On Wednesday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame revealed the modern-era finalists for football immortality, and it will be an extremely tough list to cut down.
There are 15 finalists, including three players who made the cut in their first year of eligibility: Dwight Freeney, Darrelle Revis and Joe Thomas.
The list includes the following players:
Jared Allen, DE – 2004-2007 Kansas City Chiefs, 2008-2013 Minnesota Vikings, 2014-2015 Chicago Bears, 2015 Carolina Panthers
Willie Anderson, OT — 1996-2007 Cincinnati Bengals, 2008 Baltimore Ravens
Ronde Barber, DB – 1997-2012 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Dwight Freeney, DE — 2002-2012 Indianapolis Colts, 2013-14 San Diego Chargers, 2015 Arizona Cardinals, 2016 Atlanta Falcons, 2017 Detroit Lions, 2017 Seattle Seahawks
Devin Hester, PR/KR/WR — 2006-2013 Chicago Bears, 2014-2015 Atlanta Falcons, 2016 Baltimore Ravens, 2016 Seattle Seahawks
Torry Holt, WR — 1999-2008 St. Louis Rams, 2009 Jacksonville Jaguars
Andre Johnson, WR — 2003-2014 Houston Texans, 2015 Indianapolis Colts, 2016 Tennessee Titans
Albert Lewis, CB — 1983-1993 Kansas City Chiefs, 1994-1998 Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders
Darrelle Revis, CB — 2007-2012/2015-16 New York Jets, 2013 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2014 New England Patriots, 2017 Kansas City Chiefs
Joe Thomas, LT — 2007-2017 Cleveland Browns
Zach Thomas, LB — 1996-2007 Miami Dolphins, 2008 Dallas Cowboys
DeMarcus Ware, LB — 2005-2013 Dallas Cowboys, 2014-2016 Denver Broncos
Reggie Wayne, WR — 2001-2014 Indianapolis Colts
Patrick Willis, LB — 2007-2014 San Francisco 49ers
Darren Woodson, S — 1992-2003 Dallas Cowboys
The original started with 129 nominees. It was cut down to 28 semifinalists in November and then prior to Super Bowl LVII, the committee can select up to five modern-day finalists for this year’s class. Those five will be revealed publically on February at the “NFL Honors presented by Invisalign.”
Tory Holt, Zach Thomas and Reggie Wayne have been named finalists four times, the most on the list of 15 finalists. They are followed by Ronde Barber, who is a 3x finalist.
In addition to the modern-era finalists are senior finalists Chuck Howley, Joe Klecko and Ken Riley, and contributor/coach finalist Don Coryell.
The list is extremely impressive and we don’t envy the voters as it will be difficult to choose the final five. But the trio of receivers in Holt, Johnson and Wayne is going to be hard to deny entry to.
