Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020 Nominees

The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced 122 modern-era nominees for the Hall of Fame Class of 2020. With 2020 being the NFL's 100th birthday, it was decided this past summer that there will be a special Centennial Hall of Fame Class next year. That class will include as many as 15 deserving inductees that have been overlooked. Several have been overlooked for far too long. The 122 nominees that were announced yesterday have nothing to do with that. The modern-era nominees include only players whose career ended less than 25 seasons ago. The 122 nominees will be sliced to 25 semifinalists in November and whittled to 15 finalists in early January. The finalists will then be presented to the full 48-member Selection Committee on the eve of the Super Bowl. As many as five will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame next August. The Centennial Class will be inducted in September as part of the celebration the NFL's birthday. But this is about the 122 nominees.

Eight are in their first year of eligibility:

Troy Polamalu

Patrick Willis

Reggie Wayne

Lance Briggs

Justin Smith

John Abraham

Maurice Jones-Drew
Josh Cribbs

8 were finalists last year:

Steve Hutchinson

Tony Boselli

Alan Faneca

Isaac Bruce

Edgerrin James

Richard Seymour

John Lynch

Steve Atwater

The 122 nominees breaks down like this:

63 offensive players

43 defensive players

16 special teams players

MODERN-ERA NOMINEES FOR THE PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2020

*Finalist in 2019; Underline indicates first year of eligibility. 

Quarterbacks

(7) – Randall Cunningham, Jake Delhomme, Boomer Esiason, Jeff Garcia, Jeff Hostetler, Dave Krieg, Donovan McNabb

Running Backs

(19) – Shaun Alexander, Mike Alstott (FB), Tiki Barber, Earnest Byner, Larry Centers, Corey Dillon, Eddie George, Priest Holmes, *Edgerrin James, Daryl Johnston (FB), Thomas Jones, Maurice Jones-Drew, Eric Metcalf (also WR/KR/PR), Lorenzo Neal (FB), Clinton Portis, Fred Taylor, Herschel Walker (also KR), Chris Warren, Ricky Watters

Wide Receivers

(12) – *Isaac Bruce, Gary Clark, Donald Driver, Henry Ellard (also PR), Torry Holt, Chad Johnson, Derrick Mason, Muhsin Muhammad, Jimmy Smith, Rod Smith, Hines Ward, Reggie Wayne

Tight Ends

(6) – Dallas Clark, Ben Coates, Keith Jackson, Brent Jones, Jeremy Shockey, Wesley Walls

Offensive Linemen

(19) – Willie Anderson (T), Matt Birk (C), *Tony Boselli (T), Lomas Brown (T), Ray Donaldson (C), *Alan Faneca (G), Kevin Gogan (G/T), Jordan Gross (T), Chris Hinton (G/T), Kent Hull (C), *Steve Hutchinson (G), Lincoln Kennedy (T/G), Olin Kreutz (C), Chris Samuels (T), Jeff Saturday (C), Brian Waters (G), Richmond Webb (T), Erik Williams (T), Steve Wisniewski (G) 

Defensive Linemen

(11) – John Abraham (DE also LB), La’Roi Glover (DT/NT), Casey Hampton (DT/NT), Chester McGlockton (DT), Leslie O’Neal (DE), Simeon Rice (DE), *Richard Seymour (DT), 

Justin Smith (DE), Neil Smith (DE), Greg Townsend (DT/NT), Bryant Young (DT)

Linebackers 

(17) – Carl Banks, Cornelius Bennett, Lance Briggs, Tedy Bruschi, James Farrior, London Fletcher, Seth Joyner, Wilber Marshall, Clay Matthews, Willie McGinest (also DE), Sam Mills, Chris Spielman, Takeo Spikes, Darryl Talley, Zach Thomas, Jessie Tuggle, Patrick Willis

Defensive Backs

(15) – Eric Allen (CB), *Steve Atwater (S), Ronde Barber (CB/S), LeRoy Butler (S), 

Nick Collins (S), Merton Hanks (S), Rodney Harrison (S), Albert Lewis (CB), *John Lynch (S), Terry McDaniel (CB), Tim McDonald (S), Troy Polamalu (SS), Bob Sanders (S), 

Troy Vincent (CB), Darren Woodson (S) 

Punters/Kickers

(11) – David Akers (K), Gary Anderson (K), Jason Elam (K), Jeff Feagles (P), 

Jason Hanson (K), Sean Landeta (P), Ryan Longwell (K), Nick Lowery (K), Reggie Roby (P), Rohn Stark (P), Matt Turk (P)

Special Teams

(5) – Johnny Bailey (PR/KR also RB), Josh Cribbs (KR/PR also WR), Mel Gray (PR/KR also WR), Brian Mitchell (KR/PR also RB), Steve Tasker (ST also WR)

***

This will change often over the next four months but here's my knee-jerk five-man 2020 Hall of Fame Class:

Troy Polamalu

Patrick Willis

Steve Hutchinson

Tony Boselli

Steve Atwater