Tarik Glenn Belongs in Colts' Ring of Honor
When you think of the late 90s, early 2000s Indianapolis Colts, you think of the high-flying offenses led by Hall of Famers Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Edgerrin James, and future Hall of Famers Reggie Wayne and Jeff Saturday. Know what all those guys have in common, aside from future enshrinement in Canton?
They're all in the Colts' Ring of Honor.
There's one glaring omission from that list, and he's the largest of the bunch.
Tarik Glenn.
While those names mentioned above stole all the headlines over the years and received all of the praise, there was arguably no one player more important to those juggernaut offenses than Glenn at left tackle.
It's high time Jim Irsay does the right thing and inducts the 11-year starter into the franchise's Ring of Honor.
For nine of his 11 years in the blue and white, Glenn was in charge of keeping Manning, the franchise centerpiece, upright and clean. During his career, Glenn routinely helped the Colts lead the league in fewest sacks allowed. Though he racked up false start penalties over his career (71 in 11 years), Glenn was incredibly reliable for the Colts, missing just six games over his career.
A 3-time Pro Bowler, Glenn was often overlooked for the bigger name tackles like Johnathan Ogden, Willie Roaf, and Willie Anderson, yet those on his own team knew how special 78 was over the years.
Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, both of whom came up through the ranks to become stars for the Colts, faced off against Glenn every week in practice and knew just how great he was.
“He deserves it,” Freeney said to The Athletic's Zak Keefer in a piece on Glenn. “He was one of the best offensive tackles in the league and should have made more Pro Bowls than he did. I give so much credit to Tarik for helping mold me into the type of player I became. Every day in practice, I had to go up against ol’ T-Bone. Tell you this much, once I could beat Tarik in practice, I knew beating anybody else would be much easier. I knew going into every game, ‘Well, this guy I’m facing isn’t Tarik’ … he was a monster.”
Following his 11-year career, Glenn sits 43rd in Pro Football Reference's Hall of Fame monitoring with a mark of 53.18. On the HoF monitoring list, Glenn finds himself smack dab between former Colt Chris Hinton and former Patriots standout Bruce Armstrong.
Know what Hinton and Armstrong both have in common? Hinton is in the Colts' Ring of Honor, while Armstrong has his No. 78 retired by the Patriots and is in the franchise's Ring of Honor.
Glenn deserves his rightful spot in the Colts' Ring of Honor, and soon. It's been 14 years since he's donned a Colts uniform. Fourteen years is a long time to ignore one of the best left tackles of his generation and in franchise history.
"It bothers me, I’m not gonna lie,” Glenn said to Keefer. “I don’t really get it … if it was up to the guys I played with, they know the value that I brought.”
If Irsay is having trouble making the decision, he should call up Manning or James or Harrison. They'll tell him.
