Howie Long entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame on July 29, 2000. Twenty-six years later, that moment still stirs debate, especially among those who lined up against him or alongside other greats from that era. Kansas City Chiefs legend Deron Cherry made it clear that if Long was inducted into the Hall of Fame, defensive end Art Still should be too, times ten.

“Well, defense always starts up front, you know,” Cherry said on the Love You Bro podcast with former Chiefs tackle Bill Maas. “So, when you think about it, we had Mike Bell, Art Still, who I don’t know why he’s not in the Hall of Fame. It’s a shame. It’s a crime, really. Literally, I always say this: if Howie Long’s in the Hall of Fame, Art still should be there 10 times more so than him.”

Let’s be clear, Long earned his gold jacket. The 48th overall pick from the 1981 draft built a Hall of Fame career by spending his entire time with the Las Vegas Raiders, making eight Pro Bowls, and becoming one of the reigning defensive linemen of his generation.

It should not be about taking anything away from Long, but asking why Art Still hasn’t gotten the same recognition.

Still’s body of work demands a serious second look. From the moment the Kansas City Chiefs made him the second overall pick in the 1978 NFL Draft, it was obvious what they were getting. He showed it right away, earning a spot on the NFL All-Rookie Team the same year.

Over the course of his career, Still made four Pro Bowls (1980, 1981, 1982, 1984) and earned All-Pro honors twice, all while lining up on defenses that didn’t always give him much help. Still wasn’t just a pass rusher, either. He was a true every-down defensive end.

He led the Chiefs in sacks six different seasons, including back-to-back 14.5-sack years in 1980 and 1984. And the impact went beyond that. Still piled up tackles, controlled the edge against the run, and often finished near the top of the team’s defensive charts year after year.

He led Kansas City in tackles three times and finished his Chiefs career among the franchise’s all-time leaders in both sacks and tackles. He was a blend of ridiculous pass-rushing ability with explosive physicality against the run. Those blends are rare, even in today’s time.

A profile like this deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. So, why hasn’t it happened?

Why is Art Still not in the Canton?

Context always matters when Hall of Fame cases come up, and in Art Still’s case, the era he played in actually strengthens the argument. He came along at a time when sacks weren’t even an official stat. That was the case until 1982. It means some of his best pass-rushing seasons never showed up properly in the box score.

Bill Maas remembers it clearly. The numbers didn’t always jump off the page unless you sat down and watched the tape.

“We’d go in and watch the film the next day,” Maas said. “Art would have like 12 tackles, two sacks. And I mean, he was like stealth mode. You wouldn’t even really notice, but he was just all over the field.”

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That kind of player can get overlooked, especially when he’s not playing on a contender every year. And that’s been another hurdle for Art Still. From the late 1970s through much of the 1980s, Kansas City struggled to stack winning seasons or make regular playoff runs. After winning the Super Bowl in 1969, the Chiefs made the postseason just twice between then and 1990.

Compare that to the environment Howie Long played in. His Raiders teams were almost always in the mix. From 1982 through 1993, the Las Vegas Raiders reached the playoffs seven times and won a Super Bowl along the way. Fair or not, that kind of team success tends to lift individual reputations when Hall of Fame voters look back.

That doesn’t mean one player deserves it more than the other. Long earned his place in Canton. There’s no debate there. But Still’s career deserves to be judged on what it was, not what his teams failed to do around him. This shouldn’t be framed as a contest between Still and Long. Both can be true. Long belongs in the Hall of Fame. And Art Still does too.