 24 years before initially becoming a Hall finalist.
Wehrli and Thomas are now both enshrined.
The Hall isn't exactly chock full of bronze cornerback busts, either. Only six have gotten inducted as modern-era candidates in the 19 years since Walls became eligible. Walls and Ty Law are the only CBs in this year's Hall class.
There also is the possibility that the large number of Cowboys already in the Hall works against Walls and other Dallas players in the eyes of voters who believe the franchise’s success already has been rewarded enough. Walls thinks that's what happened to him when referring to the "abyss" of going almost two decades before reaching finalist status.
"You fall into there, you're never to be seen again," Walls said with a laugh. “That’s what it’s about. And that's very unfortunate because names like Cornell Green, Harvey Martin and those guys … On any other team they would be in the Hall of Fame."
Everson Walls (Getty Images)
Walls said he learned to compartmentalize being snubbed for the Hall because “there's so many different times in your life where you're going to get disappointment but so many times where you are going to get joy. Sometimes you can’t let one affect the other."
Walls, though, admits there “were moments when I was pretty pissed off with the fact of certain guys winning before me.”
One of them was cornerback Aeneas Williams, who was inducted in 2014.
"First of all, he’s a rival,” said Walls, referring to his own alma mater and Williams having attended Southern. "I'm older than he is, and my numbers are pretty much the same as his. And when it’s all said and done you realize he did not get a Super Bowl win and I did.
"I thought that kind of put me over the top, but they chose to put him in from an organization that is really not known for putting out champions in Arizona with the Cardinals. The Cowboys are known for championships. So yeah, in that regard, that kind of got to me. But that was an exception to the rule."
Walls said he has taken some solace in the fact that some people he meets believe he already owns a gold Hall jacket.
"That always makes me feel a little bit better," he said. "I don't correct those that thought I was already in."
No matter what happens Saturday, Walls already is insured of receiving more recognition the following weekend, when he'll be inducted into the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
Walls also will always be considered a Hall of Fame person for the sacrifice he made to help an ailing friend and teammate.
Walls donated his kidney to Ron Springs in 2007 after the ex-Cowboys running back needed a transplant because of diabetic complications. Springs lived four more years before dying at the age of 54.
"Still to this day if I could do it again I would," said Walls, who remains close to Springs’ family. “Those few months that Ron had after our surgery were just amazing because the strength that you saw in him you saw returning.
"I couldn't have lived with myself if I wouldn't have done everything I could have done and looked his family in the eye afterwards."
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Walls can proudly say the same about doing everything in his football career to make it this far in the Hall of Fame voting process regardless of whether he's tapped for Canton.
"You take the disappointments and you take your lumps like everybody else does,” Walls said. "But you take those lumps knowing that in the end or at least in the future it’s going to get a little better.
"Usually, that’s the way my life has worked out."
Everson Walls was interviewed by Alex Marvez and co-host Gil Brandt on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
