Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

The list of modern era candidates for the class of 2020 is out:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... candidates

QUARTERBACK -- Randall Cunningham, Jake Delhomme, Boomer Esiason, Jeff Garcia, Jeff Hostetler, Dave Krieg, Donovan McNabb

RUNNING BACKS -- Shaun Alexander, Mike Alstott, Tiki Barber, Earnest Byner, Larry Centers, Corey Dillon, Eddie George, Priest Holmes, Edgerrin James, Daryl Johnston, Thomas Jones, Maurice Jones-Drew, Eric Metcalf, Lorenzo Neal, Clinton Portis, Fred Taylor, Herschel Walker, Chris Warren, Ricky Watters

WIDE RECEIVERS -- Isaac Bruce, Gary Clark, Donald Driver, Henry Ellard, Torry Holt, Chad Johnson, Derrick Mason, Muhsin Muhammad, Jimmy Smith, Rod Smith, Hines Ward, Reggie Wayne

TIGHT ENDS -- Dallas Clark, Ben Coates, Keith Jackson, Brent Jones, Jeremy Shockey, Wesley Walls

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN -- Willie Anderson, Matt Birk, Tony Boselli, Lomas Brown, Ray Donaldson, Alan Faneca, Kevin Gogan, Jordan Gross, Chris Hinton, Kent Hull, Steve Hutchinson, Lincoln Kennedy, Olin Kreutz, Chris Samuels, Jeff Saturday, Brian Waters, Richmond Webb, Erik Williams, Steve Wisniewski

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN -- John Abraham, La'Roi Glover, Casey Hampton, Chester McGlockton, Leslie O'Neal, Simeon Rice, Richard Seymour, Justin Smith, Neil Smith, Greg Townsend, Bryant Young

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

DEFENSIVE BACKS -- Eric Allen, Steve Atwater, Ronde Barber, LeRoy Butler, Nick Collins, Merton Hanks, Rodney Harrison, Albert Lewis, John Lynch, Terry McDaniel, Tim McDonald, Troy Polamalu, Bob Sanders, Troy Vincent, Darren Woodson

PUNTERS/KICKERS -- K David Akers, K Gary Anderson, K Jason Elam, P Jeff Feagles, K Jason Hanson, P Sean Landeta, K Ryan Longwell, K Nick Lowery, P Reggie Roby, P Rohn Stark, P Matt Turk

SPECIAL TEAMS -- Johnny Bailey, Josh Cribbs, Mel Gray, Brian Mitchell, Steve Tasker

My first impression:
That's a pretty pedestrian group of QBs for a hall of fame list (no offense intended but there aren't any Marinos or Montanas on that list).

This is just the preliminary list so I guess there are a lot of less-than-top-notch candidates for all positions but still...

It's been said that 2019 will be a "catch-up" year as far as the Modern Era candidates were concerned, but I don't think I've ever seen a list of preliminary HOF QB and RB candidates before and know that it's highly unlikely any of them will get enshrined in Canton.

Edgerrin James made the cut to the Final 10 in 2019 so I’d say he’s got a great chance of being elected this time.

Take any 2 from Faneca, Hutchinson and Boselli among the OL with Polamalu (the only first ballot nominee with a realistic chance) and Atwater making up the Modern era class.

A lot of borderline guys at nearly every positional group with very little separating them. I only see three slam-dunk guys IMO...Polamalu, Hutchinson & Faneca (in that order). Maybe a Zach Thomas, Steve Atwater, Edge James or Bryant Young sneaks in. The QB class is pretty underwhelming.

There are some of my favorite underrated guys listed, but probably have no shot at the HOF (but perhaps a HOVG candidacy?)...Priest Holmes, Henry Ellard, Wesley Walls, Justin Smith, Leslie O'Neal, Simeon Rice, Wilber Marshall.

Are there any modern fullbacks in the HOF? Players who you can't make an argument for based on their rushing yardage. Johnston and Neal are interesting cases to me.

Thanks for posting. Yeah, this is the time of year when a lot of no-hope HoF guys at least get a little visibility.

From this group, I can get behind Edgerrin James, Isaac Bruce, Henry Ellard, Torry Holt, Reggie Wayne, Tony Boselli, Alan Faneca, Steve Hutchinson, Richard Seymour, Sam Mills, Zach Thomas, Patrick Willis, Steve Atwater, Ronde Barber, Leroy Butler, Albert Lewis, John Lynch, Troy Polamalu, Darren Woodson, Gary Anderson, and Nick Lowery. A few other folks, like Cornelius Bennett, Steve Wisniewski, Bryant Young, and Lance Briggs, wouldn’t bother me all that much if they got in.

Interesting to try and get a Semifinalist list of 25 and Finalist list of 15 here. My guess:

25: James, Bruce, Holt, Ward, Wayne, Boselli, Faneca, Hinton, Hutchinson, Abraham, O’Neal, Rice, Seymour, Young, Matthews, Mills, Thomas, Willis, Atwater, Barber, Butler, Lewis, Lynch, Polamalu, Woodson.

15: James, Bruce, Holt, Boselli, Faneca, Hinton, Hutchinson, Seymour, Mills, Willis, Atwater, Barber, Butler, Lynch, Polamalu.

Hinton, Banks, and Marshall are in their last eligible year as regular candidates.

Final five who get in: James, Boselli, Faneca, Atwater, Polamalu.

Sad that one of them dying might help their chances.

BD Sullivan wrote:Sad that one of them dying might help their chances.

who are you talking about