The Pro Football Hall of Fame is finalizing plans to induct 20 new members in its Class of 2020 to celebrate the NFL’s centennial next year, rather than its normal maximum of eight inductees.
The Hall of Fame’s operating board must give the plan its final approval Aug. 2 for it to pass, but Hall of Fame president and CEO David Baker sketched out what a 20-member class would look like in a radio interview Monday.
“This year we have eight, so this would be quite a few guys,” Baker said, “but it would be the five normal modern-era players elected from 15 finalists and then 10 seniors, three contributors and two [coaches]. But again, I want to stress that that’s got to be something that’s passed by our board on Friday, Aug. 2.”
Having 10 seniors instead of one or two would bode well for someone like Redskins left tackle Joe Jacoby, a three-time finalist for the Hall of Fame who recently passed into the senior committee’s purview rather than the modern-era group.
“It is extremely elite company, and it’s not the Hall of Very, Very Good. It’s the Hall of Fame, and so it should be difficult to make it,” Baker said. “But there’s a lot of guys through the years [who have slipped through the cracks]. We have several guys who are on all-decade teams who aren’t in the Hall of Fame, so this is an opportunity with the Centennial coming up.”
Players eligible for the first time in 2020 include Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and Colts receiver Reggie Wayne.
The Class of 2019 that will be inducted later this summer includes former Redskins cornerback Champ Bailey along with Pat Bowlen, Gil Brandt, Tony Gonzalez, Ty Law, Kevin Mawae, Ed Reed and Johnny Robinson.
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