Get The Gold Jackets Ready This Bear Is Headed to Canton
02 Jan, 2018
The 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2018 includes four former players who are in their first year of eligibility.
The modern-era finalists revealed Tuesday night include linebacker Ray Lewis, wide receiver Randy Moss, guard Steve Hutchinson and linebacker Brian Urlacher. Those four players finished their careers with a combined 34 Pro Bowl selections and 20 first-team All-Pro selections.
Tackle Tony Boselli, wide receiver Isaac Bruce, safety Brian Dawkins, guard Alan Faneca, tackle Joe Jacoby, running back Edgerrin James, cornerback Ty Law, safety John Lynch, center Kevin Mawae, wide receiver Terrell Owens and cornerback Everson Walls are the other finalists.
The Class of 2018 will be chosen by the Board of Selectors at a meeting Feb. 3 in Minneapolis, Minnesota — the day before Super Bowl LII. At that meeting, the list of modern-era finalists will be trimmed to 10 and then to five.
The five finalists will then be chosen on a yes-or-no basis, and those who receive 80 percent approval will be enshrined next August in Canton, Ohio.
The four finalists who are in their first year of eligibility reflect a tilt toward recent players on the list. Just two of the 15 finalists — Walls, who is in his final year of eligibility, and Jacoby — played before 1993.
Lynch, Boselli, Dawkins, Mawae, Owens and Law were all finalists in 2017.
None of the coaches among the list of 25 modern-era semifinalists made the cut to 15. Don Coryell, who was a finalist in 2017, and Jimmy Johnson were among this year’s semifinalists.
Lewis, who started 227 games in his career, may be the most decorated player on the list. He was a 13-time Pro Bowl selection, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and Super Bowl MVP.
Urlacher was an eight-time Pro Bowl selection and was the 2005 Defensive Player of the Year.
Moss played for five teams in his career, including a stint with the New England Patriots, and had eight seasons with at least 1,200 receiving yards.
Hutchinson was a seven-time Pro Bowl selection whose “poison pill” contract was a benchmark deal in free agency when he signed with the Minnesota Vikings in 2006.
The Seattle Seahawks had used the transition tag to try to keep Hutchinson, but he could receive offers from other teams. As a result, the Vikings included a provision that Hutchinson’s year-to-year salaries would be guaranteed if he was not the highest-paid offensive lineman on his team. The Seahawks could not realistically match the deal, given they had just signed future Hall of Famer Walter Jones to an extension that was more than the Vikings’ offer to Hutchinson.
ESPN
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