Faulk played 161 games for the Pats over 13 seasons; Light played 155 over 11 seasons. Both were with the team for their entire playing careers. Vrabel played 125 games over 8 seasons, and played for 2 other teams as well. I certainly think Vrabel belongs in the Pats Hall of Fame, but I cannot criticize the fans for voting for Faulk and Light over him.
Of the players in the queue, Vrabel, Mankins, and then Welker are the ones most deserving. At least those 3 players have the benefit of a small gap before the next phase of players (plus Adam) from the 2nd dynasty start becoming eligible. And, as much as I hate to bring it up, there is also the Bill Parcells question, but they may need to do a special "contributors" vote for that to happen. Still, Parcells may not have that much time left; he's nearly 81 and there were reports he wasn't in the best of health.
Agree with every bit of this.
Look at the list from the last 10 years. 8 of the guys won multiple rings. The only two who didn't were Drew, who saved the franchise and also contributed to the 2001 title, and Raymond Clayborn, who wasn't part of the dynasty but was obviously deserving.
So then we have Vrabel, who played less than Mankins, but won 3 titles and moreover had some absolutely huge moments during those title runs (I'd argue he should have been the MVP of SB 38, with 2 sacks (including a strip sack that set up the first TD), and scoring a TD himself.
Then we have Mankins, who was outstanding for 9 years but never won a title (and had a hand in one of the SB losses, fair or unfair as that may be).
And then we have Welker, who was outstanding for 7 years but also never won a title (and had a hand in one of the SB losses, fair or unfair as that may be).
Re: Parcells, we've been over this before, but he is obviously a tricky candidate due to how he left the team. I'm indifferent as to whether they let him in as a special contributor or something like that. But I don't see the fans ever voting him in, especially with how many more players need to be voted in over the next 10-15 years.