2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class

I don't think owners belong in the Hall except for George Halas. But given that they are in, then Kraft deserves it. Not for the Patriots dynasty in this century, but for finally stabilizing the Patriots franchise which had been chaotic since its inception in the old AFL and turning it into a normal, profitable, boring NFL franchise. It was nip and tuck there'd even be a New England franchise when the '90s began. The fact he's such a needy person shouldn't change that.

 

I agree with the post that not enough players from the 30's and 40's are in. I do think the linebacker group is the strongest, Randy Gradishar finally made it in this year and I was a strong supporter. but Bergey, Baughn, Matthews Jr, and and Mecklenberg had similar and Hall of Fame worthy careers.

It will also be interesting to see if the HOF starts letting players in from this list who were dominant for shorter periods of time but then got hurt or otherwise faded away like Larry Brown and Tommy Nobis.

 

Who are the four players from the 50s who have not been inducted?

 

I think James is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The pressure is obviously on because of Kraft's age but I can also see where voters feel he's going overboard. But even with the issues, it's hard to believe the voters continue to leave him out and risk his passing before either knowing he gets in or gets to participate in his induction.

And they bring up Spygate and Deflategate to keep him out. But the voters are just going to overlook that for Belichick next year and have him waltz in?

Would I be surprised if they held Kraft out one more cycle to get him and Belochick, assuming he doesn't coach again, in together? No. But every year you wait it's risky.

It was obvious that Bowlen's health situation moved him into induction. And I think the voters got owner fatigue from that stretch to the point they went the other way.

 

Alan Ameche, Bobby Walston, Dick Barwegen on offense, Joe Fortunato on defense

All four made the initial senior list.

I think Barwegen and Fortunato have the best cases of the two, Walston has by far the weakest

 

As a lawyer, the most amazing part of Spygate is the decision by Goodell to immediately destroy all of the tapes. The first thing you tell people to do is not to destroy evidence and they quietly wrapped up the investigation and lit the case file on fire. Suspicious as hell.

 

These are rich men, used to people kowtowing to them 24/7/365 and they'll be PISSED OFF if anyone keeps them from getting something they want. Hope you enjoyed the massage "Mr." Kraft.

 

Bowlen is considered the father of Sunday Night Football. I'd never thought much of his inclusion before stumbling across that.

 

The excellent book “Big Game” by Mark Leibovich does a fantastic job of making fun of Kraft’s ego.

 

Induct the Packers stockholders en masse. Wouldn’t be any more of a farce than the rest of the owners wing.

 

The Reporter Who Won’t Let the NFL Go off the Record

 

167 finalists as part of new process, which cuts this list to 50, then 25 semifinalists and 15 finalists

Eli is going to get the most scrutiny among the newcomers but there will be interesting conversations. I assume Kuechley will make it first ballot. Vinatieri will have a huge debate. I think Suggs and Yanda will have to wait at least a year. There is plausible case that you could make the class all first-timers: Eli, Kuechley, Suggs, Yanda and Vinatieri but they certainly won't since they kept Gates out last time -- he's almost certain to be one of this year's five



*Finalist for the Class of 2024. Underline indicates first year of eligibility. (Players must have last played at least five full seasons ago to be eligible for nomination. Therefore, any individual who last played in 2019 is eligible for the first time in 2025.)

QUARTERBACKS (10): Marc Bulger, Randall Cunningham, Jake Delhomme, Doug Flutie, Rich Gannon, Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb, Eli Manning, Steve McNair, Tony Romo.

RUNNING BACKS (31): Shaun Alexander, Terry Allen, Jamal Anderson, Tiki Barber, Larry Centers (FB), Jamaal Charles, Stephen Davis, Corey Dillon, Warrick Dunn, Charlie Garner, Eddie George, Priest Holmes, Steven Jackson, Chris Johnson, Thomas Jones, John Kuhn (FB), Vonta Leach, Dorsey Levens, Jamal Lewis, Marshawn Lynch, Eric Metcalf (also WR/PR/KR), Glyn Milburn (also WR), Lorenzo Neal (FB), Clinton Portis, Tony Richardson (FB), Robert Smith, Darren Sproles (also PR/KR), Fred Taylor*, Chris Warren, Ricky Watters, Ricky Williams.

WIDE RECEIVERS (21): Torry Holt*, Joe Horn, Chad Johnson, Brandon Marshall, Derrick Mason, Herman Moore, Muhsin Muhammad, Jordy Nelson, Andre Rison, Jimmy Smith, Rod Smith, Steve Smith Sr., Demaryius Thomas, Hines Ward, Reggie Wayne*, Wes Welker, Roddy White.

TIGHT ENDS (6): Ben Coates, Vernon Davis, Antonio Gates*, Jeremy Shockey, Delanie Walker, Wesley Walls.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN (26): Willie Anderson* (T), Bruce Armstrong (T/G), Matt Birk (C), Lomas Brown (T), Ruben Brown (G), Jahri Evans* (G), Travis Frederick (C), Jordan Gross (T), Ryan Kalil (C), Lincoln Kennedy (T), Olin Kreutz (C), T.J. Lang (G/T), Nick Mangold (C), Logan Mankins (G), Tom Nalen (C), Jeff Saturday (C), Mark Schlereth (G/C), Josh Sitton (G), Chris Snee (G), Joe Staley (T), Dave Szott (G), Brian Waters (G), Richmond Webb (T), Erik Williams (T), Steve Wisniewski (G), Marshal Yanda (G).

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN (18): John Abraham (DE also LB), Jared Allen* (DE), La’Roi Glover (DT/NT), Casey Hampton (DT/NT), Robert Mathis (DE), Chester McGlockton (DT), Haloti Ngata (DT), Simeon Rice (DE), Clyde Simmons (DE/DT), Neil Smith (DE), Henry Thomas (DT/NT), Justin Tuck (DE), Ted Washington (NT/DT), Vince Wilfork (DT/NT), Jamal Williams (DT/NT), Kevin Williams (DT), Pat Williams (DT).

LINEBACKERS (20): Jessie Armstead, Brendon Ayanbadejo, Cornelius Bennett, Lance Briggs, Keith Brooking, NaVorro Bowman, Tedy Bruschi, Donnie Edwards, James Farrior, London Fletcher, James Harrison, Luke Kuechly, Willie McGinest (also DE), Ken Norton Jr., Julian Peterson, Bill Romanowski, Takeo Spikes, Terrell Suggs, Mike Vrabel, Lee Woodall.

DEFENSIVE BACKS (18): Eric Allen* (CB), Eric Berry (DB), Antoine Bethea (S), Dré Bly (DB), Kam Chancellor (S), Nick Collins (DB), Antonio Cromartie (CB), DeAngelo Hall (DB), Rodney Harrison* (S), Eugene Robinson (DB), Samari Rolle (DB), Allen Rossum (DB), Bob Sanders (S), Aqib Talib (CB), Earl Thomas (S), Charles Tillman (CB), Troy Vincent (CB), Darren Woodson* (S).

PUNTERS/KICKERS (15): David Akers (K), Gary Anderson (K), Darren Bennett (P), Jason Elam (K), Jeff Feagles (P), Jason Hanson (K), John Kasay (K), Sean Landeta (P), Shane Lechler (P), Pat McAfee (P), Brian Moorman (P), Matt Stover (K), Matt Turk (P), Mike Vanderjagt (K), Adam Vinatieri (K).

SPECIAL TEAMS (2): Josh Cribbs (KR/PR also WR), Brian Mitchell (KR/PR also RB).