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The 25 modern-era semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025 were announced on Wednesday morning, and that means you can buckle yourself in to read as much “Who should make the Hall of Fame” content as your heart desires over the next week or so. I'm here to do my part in determining who should get the knock on their door in February.
Let's start with what will be perhaps the most interesting Hall of Fame test case in quite some time… New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. I could spend several thousands of words breaking down my position on Manning's Hall of Fame candidacy, but we've got a lot of ground to cover as is, so I'll keep this short:
I really like Eli Manning, and I'm appreciative of all that the Manning family has done for the game of football. I'm aware of the two Super Bowl wins and the clutch plays he made in those games. I'm also aware of the fact that Eli is 11th all-time in both passing yards and touchdowns. But I'm sorry, Eli Manning is not a Hall of Famer. His career record is 117-117, and he was never once one of the five best quarterbacks in the league in any given season.
Nice career. Truly memorable career. Not a Hall of Fame career, in my humble opinion.
There were five players that, without hesitation, I knew I'd be casting my official non-existent vote for. After that, I grouped the remaining players together by position to try to sort things out, trying to identify if any one player in that group stood out more than others. That proved to only complicate things further.
Wide Receiver logjam presents tricky Hall of Fame questions
Twenty percent of the semifinalists of the Hall of Fame Class of 2025 are wide receivers, and now as we're entering the era of inflated passing stats, you can expect that we'll see more and more wideouts popping up on these lists. And for good reason. Just check out the numbers of each of these five semifinalist.
Steve Smith Sr. – 219 games, 1,031 receptions (12th all-time), 14,731 receiving yards (8th all-time), 81 touchdowns (31st all-time), five-time Pro Bowl, three-time All-Pro, 2005 Comeback Player of the Year
Anquan Boldin – 202 games, 1,076 receptions (9th all-time), 13,779 receiving yards (14th all-time), 82 touchdowns (29th all-time), three-time Pro Bowl, 2003 Rookie of the Year, 2015 Walter Payton Man of the Year, one-time Super Bowl champion
Reggie Wayne – 211 games, 1,070 receptions (10th all-time), 14,345 receiving yards (10th all-time), 82 touchdowns (29th all-time), six-time Pro Bowl, three-time All-Pro, one-time Super Bowl champion
Torry Holt – 173 games, 920 receptions (25th all-time), 13,382 receiving yards (17th all-time), 74 touchdowns (43rd all-time), seven-time Pro Bowl, two-time All-Pro, one-time Super Bowl champion
Hines Ward – 217 games, 1,000 receptions (14th all-time), 12,083 receiving yards (28th all-time), 85 touchdowns (19th all-time), four-time Pro Bowl, three-time All-Pro, two-time Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl MVP
In the end, I chose to turn in a receiver-less ballot, despite the fact that the raw numbers of all five of these pass-catchers are quite impressive. For what it's worth, my two toughest cuts were Reggie Wayne (who is one of seven players in league history who is top ten in both receptions and receiving yards) and Hines Ward (a superb blocker who has better numbers than I would've expected and a Super Bowl MVP to his name).
I had a similar decision to make along the offensive line. My gut reaction told me Marshal Yanda was probably in, but then I did some digging, saw that the career accolades match-up pretty evenly with Jahri Evans, who has missed the cut two years in a row now, and decided against putting either player on my ballot.
Rules state that a finalist must receive at least 80 percent of the vote from the Hall of Fame Selection Committee, and that no fewer than four but no more than nine candidates are inducted annually. Ultimately, I ended up being stingier than I imagined I would be, choosing only six of a possible nine players to make up the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025.
Antonio Gates – Tight End, 2003-2018
Resume – 236 games, 955 receptions (19th all-time), 11,841 receiving yards (32nd all-time), 116 touchdowns (7th all-time), eight-time Pro Bowl, five-time All Pro
If we're building a Mount Rushmore of Tight Ends, there's a good chance that Antonio Gates will be on it. Gates is currently 3rd among tight ends in receiving yards, 4th in receptions, and 1st in touchdowns. Along with Pro Football Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson, Gates was the go-to-guy for a Chargers offense that was top five in scoring every year between 2004 and 2011. In that stretch of time, Gates made the Pro Bowl every year and averaged 71 receptions, 924 yards and 9 touchdowns per season.
Frankly, it was a shock to me that Gates didn't make the cut last year in his first season on the ballot. He deserved to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, so let's hope the Selection Committee doesn't make him wait any longer.
Luke Kuechly – Middle Linebacker, 2012-2019
Resume – 118 games, 1,092 tackles, 18 interceptions, 12.5 sacks, 7 forced fumbles, seven-time Pro Bowl, seven-time All-Pro, 2012 Rookie of the Year, 2013 Defensive Player of the Year
You could make the case that Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis held the Middle Linebacker Championship Belt until his penultimate season in the NFL, at which point he handed it over to Luke Kuechly, who made his professional debut in 2012 and hung onto that sucker until he retired at the age of 28 following the 2019 season due to a number of concussions.
Kuechly led the league in tackles twice, including in his rookie season, and he was also arguably one of the best coverage linebackers in the history of the NFL. He was also tough as nails, playing with a torn labrum through Carolina's postseason run to Super Bowl 50. He notched 29 tackles, two pick sixes, a sack and four passes defended in those three games.
Frankly, if Luke Kuechly isn't a 1st-ballot Hall of Famer, it just proves that the selection system is broken. I don't give a damn that he only played in eight season.
Terrell Suggs – Outside Linebacker, 2003-2019
Resume – 244 games, 895 tackles, 202 tackles for loss (1st all-time), 37 forced fumbles (11th all-time), 139 sacks (12th all-time), seven-time Pro Bowl, two-time All-Pro, 2003 Defensive Rookie of the Year, 2011 Defensive Player of the Year, two-time Super Bowl champion
Just as Ray Lewis and Ed Reed were both 1st-ballot Hall of Famers, fellow Baltimore Ravens star Terrell Suggs should go in on his first attempt as well. Suggs' raw numbers — ranking top 12 all-time in tackles for loss, forced fumbles and sacks — and his accomplishments — Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and two Super Bowls — have made his on-field resume is irrefutable. Legal issues off the field may color some's perception of him, but the voting process supposedly does not factor this in.
James Harrison – Outside Linebacker, 2002-2017
Resume – 193 games, 811 tackles, 128 tackles for loss, 34 forced fumbles (18th all-time), 84.5 sacks, five-time Pro Bowl, four-time All-Pro, 2008 Defensive Player of the Year, two-time Super Bowl champion
Here's where fans of the New York Giants will be able to call me a hypocrite, because in addition to solid career numbers and a Defensive Player of the Year honor, part of James Harrison's candidacy should based on the fact that he's responsible for one of the most iconic plays in Super Bowl history.
James Harrison’s 100-yard interception return for a touchdown in Super Bowl XLIII happened 15 years ago today! Where were you when it happened? #Steelers #NFL @jharrison9292 pic.twitter.com/1vZCByOwKO
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) February 1, 2024
Earl Thomas – Safety, 2010-2019
Resume – 140 games, 713 tackles, 30 interceptions, 71 passes defended, 12 forced fumbles, seven-time Pro Bowl, five-time All-Pro, one-time Super Bowl champion
Earl Thomas' Seahawks tenure ended in controversial fashion, with the multiple-time Pro Bowler openly angling to play for the Dallas Cowboys before suffering a season-ending lower leg injury. He ended up playing one season for the Baltimore Ravens before he was released after the Ravens' leadership council told head coach John Harbaugh they didn't want the Pro Bowler on the team moving forward.
Don't let all of this distract from the fact that at his peak, Thomas was arguably the best safety in the league for a half-decade stretch, establishing himself as a perhaps the most vital piece of the Seattle Seahawks' Legion of Boom defense that included Pro Bowlers such as Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner, Michael Bennett, KJ Wright, Frank Clark and Cliff Avril.
Thomas' case is similar to Kuechly's, in that the career didn't last as long as you'd hope for. But again, short-term dominance should be rewarded just as much as long-term consistency.
Adam Vinatieri – Kicker, 1996-2019
Resume – 365 games, 599 field goals (1st all-time), 715 field goal attempts (1st all-time), 874-of-898 extra points, three-time Pro Bowl, three-time All-Pro, four-time Super Bowl champion, NFL all-time leading scorer
Sure, only two players who have played placekicker exclusively have made the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but that number is about to grow by one. Nobody has played in more combined regular season and postseason games than Adam Vinatieri. Nobody has scored more points. Unofficially, nobody has made more clutch kicks, and no kicker is more worthy of being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Along with Hall of Famer Jan Stenerud, Vinatieri was named to the NFL's 100th Anniversary Team, so there shouldn't be much debate as to whether Vinatieri is going to be heading to Canton this summer.
