Predicting what will happen in the NFL over the next 12 months is impossibly difficult. You have to account for every single bit of player movement, foresee injuries that will alter the season in a moment and adjust for everything from weather that's too hot to conditions that are icy cold. And then, after all that, the Chiefs just end up winning the Super Bowl anyway.
Naturally, I want to raise the difficulty even higher. The good news for me is I'm going to be predicting upcoming Pro Football Hall of Fame classes, so many of the players have already finished their careers and finalized their credentials. The bad news is I've chosen to predict the next 10 Hall of Fame classes, so if you thought figuring out what's going to happen in 2025 is tough, imagine how hard it'll be to prognosticate the goings-on in 2034, a decade down the line.
I'm going to try my best. Since active players and coaches become eligible five years after retiring, the classes toward the tail end of this exercise will be full of players currently in the NFL. As a result, I've had to do some guesswork as to when veteran players will retire and what their résumés will look like when they do call it quits. Players I project to be playing through the 2030 season, including Patrick Mahomes and Micah Parsons, won't appear in this piece.
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I'll be considering players who are already retired and eligible for the Hall and coaches who have recently been active, but I won't be focusing on senior candidates from the past. I'll mention candidates as they become eligible each year and then again if I project them to make it to Canton, as needed. And finally, just to be clear: These aren't my suggestions for who should make the Hall of Fame; these are my predictions for who will make the Hall of Fame if the voters act as they have in previous years.
Let's start in 2025 and work our way to 2034.
Jump to a projected HOF class:
2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029
2030 | 2031 | 2032 | 2033 | 2034
Class of 2025
New Hall of Famers
QB Eli Manning (first year of eligibility). Let's start with a notable example of the difference between a player I think should not be in the Hall of Fame and one who will likely end up enshrined in Canton. Manning was a good quarterback who never once engendered serious consideration as an MVP candidate or as the best quarterback in football. His only award vote was a sixth-place finish in the Comeback Player of the Year award in 2011. He led the league in interceptions three times. He was healthy for nearly his entire career and made four Pro Bowls; if he's a left guard, that's the sort of résumé that gets a player "Where are they now?" videos on the team website, not Hall of Fame consideration.
Of course, Manning wasn't a left guard but instead a quarterback who beat Tom Brady in two Super Bowls. History tells us the electorate values Super Bowl wins, and the only eligible quarterback with two Super Bowl victories who isn't in the Hall is Jim Plunkett. Manning is probably close in historical impact to someone like Bob Griese, who didn't last as long as a pro but earned more MVP consideration in multiple seasons. It took Griese a decade, but he made it into the Hall. Without many other Giants from those teams who will earn serious consideration and with a relatively weak class in 2025, Manning should be in.
TE Antonio Gates (second year of eligibility). I was a little surprised Gates didn't make it in with the 2024 class, frankly. The longtime Chargers standout made eight straight Pro Bowls at his peak and ranks third among tight ends in career receiving yards, trailing Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten. Gates hung around for a long time, which can hurt a player's chances if they're not performing at a high level, but we're talking about one of the best players at his position in NFL history.
Edge Terrell Suggs (first year of eligibility). Will T-Sizzle show up on Suggs' plaque? He entered the NFL as a 20-year-old, so he was around for a long time; he was a Ravens player long enough to play with both Orlando Brown Sr. and Orlando Brown Jr. He had seven different seasons with double-digit sacks, won Defensive Rookie and Defensive Player of the Year and managed to help the Chiefs win a Super Bowl as a waiver acquisition in his final season.
Suggs is eighth on the official sack leaderboard, and all of the eligible players above him (and quite a few of the players immediately below him) are in the Hall. It's tough for me to see a case in which he doesn't make it quickly.
Edge Jared Allen (fifth year of eligibility). Likely the first Hall of Famer to make an appearance on MTV's "Jackass," Allen had a solid case as the league's best pass rusher during his peak with the Chiefs and Vikings. He racked up 77.5 sacks over a five-year span between 2007 and 2011 and was a first-team All-Pro four times, although he never did manage a Defensive Player of the Year award.
Allen might be hurt by the reality that his best years came on subpar teams, like the 2007 Chiefs and 2011 Vikings. He nearly made a trip to the Super Bowl with the Vikings in 2010, only for Minnesota to lose to New Orleans in the NFC Championship Game. He was a bit player on the Panthers team that was blown out by the Broncos in what turned out to be his final NFL game.
K Adam Vinatieri (first year of eligibility). There might be some voters who won't select a kicker on principle, but if you're open to the idea, how could you not say yes to Vinatieri? A three-time first-team All-Pro who spent 24 years in the NFL, he holds the career records for points, extra points and field goals made.
On top of that, Vinatieri won two Super Bowls with last-second kicks, although I'd argue the most dramatic kicks he ever made were the 45- and 23-yarders he put through the uprights in the snow at Foxboro against the Raiders in the 2001 AFC Championship Game.
Eligible but not elected
Marshawn Lynch had a four-season run as one of the league's top backs, won a Super Bowl and has one of the coolest plays in NFL history to his name. He's going to get in, but I'm not sure he was an elite back long enough to enter Canton in his first time through.
Marshal Yanda made eight Pro Bowls and was a valuable interior lineman across multiple iterations of the Ravens offense. He's the flipside of the Manning pick; a player I would vote to induct immediately, but given his position and relative obscurity, a guy who might not find regular votes.
Ryan Kalil was one of the NFL's best centers as the pivot on those great Cam Newton-led Panthers offenses. The bar for centers getting into the Hall of Fame is just so high, though; Jeff Saturday and Tom Nalen have similar or better résumés and weren't able to gain induction.
Luke Kuechly is the most acclaimed member of those Panthers teams, and having won both Defensive Rookie and Defensive Player of the Year along, the five-time All-Pro should have no trouble getting in. The only thing that might keep him from a first-year nod would be a relatively short career, given that he played eight seasons before retiring. Patrick Willis, who didn't win a Defensive Player of the Year award, had to wait several years before earning enough votes.
Aqib Talib didn't get much attention early in his career as an elite cornerback with the Buccaneers, but a trade to the Patriots and a high-profile run with the Broncos drew him deserved plaudits. Talib was a playmaker, and his feud with Michael Crabtree should go down in NFL lore, but he probably doesn't have the résumé of a Hall of Famer.
Earl Thomas, alongside Kuechly, is the toughest player to judge from this list. On career accolades alone, he should be in as an essential piece of one of the best defenses in league history. It's also hard to see him and not think of the safety flipping off Pete Carroll as he left the field injured in 2018, or how he was banished from the Ravens for fighting teammate Chuck Clark in training camp in 2020. Voters are going to remember those incidents, and they're going to give Thomas' candidacy some trouble.
Class of 2026
New Hall of Famers
QB Drew Brees (first year of eligibility). Dismissed early on when the Chargers drafted Philip Rivers, Brees immediately turned around his career before becoming arguably the best free agent signing in NFL history. A four-time MVP runner-up, Brees was a perfect match for Sean Payton's passing attack in New Orleans, delivering completion percentages that would have been unthinkable a generation earlier into his age-40 season. He has been an easy pick since about 2014.
RB Frank Gore (first year of eligibility). After dropping to the third round of the 2005 draft because of an injury-riddled career at Miami, Gore became one of the most unlikely top backs in league history. In an era in which teams were increasingly reticent to give their lead back significant carries, he topped 200 carries in 10 different seasons and missed three or more games just once in 16 tries. His 16,000 career rushing yards are third on the all-time list, so while he was never a first-team All-Pro, his lengthy success at a position voters love to reward make him a strong candidate.
WR Larry Fitzgerald (first year of eligibility). This class is full of no-brainers. Fitzgerald, whom Bill Connelly had in the top 10 of his ranking of the greatest college players of the 21st century, racked up a 1,409-yard season in his second year for the Cardinals and never looked back. While he was somehow only a first-team All-Pro once, the one-team wideout had nine different 1,000-yard seasons. He also produced what might have been the best postseason by any wide receiver ever in 2008, as his 30 catches for 546 yards and seven touchdowns nearly earned the Cardinals a Super Bowl title.
TE Jason Witten (first year of eligibility). Witten would be in already if it weren't for his yearlong stint with ESPN and subsequent two years back in the NFL with the Cowboys and Raiders. He had already long earned his trip to Canton before leaving and returning to the league, as he had metronome-like consistency throughout his career. After missing a game due to injury as a rookie, he played 16 games in each of his 16 subsequent pro seasons. He averaged more than 900 receiving yards per season over a 12-season run before slowing down at the end.
CB Richard Sherman (first year of eligibility). Sherman's peak came and went relatively fast -- he made first-team All-Pro three times in his first four years with the Seahawks and never got back -- but the Legion of Boom member had a strong case as the most feared cornerback in football at his best. His size and ability to create takeaways made him an extremely valuable player in Seattle, and his late-career resurgence in San Francisco helped push the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance in 2019. Sherman's playoff exploits and status as a member of a legendary defensive unit will help his first-ballot chances.
Eligible but not elected
Philip Rivers will forever be compared to his fellow 2004 classmates Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger. His chances of winning a Super Bowl were dragged down by ill-timed injuries and dismal special teams at the wrong moments, but he still sits sixth on the all-time leaderboard for both passing yards and touchdowns. The lack of playoff success probably keeps him from being a first-ballot pick, and a run of coming no-doubters at quarterback will hurt his candidacy.
Alex Smith emerged as a solid quarterback after finally linking up with Jim Harbaugh in San Francisco, highlighted by one of the legendary gutsy calls in playoff history, Smith's 28-yard sweep for a touchdown in that incredible game against the Saints. He then had a steady run with the Chiefs, but the false starts early with the 49ers and the career-altering leg injury he suffered with Washington limited Smith's ability to accrue Hall of Fame numbers.
Julian Edelman will build his case around the one that worked for Eli Manning. A supremely impactful slot receiver during the final decade of the Brady era in New England, Edelman averaged more than 100 receiving yards per game across 13 playoff contests between 2013 and 2018. He made that catch against the Falcons, helping to spur on one of the most famous comebacks in Super Bowl history. Edelman never made as much as a Pro Bowl for his regular-season work, though, and a PED suspension will hurt his résumé. He is a no-doubter for the Patriots' Hall of Fame, but not the one in Canton.
Dez Bryant continually elevated his game and was an elite wide receiver between 2013 and 2015, but foot and Achilles injuries stalled his progress. He doesn't have much of a case.
Greg Olsen emerged after a difficult start with the Bears in a Mike Martz offense and eventually became a valued second receiver alongside Steve Smith with the Panthers. Olsen peaked with three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons between 2014 and 2016 and currently ranks seventh in career receiving yards among tight ends. I'm not sure he gets in as a player, but he already has established himself as one of the best color commentators covering the sport, the rare ex-player who isn't terrified of incorporating analytics and modern thinking into his analysis.
David DeCastro was one of the NFL's best guards at his peak with the Steelers, but he suffers from playing a position the electorate typically undervalues and retiring after his age-30 campaign. He retired after making six consecutive Pro Bowls; a couple more would have increased his chances of earning a Hall nod considerably. He's also going to struggle by virtue of the presence of a more notable Steelers lineman entering the ballot.
Maurkice Pouncey was one of the two centers on the 2010s All-Decade team, making it to the Pro Bowl in each of the nine seasons he saw significant time as a player. (The only exceptions were 2013, when Pouncey tore his ACL in the opener, and 2015, when he missed the entire season after fracturing his fibula during the preseason.) Playing on a high-profile team like the Steelers helps Pouncey's chances, but centers often wait a bit before getting the call. I would be (pleasantly) surprised if Pouncey was a first-time nominee, and he could struggle to get votes as his quarterback hits the ballot.
Geno Atkins was overshadowed for most of his career by a more explosive version of his archetype in Aaron Donald, but the former Bengals standout was a similar sort of undersized, disruptive defensive tackle at his best. Atkins has a better case than you think, having made eight Pro Bowls across a nine-year span, but he only hit double-digit sacks on three occasions. He probably tops out at Hall of Very Good status.
Class of 2027
New Hall of Famers
QB Ben Roethlisberger (first year of eligibility). With all due respect to C.J. Stroud, it's difficult to remember a quarterback who burst onto the scene and was more immediately impactful and successful than Roethlisberger. The 2004 first-rounder went 13-0 as a rookie in the regular season, and while he was felled by the Patriots in the playoffs, he led the Steelers to the Super Bowl title the following season.
He was ruthlessly efficient in a run-heavy offense early in his career before eventually producing spectacular passing numbers during the Antonio Brown era. Like Manning, Roethlisberger was never really an MVP candidate or a pick as the league's best quarterback, but his long run of above-average play, 165-81-1 record and two Super Bowl victories make him an obvious selection.
RB Marshawn Lynch (third year of eligibility). Lynch makes it in now, although the timing with these ballots somehow made him the sole member of the peak Seahawks teams to be inducted in 2027. Not bad for a guy the Bills dumped on the Seahawks for fourth- and fifth-round picks.
RB Adrian Peterson (first year of eligibility.) Will he be the last running back ever to win MVP? I believe we'll see a back or two win the league's top regular-season honor in the decades to come, but his 2,097-yard season in 2012 was one of the single most impressive years I've seen from a player, as he dragged an offense with Christian Ponder at quarterback into the postseason. Injuries might have prevented Peterson from challenging the all-time greats at his position, but he's one of nine players with five 1,300-yard seasons. The only player in that group who isn't in the hall is Clinton Portis.
TE Rob Gronkowski (first year of eligibility). Gronk and Lynch making it to the Hall of Fame in the same year should make this weekend a must-watch. He has a reasonable case as the most dominant tight end in league history at his best, combining elite ability after the catch and in the red zone with spectacular, highlight-reel blocking. It's entirely possible Gronkowski's high-ankle sprain in 2011 cost the Patriots the second Super Bowl against the Giants. As it stands, he won four Super Bowls in 11 seasons and goes down as an utterly essential, unmissable NFL player.
LB Luke Kuechly (third year of eligibility). After an impenetrably high top end denied Kuechly in 2006, he deservedly makes it in as the best player on a series of Panthers teams that physically overwhelmed the NFC.
Eligible but not elected
Cam Newton was also on those Panthers teams and won a MVP award during Carolina's 15-1 season in 2015. Newton was hit hard in 2016, and while he bounced back and played at a Pro Bowl level through 2017 and the first half of 2018, the hits seemed to catch up with the former Heisman Trophy winner. He was essentially finished as a full-time player at age 29, as he missed virtually all of the 2019 season before spending one more year as a starter the Patriots didn't really trust in New England. Newton cleared the path for Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts to make an impact in the designed quarterback run game, making him a meaningful part of shifting league history, if not a Hall of Famer.
Antonio Brown is going to be one of the more fascinating candidates coming up over the next decade. Over his six-year peak between 2013 and 2018, he was the best receiver in football, averaging more than 114 catches and 1,524 yards per season. That sort of peak is usually enough to get a skill-position player into the Hall, but he did nothing to help his case after that point.
He forced his way out of Pittsburgh after that 2018 season and then immediately out of Oakland after a series of bizarre interactions with the organization, including an altercation with then-general manager Mike Mayock. Brown spent one week with the Patriots before being released after off-field accusations, only to follow Brady to the Buccaneers the following season and win a Super Bowl as a backup wide receiver. He finished his career by taking off his jersey and sprinting off the field in midgame against the Jets.
Voters are supposed to consider on-field performance as the basis for electing players to the Hall, but does running through the field while stripping off attire in the middle of a play count? Does running your way off the Raiders without ever playing a game matter? My guess is it will, causing Brown to be unelectable at first, but his performance at his peak should eventually earn him more serious consideration.
Andrew Whitworth is in my Hall of Fame, given how dominant he was for a long time in Cincinnati before even enjoying an unprecedented second act deep into his late-30s with the Rams. The league didn't really catch on until after he was on the wrong side of 30, which is going to hurt his chances, but his media career and late-season success on some great Rams teams will help him.
Alex Mack was alongside Pouncey on the Team of the Decade at center, which could hurt both of their chances of earning a Canton nod. Mack also suffered by spending the first half of his career on dismal Browns teams, although his role in helping the Falcons emerge as an elite offense after joining them in 2016 shouldn't be forgotten. He was never a first-team All-Pro, which will hurt at a position that doesn't typically get much love from voters.
Gerald McCoy was a great defensive tackle in his mid-20s with the Buccaneers, but like Mack, he suffered from playing on some middling, anonymous football teams during the Greg Schiano and Lovie Smith eras in Tampa Bay. He was also essentially done at 31 and never had a double-digit sack season.
Ryan Kerrigan -- get this -- was a very good player who suffered from playing on a very bad football team. Kerrigan made a Pro Bowl for his work as an edge rusher on the 2012 Washington team that won the NFC East and had three different 13-sack campaigns, but it was impossible for anyone to earn plaudits being stuck on Washington over the past decade. He finally got out of Daniel Snyder's grasp after the 2020 season, but he was a bit player on the 2021 Eagles as the fourth man in their edge rotation. He's an underrated player but not a Hall of Famer.
Eric Weddle is another one of the players who reset the clock on his Hall of Fame status, but unlike the others, his return added to his résumé: After two seasons out of football, he joined an injury-hit Rams team for the 2021 postseason, played 35% of the snaps in the wild-card win over the Cardinals and was basically ever-present the rest of the way, even wearing the green dot as the communicator for the team in the Super Bowl. The title win added a fun story to Weddle's status as one of the league's best safeties over 12 years with the Chargers and Ravens; while Weddle's a serious candidate, he didn't have the peak to step right into Canton.
Malcolm Jenkins will probably split some votes with Weddle. A cornerback as a rookie before moving back to safety, his range and reliability made him a valuable piece with the Saints. New Orleans never seemed to really take to him, though, and he eventually became a much-loved member of the secondary in Philadelphia, where he was the most popular safety the team's had since Brian Dawkins left for Denver. Jenkins got his ring with the Eagles and then went back to the Saints for two final years in New Orleans. He was great for a long time, but Weddle looks like the more impactful option between the two safeties.
Class of 2028
New Hall of Famers
QB Tom Brady (first year of eligibility). If you need me to explain why Brady is a Hall of Famer, you're reading the wrong article. Getting the seven-time Super Bowl champion into the Hall of Fame might be the easiest projection on the entire list.
Edge J.J. Watt (first year of eligibility). I shouldn't need to say too much about Watt, either. At his peak, he was a revelation, putting up virtually unprecedented knockdown and tackle-for-loss numbers to go with gaudy sack totals. He had 69 sacks over a four-year span between 2012 and 2015, winning three Defensive Player of the Year awards in the process. Injuries limited Watt to two excellent seasons over the rest of his career, but he might have had the hottest peak for any defensive player in modern league history.
C Maurkice Pouncey (third year of eligibility). Getting Pouncey in with his former quarterback would have been a good story, and it's entirely possible things play out that way in real life. If there's any splitting of the Steelers vote, though, it might take Pouncey this extra year to get in.
G Marshal Yanda (fourth year of eligibility). In a class with two no-doubters and not much else in terms of significant candidates, we're going to see a few of the players who have been waiting sneak in. Yanda's streak of eight consecutive Pro Bowls is going to keep drawing more voters as the years go on; virtually every player to pull that off at some point during their career has eventually gotten into the Hall, although it should take interior linemen longer than their more notable counterparts.
S Earl Thomas (fourth year of eligibility). For however Thomas' time ended in Seattle and Baltimore, his run as the NFL's best center-fielder and an utterly essential, irreplaceable part of the Legion of Boom should eventually get Thomas into the Hall. Pete Carroll's defense was never the same without Thomas and his ability to play the post and the seam.
During Thomas's nine-year run with the Seahawks, Carroll's defenses allowed a full yard per pass attempt more when Thomas was off the field. They had four No. 1 scoring defenses and six top-10 defenses in Thomas' eight years as a regular and didn't have one after Thomas' departure.
Eligible but not elected
Matt Ryan's candidacy might come down to losing that Super Bowl to the Patriots. Ryan was the MVP in 2015 and posted gaudy numbers through a deep postseason run, but that season stands as an outlier both in terms of regular-season performance and postseason success. He made only three other Pro Bowls during his career, had one other piece of black ink on his résumé and otherwise went 2-5 during the postseason.
If Jake Matthews doesn't keep committing holding penalties, if Edelman doesn't make that catch, if Harry Douglas could have kept running on that open field in the fourth quarter of the 2012 NFC Championship Game ... there are too many ifs to get Ryan in, even with the seventh-most passing yards in league history.
DeSean Jackson was ruthlessly explosive and one of the best deep threats in NFL history, but he was never in the conversation as a top-five wide receiver and had most of his 30s ruined by injuries. He also mostly came off punt returns after his first three seasons in the league, a decision which helped Giants fans rest easier at night and hurt his Hall of Fame résumé.
A.J. Green was in a steady race with fellow 2011 first-rounder Julio Jones for the first half of their careers, but after racking up his sixth 1,000-yard season in seven years as a 29-year-old, he never came close to topping that mark again. He missed most of the second half of 2018 with injuries, then sat out all of 2019 with an ankle injury and never really seemed to recover. There are few players who looked more likely as Hall of Fame candidates in their 20s before falling entirely out of consideration by virtue of what happened after.
Jarvis Landry averaged nearly 1,100 receiving yards per season across a five-year span with the Dolphins and Browns, making it to five consecutive Pro Bowls in the process. He underwent hip surgery before the 2020 season, though, and it seemed to steal away a much-needed bit of athleticism from Landry as he entered the back half of his career. His numbers declined over each of the three ensuing seasons, and he was done after nine games with the Saints in 2022.
Ndamukong Suh was Connelly's pick as the best college football player of this century, and early in his career with the Lions, his dominance as an interior force with the Lions sparked a brief resurgence of the Detroit defense under Jim Schwartz and Teryl Austin. Suh was a first-team All-Pro three times with the Lions, but after leaving for the Dolphins on a massive free agent deal in 2015, he only managed a single Pro Bowl across eight ensuing pro campaigns.
Suh won a Super Bowl with the Bucs and made it to two more with the Eagles and Rams, a testament to his value as a veteran tackle deep into his 30s, but he falls just short of the Hall for me.
Chandler Jones has a real case. After winning a Super Bowl with the 2014 Patriots, Jones was traded to the Cardinals and became the rare case of a player who flourished after leaving Bill Belichick. Jones won serious Defensive Player of the Year consideration when he racked up 17- and 19-sack seasons for the Cardinals, and he was a first-team All-Pro both times. I'm not sure he had the longevity at the highest level to earn a jacket, but seven double-digit sack campaigns in 11 years is a great feat.
Devin McCourty will inspire articles about how he was the most underrated member of the Patriots dynasty, and his 13-year run with the Pats produced three Super Bowls, but the broader league rarely saw the converted safety as among the best players at his position. He made three second-team All-Pro squads, one of which was as a rookie cornerback, but he's another player who probably suffers from so many other Patriots making it to the Hall.
Class of 2029
Here's where some active or nominally active players begin to become eligible for the Hall of Fame. I'm assuming the players listed in the 2029 section are finished with their NFL careers and don't make it onto another roster.
New Hall of Famers
QB Philip Rivers (fourth year of eligibility). With the glut of no-doubt Hall of Fame quarterbacks temporarily cleared, there's an opening for Rivers to sneak in ahead of Ryan. While I can see some voters opting for Ryan's higher peak given that neither won a Super Bowl, Rivers was the more consistently productive quarterback. Heck, as a 39-year-old, Rivers was completing 68% of his passes and averaging nearly 8.0 yards per attempt for a Colts team whose leading receivers were a fading T.Y. Hilton and Zach Pascal. Don't ask Ryan about his time with Indianapolis.
WR Julio Jones (first year of eligibility). Here's a Falcons player who will have no trouble getting in. Jones fell from grace quicker than anybody expected -- he led the league in receiving yards at age 29, posted a 1,394-yard season the following season and then played for four teams over the next four years with decreasingly impactful results -- but his peak was undeniable. He averaged more than 100 receiving yards per game in five different seasons. The only other players to do that more than two times are Antonio Brown and Calvin Johnson.
OT Jason Peters (first year of eligibility). Offensive linemen struggle to make it to the Hall in their first year of eligibility, but an exception might be made for this converted tight end. Peters emerged as a standout with the Bills, then became a stalwart for the Eagles after Andy Reid traded a first-round pick to acquire him. Peters made nine Pro Bowls in 10 years at his peak, only missing out in 2012 after rupturing his Achilles twice in the same offseason. His absence that year helped get Reid fired and changed the course of NFL history. Peters was a viable starting lineman deep into his 30s and should eventually land a jacket, even if it isn't in Year 1.
C Jason Kelce (first year of eligibility). Getting two longtime Eagles linemen to the same weekend in Canton would be pretty special. I've mentioned how tough it might be for players from the same era in the same organization to earn votes at the same time, but Peters and Kelce were so good for so long that they should prove to be the exception. Kelce's visibility off the field won't hurt his chances, but six first-team All-Pro nods should make it clear he was a legendary pivot between the lines. The only sixth-round pick in modern history better than Kelce is TB12.
DT Aaron Donald (first year of eligibility). The single most unblockable player in football after Watt faded from his peak, Donald routinely made other NFL players look like children. Nominally undersized for a defensive tackle at 6-foot-1 and sub-300 pounds, he routinely got underneath, around and through offensive linemen to disrupt play after play in the backfield.
His presence on the field defined the Super Bowl win for the Rams; the Bengals spent the entire first half shifting their protections to his side and when the Rams finally responded by coming out with five linemen and forcing the Bengals to play one-on-one upfront at the snap, Donald and the defense turned the game around. His pressure of Joe Burrow on fourth down also might have saved the title. He's an inner-circle Hall of Famer.
Coach Bill Belichick (first year of eligibility). Oh, and then there's the greatest coach of all time. This election assumes Belichick doesn't return to coaching, but given that he led the league's top defense over the second half of 2024 without his two best players and with a dismal offense offering no help, I have little doubt he could step in and be an excellent coach somewhere if given a competent quarterback.
The rough end to the Patriots era and Belichick's struggles to find a post-Brady successor on offense weren't the ideal end to his run in New England, but the titles speak for themselves. His success as a defensive coordinator and influence on schemes around the league are just added bonuses to his case.
Eligible but not elected
Dalvin Cook was one of the league's best backs at his peak and made four consecutive Pro Bowls between 2019 and 2022, but that's pretty much his entire career. He tore his ACL as a rookie in 2017, and after being cut by the Vikings a year ago, he was one of the least efficient backs in the league as a backup with the Jets. Injuries also limited his impact at his best; he played fewer than half of the offensive snaps in 22 different games.
Michael Thomas is an example of how a high-ankle sprain can ruin a career. Thomas was the Offensive Player of the Year in 2019, but he suffered the dreaded ankle injury late in Week 1 of the 2020 season. Thomas was reportedly confident he would be able to play the following week, but the injury never really healed. He came back for a six-week spell before returning to injured reserve, then played just three games over the next two years.
Jimmy Graham might have been just as devastating as Thomas at his peak. Over a four-year span early in his career, the former basketball player racked up 4,396 yards and 46 touchdowns. After being traded to the Seahawks to ease New Orleans' cap concerns, he tore up his knee and never quite reached those heights again. He held on for a shockingly long time as a red zone threat and had one of my favorite lines in NFL history during his final season with the Saints: six catches, 39 yards, four touchdowns.
Fletcher Cox has the best case of these four candidates by a considerable margin. A player who managed six consecutive Pro Bowls at his peak, he was arguably the best defender on the 2017 Eagles team that won the Super Bowl and a valuable rotation player when Philly made it back in 2022. Cox topped out at 10.5 sacks and never really challenged for a Defensive Player of the Year award, which could hurt his chances, but he deserves serious consideration.
Class of 2030
And now, here in 2030, we have to start taking a logical leap. I'm going to start retiring players who are currently on active rosters over the next few years and adjust their eligibility accordingly. Here, for example, players who retire after the 2024 season would become Canton-eligible for the first time.
All four of the players who make up this year's Hall of Fame class, in fact, are players who are on NFL rosters. I don't think anybody would be shocked if any or all of them retired after the year. I'll project out and detail what happens to them and the other active players over the rest of their as-yet-unfinished careers if there's anything that will impact their Hall of Fame résumé.
New Hall of Famers
QB Aaron Rodgers (first year of eligibility). Rodgers' résumé as a four-time MVP and Super Bowl winner already has him in the Hall of Fame, regardless of what happens from here on out. In his first and only full season with the Jets, Rodgers struggles for consistency, but he finds enough of a connection with Garrett Wilson to lead New York to a 10-win season and a wild-card berth. After years of narrowly missing out on matchups with Patrick Mahomes because of COVID or injuries, Mahomes and Rodgers finally get their matchup in the playoffs, where a Chiefs victory ends his career.
TE Travis Kelce (first year of eligibility). The greatest tight end in league history, meanwhile, fades off into the sunset after the Chiefs become the first team in league history to win three consecutive Super Bowls. I wrote all about Kelce's claim to best-ever status in December 2022, and all he has done since then is date one of the biggest pop stars on the planet and win two Super Bowls. The only reason the two Kelce brothers won't go in together is because they aren't retiring at the same time and have both earned first-ballot status.
WR Antonio Brown (fourth year of eligibility). Here's where I think Brown finds his way in. As we get further away from the ugly end to his career, his performance on the field and his transcendent peak performance is going to make up a larger part of his candidacy.
Edge Von Miller (first year of eligibility). Miller's tenure in Buffalo hasn't lived up to expectations after a second torn ACL, with the former Broncos and Rams star recording zero sacks in 12 games last season. He's on the roster only because he agreed to take a pay cut down to the already existing partial guarantees on his 2024 salary, and he's going to be in a rotational role.
While Miller might get a handful of sacks in 2024, his résumé consists of what happened before Buffalo: a Defensive Rookie of the Year award, three first-team All-Pro awards, seven double-digit sack campaigns in eight years to start his career and a key role on a pair of Super Bowl-winning defenses.
LB Bobby Wagner (first year of eligibility). The linebacker so good that Tony Dungy famously gave him an MVP vote for an 11-game season in 2014, Wagner was the perfect linebacker to play in front of the Legion of Boom. While Earl Thomas gave the Seahawks the confidence to play single-high on most of their snaps, Wagner's range gave them the confidence they could cover the intermediate area of the field without stretching Kam Chancellor.
Wagner made six first-team All-Pro appearances during his time with Seattle and should be the third and final member of an extraordinary defense to make it to Canton.
Eligible but not elected
Russell Wilson won a Super Bowl and produced some sparkling efficiency at his best, but the messy end to his career will still loom as he becomes eligible. I'm assuming he doesn't do much with the Steelers and retires afterward. As it stands, Wilson made it to the Pro Bowl eight times, but he didn't have much black ink on his résumé, went 3-5 in the playoffs after the Super Bowl loss to the Patriots and never got a single MVP vote. I'm not sure he gets in on the first try.
Joe Flacco had one of the best postseasons in league history when he led the Ravens to an unlikely Super Bowl in 2012, but he never lived up to that standard of play again. A quarterback who never made it to the Pro Bowl is going to struggle to get serious Hall of Fame consideration.
Ezekiel Elliott was perhaps unfortunate to peak as a rookie, setting career-highs with 1,631 yards and 15 rushing touchdowns. His rushing yards per game declined in each of the ensuing nine years, including in what I'm projecting as an abbreviated four-game stint with the Cowboys in 2024. While the standards for running back longevity will have to come down as the Hall adapts to the new NFL paradigm, he wasn't elite for a long enough time to justify a trip to Canton.
Odell Beckham Jr. was a revelation during his first three pro seasons, and that catch against the Cowboys stands as the best single play I've ever seen a wide receiver make. Another one of those pesky ankle injuries ruined his career, as he suffered a high-ankle sprain and then a fractured ankle in Year 4 and never played at the same level again. Beckham was still solid for a couple of seasons, but after tearing his ACL in Los Angeles' Super Bowl win, he spent the rest of his career as a part-time player and third wideout.
Zach Ertz peaked with a three-year run as a dangerous run-after-catch receiver over the middle of the field with the Eagles, including a trio of trips to the Pro Bowl. A 335-yard season at age-30 in 2020 ended that streak, though, and he seemed to fall immediately into the catch-and-fall-down style that other great tight ends don't hit until their mid-30s. A torn ACL and other lower-body injuries sapped what was left of his athleticism, and he finished his career with the Cardinals and Commanders as more of a veteran presence than a going concern as a receiver.
Cameron Heyward didn't get much leaguewide recognition until he was 28, when the Steelers standout earned Comeback Player of the Year attention and a first-team All-Pro nod. He racked up 53.5 sacks and 122 quarterback knockdowns between 2017 and 2022, making six consecutive Pro Bowl appearances in the process, before injuries slowed Heyward down in 2023. A potential cap casualty after the 2024 season, Heyward could choose to retire rather than play for another team.
Cameron Jordan has a stronger case than Heyward, but he's closer to being on the cusp than a sure thing. An eight-time Pro Bowler, Jordan had five seasons with at least 12 sacks, and he was arguably the best player on a series of very good Saints defenses toward and after the end of the Brees era. He fell off a cliff last season while battling injuries, though, and Jordan might just be one Pro Bowl season short of Canton if he doesn't make it back.
Calais Campbell is one of my favorite candidates who doesn't have much of a chance of making it to the Hall. The 6-foot-8 defensive lineman has been good seemingly forever, having emerged as a valuable defensive end with the Cardinals back in the Ken Whisenhunt days. He then helped transform the Jaguars in his most productive season, racking up 14.5 sacks in 2017, before moving back inside as more of a 5-technique end with the Ravens. Campbell made it to six Pro Bowls and has topped 100 sacks, but I'm not sure he'll have the statistical or playoff résumé to draw enough voting attention.
Lavonte David has been wildly underrated for his entire career, so why would the Hall of Fame be any different? Perennially one of the league's most productive and efficient linebackers, he has earned one first-team All-Pro and one Pro Bowl nod across his 12 campaigns. Winning a Super Bowl helped earn David some much-deserved attention, but I fear he didn't earn enough in the way of national support during his career to draw votes after that career ends, barring something spectacular in this final season with the Bucs.
Stephon Gilmore peaked as a Super Bowl winner and then a Defensive Player of the Year on a dominant Patriots defense in 2019. Gilmore had a solid case as the league's best cornerback during his peak, but that was really just a two-year span. He was good with the Bills, but it's telling that Sean McDermott didn't keep Gilmore and let the former first-round cornerback leave in free agency. I'm not sure Gilmore has the longevity to get in, but he has been a great pro.
Xavien Howard wasn't able to stay healthy for long stretches of time, which shortened his career and limited his ability to rack up spectacular interception totals. He still managed to lead the league in picks twice, including a 10-interception effort in 2020. In my simulation of the 2024 season, a late-season run with the Chiefs earns Howard a Super Bowl ring, but that likely wouldn't be enough to get him into Canton.
Patrick Peterson has a very strong Hall of Fame case. With three first-team All-Pro nods and eight Pro Bowls to his name, his résumé should stand on its own merits as a likely Hall candidate. The problem, perhaps, is timing; Peterson hasn't made it to a Pro Bowl in five years, and he has bounced around three different teams over that stretch. He was also suspended in 2019 after testing positive for PEDs, which won't help his case.
Peterson makes it to a fourth team in six years in 2024 in my simulation, signing up to play for the Rams after they struggle with injuries at cornerback in training camp, but Peterson is phased out of the starting lineup at the end of the season and retires. The journeyman's end to his career does just enough to keep him from being a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Cordarrelle Patterson has a strong case as the greatest kick returner of the modern era, having taken nine touchdowns to the house in a league that did its best to eliminate the kickoff altogether. He adds a 10th touchdown to his name with an early-season return that helps get the Steelers a crucial win in my simulation, but the former Vikings first-round pick hangs it up after the season.
Class of 2031
New Hall of Famers
QB Russell Wilson (second year of eligibility). Acknowledging that Wilson didn't exactly leave a good taste in various mouths as he moved around the NFL, he won a Super Bowl, came within one yard of a second and will finish his career in the top 20 in both passing yards and passing touchdowns. He added more than 5,000 rushing yards on top for good measure, something only Michael Vick and Cam Newton have topped among quarterbacks.
WR DeAndre Hopkins (first year of eligibility). This is a relatively modest class of first-year eligibles, so while Hopkins might not have been an easy pick in other years, I think he gets through here. A three-time first-team All-Pro and a receiver who averaged more than 1,300 receiving yards per season across a seven-year span, he seemed to excel regardless of his situation. He managed a 1,521-yard campaign in a season in which Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, T.J. Yates and Brandon Weeden all started games at quarterback.
Looking ahead, Hopkins finishes his career in 2025 with an 850-yard season for Lamar Jackson in Baltimore, coming up just three yards short of 14,000 receiving yards in the process.
G Zack Martin (first year of eligibility). The exception to the first-year class is Martin, who goes down as one of the greatest guards in league history. Once the less popular side of a draft-day debate between the Notre Dame tackle and Johnny Manziel, the Cowboys chose Martin, moved him to guard and got dominant results whenever he was on the field. He made 10 Pro Bowls across his 12-year career, but when the Cowboys made him a cap casualty after an injury-impacted 2025 season, Martin elected to retire. He waltzes into the Hall.
CB Patrick Peterson (second year of eligibility). Peterson started his career with eight consecutive Pro Bowl appearances. Fourteen other players have done that besides him, and every one of them currently eligible for the Hall of Fame has made it into Canton. Peterson will be the 15th, and we'll hit the 16th in a bit.
Eligible but not elected
Derrick Henry had a two-year run as the unquestioned best running back on the planet, got hurt amid a record-setting workload the following season and came back with a 1,538-yard campaign in the fourth season of that run. His efficiency has dropped dramatically from its peak, owing both to some missing long runs and a dismal offensive line in Tennessee. He should have more success in Baltimore this season, racking up another 1,000-yard season before the carries catch up to him in 2025. His résumé probably won't look like a Hall of Fame back's in relation to the generations before, but as the electorate adapts to modern backs and their new usage patterns, he's going to have a good case.
Stefon Diggs was an elite player at his best with the Vikings and Bills, but as with other wide receivers on this list, the end came quick. He struggled during the second half of the 2023 season with the Bills, and in my simulation, got lost in the shuffle during a disappointing 2024 season with the Texans. Diggs then signed with the Chiefs and attempted to rekindle his career with Patrick Mahomes, but after a series of early-season injuries, he fell out of the rotation and retired after the year.
Keenan Allen would have a stronger case if not for injuries that cost the talented wideout significant time earlier in his career. He was producing at an elite level in 2015, but injuries kept him from topping 1,100 yards until the 2017 campaign, when he started a stretch of five consecutive Pro Bowl seasons. He was never a guy to take the top off the defense, which might limit his support, but few receivers were better at getting open over and over again.
Tyron Smith was a fantastic player when on the field, but his career was also limited by various injuries. Smith missed most of two seasons (2020 and 2022) and failed to play more than 13 games in a single year after the 2015 campaign. He looked like a Hall of Famer through his peak, but he has just one Pro Bowl nod over his last four real-life campaigns. A dominant end to his career with the Jets would go a long way, but can he be counted on to play a full season?
Lane Johnson might have been even better than Smith at his best and had a well-earned reputation as the NFL's best right tackle for long stretches of time, but again -- injuries! Johnson missed significant stretches in 2016 and 2020, failed to play a full season from 2016 onward and was suspended twice for taking PEDs. Johnson himself suggested the suspensions should disqualify him from Hall of Fame consideration.
Demario Davis was an average player in his 20s and a Hall of Famer in his 30s. After bouncing around between the Jets and Browns, a solid year with the former team led the Saints to sign him in free agency in 2018. He has been one of the best players since, earning a first-team All-Pro nod to go with four second-team All-Pro appearances. Davis turns 36 this January, so there can't be much more left in the tank, but he could continue to play at a high level and should be an NFL starter for a couple of more seasons.
Khalil Mack was the Defensive Player of the Year in 2018, when the new Bears acquisition racked up 12.5 sacks and took home his third first-team All-Pro nod in his first five campaigns. Mack failed to top double-digit sacks in his next four seasons, though, before an out-of-nowhere 17-sack campaign in 2023. I'd argue he has probably done enough to get in, but an eight-sack season and deep playoff run with the Bills in 2025 should help his chances.
Darius Slay has a great nickname ("Big Play Slay") and made six Pro Bowls between 2017 and 2023 with the Lions and Eagles, but in my simulation, he lost playing time during the 2024 season when the Eagles fell out of playoff contention and started to work more with their young cornerbacks. A one-year reunion with the Lions failed to produce a Super Bowl ring, and while he might have had better luck if he hadn't been saddled with dismal support in Detroit, I'm not sure there's enough on his résumé for a jacket.
Harrison Smith was excellent on the back end for a long time in Minnesota, including a stretch with five straight Pro Bowls between 2015 and 2019. It might hurt that he never really went on a deep playoff run; in his one trip to the NFC Championship Game, Smith's Vikings were blown out by Nick Foles and the Eagles, with Ertz famously juking Smith out of his boots on a double-move in the middle of a huge game. Smith should get consideration, but there are other safeties (like Weddle) who might have stronger cases.
Tyrann Mathieu also probably comes in ahead of Smith, given that he was such a prominent playmaker early in his career with the Cardinals and played a key role on a Super Bowl winner in Kansas City. Mathieu's story of coming good on his college potential after being kicked off the team at LSU can only help his chances.
He continues to play at a high level with his hometown Saints, but after leading them to a playoff berth in 2024, he goes for one final ring with the 49ers in 2025, only to come up short in the NFC playoffs.
Class of 2032
New Hall of Famers
QB Matthew Stafford (first year of eligibility). As it stands, even with his Super Bowl win, I'm not sure Stafford has quite enough on his résumé to ensure a trip to Canton. Three final years with the Rams would help his case. In my simulations for this piece, I have the Rams coming up a game short of the postseason in 2024, but a retooled Rams team then makes a surprising trip to the Super Bowl in 2025, with Stafford throwing for 4,600 yards and garnering the first serious MVP consideration of his career. Even with the Rams falling short of the Chargers in Santa Clara, Stafford will have done enough to get on the right side of history.
Perhaps he struggles through an injury-hit final 2026 season and retires, but without any other quarterbacks in line as serious challengers, Stafford would walk in as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
WR Davante Adams (first year of eligibility). With three first-team All-Pro nods, Adams is five touchdowns away from being in the 10,000-yard, 100-touchdown club at wide receiver. While receivers are benefiting from a 17-game season and a pass-happy league, every other receiver who has hit those round numbers is either in the Hall of Fame or likely to get there. Maybe 2024 ends up being a bit of a lost season with Adams as he struggles through a year with middling quarterback play, but he could make up for it with a solid final couple of seasons somewhere else -- perhaps as one of Justin Herbert's primary targets in Los Angeles, adding a Super Bowl in the process.
OT Tyron Smith (second year of eligibility). Smith probably wasn't quite as dominating as needed to earn a first-year nod into the Hall of Fame, but his many Pro Bowl appearances and national exposure as a longtime Cowboys cornerstone are enough to get him in one year later.
OT Trent Williams (first year of eligibility). Two tackles in the same class! Williams also had his own injury issues and missed all of 2019 as he held out from Washington, but that was the only thing that interrupted a streak of what would have otherwise been 12 consecutive Pro Bowl appearances between 2012 and 2024. With Williams again holding out this summer, the 49ers could guarantee two more years on Williams's deal to get him back into camp in August -- and Williams would proceed to stretch that streak to 13 before an injury costs him most of the 2025 season. My simulations have Williams making it back briefly onto the roster for 2026 before retiring, but the best left tackle of his generation is an easy vote.
K Justin Tucker (first year of eligibility). Tucker's famous booming leg has quietly gotten less reliable in recent years, with the legendary kicker missing nine kicks from 50 yards or more over the past two seasons. Tucker could hold on forever and play deep into his 40s to challenge Vinatieri's hold on the NFL record book. But I could also see the Ravens cutting him in 2026, leaving Tucker to retire and settle for finishing his career as the most accurate kicker in league history.
Eligible but not elected
Kirk Cousins could potentially finish his career in the top 15 in both passing yards and passing touchdowns. But even after surprisingly taking the Titans -- yes, the Titans -- to a postseason berth in 2025 in my simulations, the former Washington draftee can't conjure up the sort of playoff run needed to erase the long-held stories about Cousins. He'd then finish his career with a 1-4 record in the postseason.
Derek Carr may have never really gotten a fair shake of things. The Raiders were rebuilding when they drafted him, eventually built a winner around Carr, then immediately decided to rebuild again. The next front office extended Carr, then changed its mind and cut him before his contract kicked in. The Saints signed Carr, who immediately became a scapegoat for a decaying roster. But in my simulations, Carr surprisingly wins the fans back over with a series of fourth-quarter comebacks that produce a division title in 2025 -- though the Saints cut Carr after the season. And after one more season with the Giants produces no surprises, Carr retires without even that one playoff win.
Alvin Kamara has a much stronger case than his former Saints teammate, but after producing wildly efficient numbers with Brees at the helm, Kamara failed to top 4 yards per carry in each of his final four years in New Orleans (I'm projecting ahead for 2024 here). A cap casualty after 2024, Kamara signs with the Broncos to reunite with Sean Payton, only to battle injuries and settle for part-time work over the two ensuing seasons. Like Elliott, Kamara might be cursed by having his best years come at the very beginning of his career.
Cooper Kupp is yet another wideout whose career was altered by a serious ankle injury. After that stunning 1,642-yard season in 2021, Kupp was on pace for a 1,728-yard campaign in 2022 before an ankle sprain ended his year. Kupp never really hit those heights again, as he struggled to stay healthy and faded in and out of games. Looking ahead, a pay cut keeps Kupp on the Rams roster for 2025, but after the Rams use their first-round pick on Arizona's Tetairoa McMillan, Kupp's days as a starting wideout become numbered. He has a 900-yard campaign during Los Angeles' run to the Super Bowl that season, but after injuries hit again in 2026, Kupp retires.
George Kittle is the natural successor to Gronkowski as an elite blocking tight end who also ranks among the most explosive receivers at the position in the game. The big difference between the two is touchdowns; Gronkowski was one of the most dominant receivers in the game in terms of turning catches into scores, while Kittle has topped six touchdowns only once across his first seven pro seasons. On the wrong side of 30, injuries begin to cost Kittle more time over the 2024 and 2025 campaigns, which means a cap-strapped 49ers team might make Kittle a cap casualty at that point. I could see him catching on for one final season with the Bears before retiring ... to become a professional wrestler.
Joel Bitonio has made the Pro Bowl in each of the past six seasons at guard for the Browns, missing a total of one game to injury over that stretch. I'm a little concerned that the Cleveland line as a whole will take a step backward without legendary offensive line coach Bill Callahan, who moved to join his son in Tennessee this offseason, but Bitonio had already established himself as an excellent guard before Callahan arrived into town. He's subject to the same anonymity concerns that other interior linemen who don't play for the Cowboys endure, but I wouldn't be surprised if Bitonio had a Hall of Fame-looking résumé by the time he retires. It just might not happen for him immediately.
DeMarcus Lawrence was a budding Defensive Player of the Year candidate when he racked up 14.5 sacks for the Cowboys in 2017, but he hasn't hit those heights again or topped seven sacks in a single year since 2018. He should have another solid season in Dallas, but after becoming a late-career cap casualty, Lawrence might spend his final couple of seasons bouncing around in rotational roles for contenders.
Class of 2033
New Hall of Famers
WR Tyreek Hill (first year of eligibility). Hill originally said that he would retire at the end of his extension with the Dolphins, so while he has walked back those claims at times, let's take the man at his word. Hill's the other member of the club I mentioned with Peterson earlier as one of the few players in league history to make it to the Pro Bowl in each of his first eight campaigns. Even if Hill never makes it back to the heights we've seen from him in 2022 and 2023, he has done enough already to all but ensure a Hall of Fame trip is in the cards. And hey, after one of the best receiving seasons ever, what's to stop Hill from flirting with 2,000 yards again in 2025?
WR Mike Evans (first year of eligibility). At some point, Evans' streak of 1,000-yard campaigns has to play into his thoughts about retirement, right? Wouldn't it be cool to become the first (and potentially only) player ever to have a long career that consists entirely of four-digit seasons? My guess is that Evans' streak is finally broken in 2025, a product of both inconsistent quarterback play from new Bucs quarterback Carson Beck and potential durability issues for the soon-to-be 31-year-old. But I have Evans getting back on the horse with a 1,070-yard campaign in 2026 and then deciding to call it a career.
Edge Khalil Mack (third year of eligibility). With two 15-sack campaigns, five double-digit sack seasons and a Defensive Player of the Year award, Mack has done enough to get there. A solid finish to his career should wrap the story up nicely.
DT Chris Jones (first year of eligibility). A very good player during the regular season, Jones' spectacular postseason performances will be more than enough to push the Chiefs standout over the threshold. I thought Jones should have been the Super Bowl MVP in 2019, had a reasonable case to win the award in 2022 and then absolutely should have been the pick this past February, when his pressures in key moments kept the Chiefs alive into and through overtime. He might never get his Super Bowl MVP award, but after a strip-sack spurs a Chiefs comeback in the second half of this season's championship victory over the Packers (again, per my projections), it's enough to earn Jones a new nickname: Mr. February.
CB Jalen Ramsey (first year of eligibility). One of the most complete and essential cornerbacks of his generation, Ramsey helped spur the Rams to a Super Bowl and the Jaguars within a blown call of a championship game with Blake Bortles at quarterback. You can decide which one of those was more impressive. Ramsey may finish his career without a single season of even five interceptions, but his coverage ability inside and outside of the slot over an extended period of time was remarkable.
While Ramsey might not add a second title to his résumé while finishing up his career with the Dolphins, he's an easy pick during what was a relatively lean era for dominant cornerbacks.
KR Cordarrelle Patterson (fourth year of eligibility). While kick return touchdowns are up across the board as the league tinkers with Sam Schwartzstein's XFL kickoff model, Patterson's records in what was otherwise a dead era for kickoff returns seem like more and more of a historic outlier. Patterson finally earns his nod and then suggests onstage in Canton that he could return to the league and score five touchdowns per year under the new kickoff rules. Arthur Smith, sitting in the crowd, nods solemnly.
Eligible but not elected
Nick Chubb. It's impossible to project Chubb's career forward because of the brutal knee injury he suffered last September. Like everyone, I'm hoping that Chubb is able to respond in the same way he did after hurting his knee at Georgia, reemerging as an elite running back in the process. Given that Chubb is now 28, has more than 1,200 extra carries on his legs as a pro back and won't have a Callahan-led line blocking for him this season, I have to be skeptical. As it stands, Chubb's case seems very similar to that of Jamaal Charles, another wildly efficient back who battled injuries and didn't seemingly produce the sort of cumulative numbers to earn Canton consideration.
Amari Cooper. Every four years, two things happen. One is the Summer Olympics. The other is a franchise giving up on Cooper and trading him for something less than his true value. Cooper keeps producing, and last year, he had a 1,250-yard season with the Browns amid inconsistent quarterback play. Now on the wrong side of 30, Cooper will need to squeeze every last drop of ability out of his body to keep racking up receiving yards and build a compiler's résumé. He should hit 10,000 receiving yards this season, although it would take another six years or so for the Alabama product to top 100 touchdowns. I'm not sure he gets there.
Matthew Judon. While the former Ravens linebacker has enjoyed great success as the primary edge rusher in New England, Judon didn't post a season with double-digit sacks until his age-29 campaign, and he's about to turn 32 years old in a couple of weeks. I think Judon could age well and be a valuable player into his mid-30s for coach Jerod Mayo, but it would take something unprecedented for Judon to engender Hall of Fame consideration.
DeForest Buckner. Perennially flying under the radar as the interior rusher with the 49ers and Colts, Buckner has pieced together three Pro Bowls and a first-team All-Pro nod over the past six seasons. There aren't many defensive tackles who can reliably get you eight sacks and 20 knockdowns per season, but there also aren't many Hall of Famers who have that sort of steady production as the top line on their résumé. Let's say Buckner plays out this extension with the Colts and adds 20 more sacks to his totals before retiring.
C.J. Mosley. Once drafted as the heir apparent to Ray Lewis in Baltimore, Mosley's career has gone in a dramatically different direction. After four Pro Bowls in his first five seasons, Mosley left Baltimore for a massive, market-altering deal with the Jets in 2019. He took an interception to the house for a pick-six in Week 1 that season, suffered a groin injury, came back from it too early and then missed the entire season. He sat out the 2020 COVID-19 season, but since Quincy Williams emerged alongside Mosley in 2022, the veteran has looked like his old self once again. I'm not sure he's ever going to be influential enough to make the Hall, but Mosley will finish his career with enough Pro Bowl nods to make it a meaningful question.
Class of 2034
New Hall of Famers
RB Christian McCaffrey (first year of eligibility). Our final class begins with the league's most productive running back. McCaffrey's fresh off his first Offensive Player of the Year award, and our timeline here suggests that McCaffrey plays five more seasons before retiring. While I don't think you can expect CMC to top 2,000 yards from scrimmage in each of those five years, we've seen that a healthy McCaffrey has been a wildly productive player for virtually all of his pro career. Some of that will fade with age, but I'd expect at least two more Pro Bowl-caliber years from the Stanford product, and that should be enough to get him in at a popular position.
RB Derrick Henry (fourth year of eligibility). Henry and McCaffrey basically traded widespread recognition as the best player at their position for most of the span between 2018 and 2023, with one season from Jonathan Taylor as an exception. They have both felt like transcendent players at their best and made unheralded quarterbacks look like stars. I don't see much of a problem putting either player in, even if they don't have lengthy careers, given how the league treats running backs these days.
TE George Kittle (third year of eligibility). The two 49ers teammates make it in together, as Kittle's run as heavyweight champion helps spark renewed interest in his football career and gets the brutally effective tight end narrowly over the threshold.
Edge T.J. Watt (first year of eligibility). Watt's finished in the top three in Defensive Player of the Year voting in each of his past four healthy campaigns. He has 89.5 sacks over his past 89 games. His brother's spectacular peak and sudden decline from injuries are a reminder of how quickly things can turn for any NFL player, but Watt has been remarkably consistent and productive over his career. Would anyone be shocked if he added another 50 sacks over the next five years before hanging up his cleats?
Eligible but not elected
Saquon Barkley. While Barkley is every bit as good as any back at his best, the number of RBs who will be competing for Hall of Fame votes around this time (McCaffrey, Henry, Barkley and Kamara) will hurt his chances. Barkley has played only two complete seasons in six years as a pro, and while moving from the Giants to the Eagles will improve his efficiency, the presence of Jalen Hurts will cap Barkley's yardage and touchdown totals. I'd expect a 2024 or 2025 season where Barkley averages more than 5 yards per carry on 200-plus rushes, but Barkley hasn't been productive enough this deep into his career to have significant Hall of Fame hopes.
Mark Andrews. It all came together in 2021, when an injury to Lamar Jackson wasn't even enough to keep the Oklahoma product from racking up 1,361 receiving yards and nine scores. While Andrews remains a valuable player, he hasn't come close to that total in any of his other pro years, and the emergence of Isaiah Likely leads me to believe that Andrews won't get there again. His own injury issues and a Ravens offense that's unlikely to open things up any further than it did a year ago suggest that Andrews has to be all-but-perfect to generate the sort of numbers we saw from him during that breakout season. I'm not sure he gets back there over the next few years.
Kenny Clark. Clark's a great player who doesn't play the sort of penetrating tackle role that's likely to generate significant pass-rushing statistics. His 7.5 sacks in 2023 were a career high and a number I wouldn't expect him to top. He has also been on defenses that have tended to disappoint. With that all being said: NFL coaches and executives routinely compliment Clark in discussions about the Packers, and he's a three-time Pro Bowler who won't turn 29 until October. If the Packers do emerge as a Super Bowl contender, Clark could draw more attention for his efforts.
Budda Baker. Toiling for a Cardinals team that hasn't won a playoff game since he arrived in town, Baker routinely gets overlooked in conversations about great safeties. And yet at the same time, Baker has made it to six Pro Bowls in seven seasons. The Cardinals have had the league's worst cornerbacks over that stretch, and I'd give Baker a lot of credit for helping keep that defense afloat over that timeframe. I'd like to see him with more help in the secondary over the next few years, something that will hopefully come from the young cornerbacks the Cardinals have been drafting over the past two seasons.