Three wide receivers to head the potential class of 2022 Professional Football Hall of Fame contenders

TOWNSHIP, Ohio – With the biggest dedication weekend in professional Football Hall of Fame history in the books, a first look at the potential class of 2022 features a trio of wide receivers in their freshman year. eligibility.

Receivers Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith and Andre Johnson lead the roster. Pass thrower DeMarcus Ware and special teams ace / wide receiver Devin Hester have also been out of the league for five seasons, making them eligible.

Smith is eighth in receiving yards all-time, while Johnson is 11th. Boldin is ninth all-time in receptions. Ware is 13th all-time in sacks, including a 20-sack season in 2008. Hester holds the record for return touchdowns with 20 (14 return touchdowns from the punt, five return touchdowns from the kickoff and a failed basket for a touchdown.

The Hall Selection Board will choose 25 semi-finalists in the coming weeks, and that list will be reduced in early January to 15. Up to five modern-era players can be selected for entry.

Former Jacksonville Jaguars tackle Tony Boselli, who has been a finalist in each of the past five years, and defensive lineman Richard Seymour, who has been a three-time finalist, will once again have strong cases.

LeRoy Butler, Torry Holt, Sam Mills, Zach Thomas and Reggie Wayne have each been finalists twice, including in 2021. Since 2010, modern-age shrines that were finalists most often before being selected include Russ Grimm, Cris Carter, Tim Brown and Charles Haley (six times) and Jerome Bettis and Kevin Greene (five times).

Jared Allen, Ronde Barber, and Clay Matthews Jr. were also finalists last year, but Matthews is now a senior contender as his Modern Era eligibility has expired.

John Lynch, the former Broncos and Buccaneers security who was consecrated Sunday in the 2021 class, had been a finalist eight times. This was the most times as a finalist for a Modern Era Shrine since Art Monk was shortlisted for promotion of 2008 on his eighth time as a finalist.

Lynn Swann was selected for the Class of 2001 after being a finalist 14 times.