CANTON, Ohio – Randy Gradishar’s Pro Football Hall of Fame biography notes that he had 2,049 career tackles for the Broncos. But there is one key word listed before that figure.

It reads, “unofficial.”

Gradishar, an inside linebacker who played from 1974-83, was credited by the Broncos for that incredible total before the NFL began regulating tackle counting rules in 1994. The Hall of Fame notes that tackles became an “official stat in 2001,” although the league technically still does not deem them official even though tackles are listed in game statistical reports.

Nobody doubts that Gradishar, a senior nominee who will be inducted into the Canton shrine on Saturday, was a tackling machine. But there has been controversy over the years about his tackle total, which some have called inflated.

“To start off with, I’m a Gradishar fan,’’ said Rick Gosselin, who has been on the Hall of Fame selection committee for 28 years, including 20 on the senior committee. “I’ve always thought he was a Hall of Fame player. The tackle numbers, though, I’ve questioned. I didn’t need the tackle statistics to know he was a Hall of Fame player. But I’ve always been skeptical of them.”

Gosselin broke down the Broncos’ reported tackle statistics in 1978, when the NFL expanded from a 14- to a 16-game regular season and Gradishar was credited with a career-high total of 286 tackles, which works out to a staggering average of 17.9 per game.

Gosselin took out touchdowns and interceptions and looked at all the possible plays that season with tackles for the Broncos, who listed nine players with 100 or more stops. Including special teams, he determined that the Broncos credited 2.15 tackles per play, which he called “bogus.”

Such a figure would be impossible now since a maximum of two players are allowed to be credited with a tackle on any one play and on a good number of plays only one tackle is given. Tackles are divided into solo hits and assists.

Denver’s tackle figures during Gradishar’s career were kept by longtime defensive coordinator Joe Collier, who died in May. In a 2021 interview with Talk of Fame Two, Collier didn’t deny that more than two Broncos players at times were credited with a tackle.

“I think the guys up in the press box didn’t pay much attention to a guy who came in with the second or third hit on a ball carrier,’’ Collier said then. “To me, taking tackles the next day off of the film … they’re accurate tackles. No question about it.”

Since Collier gave out more than two tackles on some plays, it is hard to make an accurate comparison of Gradishar’s statistics to other players. While it has been stated that Gradishar is unofficially second in NFL history in tackles after Ray Lewis, the longtime Baltimore linebacker had his calculated in the modern manner.

Lewis was credited with 2,059 tackles, according to ProFootballReference.com, while playing in 228 games with the Ravens from 1996-2012. That works out to an average of 9.0 per game.

Gradishar played in 145 career games. Using the 2,049 figure, that would make his average 14.1 tackles per game.

Since 1994, the most tackles credited by ProFootballReference.com to any player has been Detroit linebacker Chris Spielman with 195 (12.2 per game) in 1994 and the most since 2001 has been Atlanta linebacker Foyesade Oluokun getting 192 (11.3 average) in a 17-game season in 2021. The most by a Denver player since 1994 has been linebacker Alex Singleton racking up 177 (10.4 per game) in 17 games last season.

Gradishar, who arrived in Canton on Wednesday and attended Thursday night’s Pro Football Hall of Fame Game between Chicago and Houston, stands by the tackle figures the Broncos calculated during his career.

“It’s a media thing and a lot of that started when I was first eligible for the Hall of Fame (in 1989), and the media was saying, ‘Well, the guy couldn’t have that many tackles. He couldn’t have had over 200 a year,’’’ Gradishar said. “But then you’re calling my defensive coordinator and defensive coaches liars because we went over the films every (week).’’

Gradishar has been listed by the Broncos as having six 200-tackle years, including 219 in a 14-game season in 1977.

Others on the Broncos from Gradishar’s playing days also defend the tackle figures. Myrel Moore, then Denver’s linebackers coach, said Collier was “a real stickler” and that Gradishar’s tackles “are legit.”

“Coach Collier would say after a game that Randy had 18 solo tackles and five assists, and sure enough I would watch the film and see that,’’ said Tom Jackson, a Broncos linebacker from 1973-86 who will be Gradishar’s presenter on Saturday.

Regardless of the stats, Gradishar has been acclaimed as a top-notch tackler.

“I don’t give a (darn) about the Broncos’ tackle figures,’’ said John McClain, who has been on the Hall of Fame selection committee for 32 years, including nearly 20 on the senior committee. “Everybody knows he was a tackling machine. You watched him play and he covered a lot of ground, and he was always in the middle of things.”

Gradishar, 72, was named to seven Pro Bowls and was the 1978 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Still, he had to wait 35 years for his enshrinement after first becoming eligible. He was initially eligible as a modern-era candidate before being considered by the senior committee after he had been retired for 25 years.

“He was a very worthy candidate,’’ said Ira Kaufman, who has been on the selection committee for 20 years, including five on the senior committee. “It’s overdue.”’

Kaufman long had supported Gradishar for induction, all while taking his tackle statistics with a grain of salt.

“Whether he had 1,649 or 2,049 tackles, I look at Gradishar the same way,’’ Kaufman said. “I am always very skeptical about all those early-day tackle figures (before) 1994.”