Pro Football HOF Modern-Era Nominees

I'm two weeks late on this one. Two weeks ago, 102 Modern-era nominees for the 2019 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class were announced. It's a great honor to be a nominee but it's only the start of a long and often frustrating, painful process. Just ask the families of long-deserving players like Lavvie Dilweg, Duke Slater, Al Wistert, Mac Speedie, and Alex Karras. And those great players exhausted their Modern-era status years ago. The 102 nominees will be reduced to 25 semi-finalists in November and, from there, will be reduced to 15 finalists in January. On the eve of Super Bowl LIII, the voters will convene in Atlanta to decide the Hall of Fame fates of the 15 finalists, Senior finalist Johnny Robinson, and Contributor finalists Pat Bowlen and Gil Brandt.

The 102 Modern-era nominees include four first-year eligible players including tight end Tony Gonzalez, safety Ed Reed, cornerback Champ Bailey, and linebacker London Fletcher.

Here's the entire list of Modern-era Nominees from the Pro Football Hall of Fame website.

MODERN-ERA NOMINEES FOR THE PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2019

*Finalist in 2018; Underline indicates first year of eligibility (Players and coaches must have last played or coached at least five full seasons to be eligible for nomination. Therefore, any individual who last played or coached in 2013 are eligible for the first time in 2019).

QUARTERBACKS

(5) – Randall Cunningham, Dave Krieg, Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb, Steve McNair

RUNNING BACKS

(14) — Shaun Alexander, Tiki Barber, Earnest Byner, Larry Centers, Corey Dillon, Eddie George, *Edgerrin James, Darryl Johnston, Eric Metcalf (WR/KR/PR), Clinton Portis, Fred Taylor, Herschel Walker (also KR), Chris Warren, Ricky Watters

WIDE RECEIVERS

(9) — *Isaac Bruce, Gary Clark, Henry Ellard (also PR), Torry Holt, Chad Johnson, Derrick Mason, Sterling Sharpe, Rod Smith, Hines Ward

TIGHT ENDS

(4) — Mark Bavaro, Tony Gonzalez, Brent Jones, Jay Novacek

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN

(15) — Willie Anderson (T), *Tony Boselli (T), Lomas Brown (T), Ray Donaldson (C), *Alan Faneca (G), Chris Hinton (G/T), Kent Hull (C), *Steve Hutchinson (G), Mike Kenn (T), Olin Kreutz (C), *Kevin Mawae (C/G), Tom Nalen (C), Chris Samuels (T), Richmond Webb (T), Steve Wisniewski (G)

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN

(7) — La’Roi Glover (DT/NT), Russell Maryland (DT), Leslie O’Neal (DE), Simeon Rice (DE), Richard Seymour (DT), Neil Smith (DE), Bryant Young (DT)

LINEBACKERS

(14) — Carl Banks, Cornelius Bennett, Tedy Bruschi, London Fletcher, Seth Joyner, Wilber Marshall, Clay Matthews, Willie McGinest (also DE), Karl Mecklenburg, Sam Mills, Chris Spielman, Takeo Spikes, Darryl Talley, Zach Thomas

DEFENSIVE BACKS

(18) — Eric Allen (CB), Steve Atwater (S), Champ Bailey (CB), Ronde Barber (CB/S), Bill Bates (S), LeRoy Butler (S), Nick Collins (S), Thomas Everett (S), Rodney Harrison (S), *Ty Law (CB), Albert Lewis (CB), *John Lynch (S), Tim McDonald (S), Ed Reed (FS), Dennis Smith (S), Troy Vincent (CB), Adrian Wilson (S), Darren Woodson (S)

PUNTERS/KICKER

(3) — Jason Elam (K), Jeff Feagles (P), Sean Landeta (P)

SPECIAL TEAMS

(2) — Brian Mitchell (KR/PR also RB), Steve Tasker (ST also WR)

COACHES

(11) — Don Coryell, Bill Cowher, Tom Flores, Jim Hanifan, Mike Holmgren, Jimmy Johnson, Richie Petitbon, Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer, Clark Shaughnessy, Dick Vermeil

***

If I had a Hall of Fame vote, and I really should, my 2019 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class might look something like this.

Tony Gonzalez
Ed Reed
Tony Boselli
Steve Hutchinson
Sterling Sharpe
Johnny Robinson (finally)
Pat Bowlen
Gil Brandt

At least that's how I feel today. One of Ty Law, Kevin Mawae, or Edgerrin James could replace one of the above (not named Reed) tomorrow. The actual voters have a tough job. They have a tough job every year. Although they didn't do their job very well for the five years that Cris Carter didn't make it!