The Pro Football Hall of Fame is making major changes to its selection process. These updates take effect for the Class of 2027. They come after recent scrutiny over who gets in and who does not.
What Is Changing
The Hall is cutting the selection committee nearly in half. It drops from 50 members down to 28.
Only twenty-five of those will vote each year. The other three can just join the discussion. Seriously? Those three spots will rotate.
The committee will still narrow nominees to 50 players. Then 25 semifinalists. Then 13 finalists. One coach and one contributor finalist will join them.
Players are eligible for the Hall after five years of retirement.
Senior Candidates No More
There will no longer will be a split between modern era candidates and senior candidates, who previously moved to a separate seniors category after they had been retired for 25 years. All players now compete in one group no matter when they retired. On the outside, this looks like it will only increase the bottleneck of great players from around the league, that should be enshrined.
That will reduce the number of player finalists from 18 – including three seniors – to 13 among all players no matter when they retired.
Voters will meet in person again. A single presenter will introduce all finalists. The group will shrink to 10, then seven. Voters can select up to six names. An 80 percent yes vote is required.
The Hall expects three to seven inductees most years. Five or six is the most likely number.
The contributor category now includes combined player and coaching careers plus off-field work. That could certainly open the door for someone like Doug Williams, who has done a lot since his playing days ended.
The View from the Burgundy and Gold
Every team’s fans have a short list of players they believe belong in Canton.
For Washington supporters that list is long. Brian Mitchell. London Fletcher. Joe Jacoby. Jerry Smith. Those four stand out right away.
The process already felt too exclusive. Cutting the panel and ending the seniors split may help some candidates. It could also make it harder for others.
More Seats at the Table Would Help
The changes address some problems. Integrity and careful debate still matter.
Yet the biggest issue remains the limited number of inductees each year.
Inducting more players annually would ease the backlog. It would give room for legends who waited too long.
Redskins fans know the feeling. So do fans of every other franchise.
These reforms are a step. Opening the doors a little wider would be an even better one.
Hail.
Purely self-indulgence inspired posting this photo – which is myself and Howiette of the Hogettes outside of the Hall of Fame in Canton. Howie was being inducted into the Visa Hall of Fans and invited me to attend. The Redskins played the Broncos in the Hall of Fame game and I hung out with the Hogettes all day.
Pretty great day.
I ultimately ended up creating a website for them after this trip, and we started tailgating together at FedEx on the regular.