Two first-year eligible players, wide receiver Cris Carter and cornerback Darrell Green, are among the 17 finalists who will be considered for election into the Pro Football Hall of Fame when the Hall’s Board of Selectors meets in Phoenix, AZ during Super Bowl XLII week on Saturday, February 2.

Joining the two first-year eligible players are 12 other modern-era players, one contributor and two players nominated earlier by the Hall of Fame’s Senior Committee. The contributor finalist is former National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. The Senior Committee nominees, announced in August 2007, are Chicago Cardinals back Marshall Goldberg and Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Emmitt Thomas. The other modern-era player finalists include defensive ends Fred Dean and Richard Dent; linebackers Randy Gradishar, Derrick Thomas and Andre Tippett; guards Russ Grimm, Bob Kuechenberg and Randall McDaniel; punter Ray Guy; wide receivers Art Monk and Andre Reed; and tackle Gary Zimmerman.

Dean, Dent, Goldberg, Gradishar, Grimm, Guy, Kuechenberg, Monk, Reed, Tagliabue, Derrick Thomas, Tippett, and Zimmerman have all been finalists in previous years. Although they have been previously eligible, this is the first time Emmitt Thomas and McDaniel have made the finalist list.

Of course, Marshall Goldberg and Emmitt Thomas were selected as senior candidates by the Hall of Fame’s Seniors Committee at their August 2007 meeting. The Seniors Committee reviews the qualifications of those players whose careers took place more than 25 years ago. The remaining 15 modern-era finalists were determined by a vote of the Hall’s 44-member Board of Selectors from a list of 124 preliminary nominees that earlier was reduced to a list of 26 semifinalists (that included a tie for the 25th semifinalist position). To be eligible for election, modern-era players and coaches must be retired at least five years while a contributor need not be retired.

Of the 2008 finalists, Goldberg has been eligible for 46 years (the Hall of Fame opened in 1963, at which time Goldberg would have been first eligible), Emmitt Thomas 25 years, Gradishar 20, Kuechenberg 19, Dean 18 years, Guy 17, Grimm 12, Tippett 10, Monk eight years, Dent and Zimmerman six years, Derrick Thomas four years, Reed three years, McDaniel two years, and Carter and Green are in their first year of eligibility. Contributors, such as Commissioner Tagliabue, need not to be retired to be considered for Hall of Fame election. Therefore there is no specific year at which he first became “eligible” for consideration.

This has been a hotly contested issue here at EMQB and I look forward to more of your comments and opinions about these final 17 names. All of these men had great careers and all are deserving of entry into the Hall. But obviously, not all of them will make it. Which of these players are on your final list?

Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

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Finalists For Hall Of Fame Election at 17

Wide receiver Cris Carter and cornerback Darrell Green are the only first-year eligible players to make the list of 26 semi-finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2008. The Hall of Fame’s Board of Selectors chose the 26 semi-finalists from the recently announced list of 124 preliminary nominees today. The list includes one more than the required 25 nominees since there was a tie for the twenty-fifth position. Hall of Fame selection by-laws provide for the inclusion of all ties for the twenty-fifth position on the ballot.

Nominees included on the semi-finalist list for the first time, although eligible prior to this year, include linebacker Rickey Jackson and defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy. Each of the remaining 22 nominees has been on the semi-finalist list at least once prior to this year. The complete list of 26 modern-era semi-finalists is as follows:

Cris Carter, Terrell Davis, Dermontti Dawson, Fred Dean, Richard Dent, Randy Gradishar, Darrell Green, Kevin Greene, Russ Grimm, Ray Guy, Lester Hayes, Rickey Jackson, Joe Jacoby, Cortez Kennedy, Bob Kuechenberg, Randall McDaniel, Art Monk, Andre Reed, Ken Stabler, Paul Tagliabue, Steve Tasker, Derrick Thomas, Andre Tippett, George Young, and Gary Zimmerman.

I know some of you have had very strong opinions about who should be in the 2008 class. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this latest round of finalists. The list of 26 semi-finalists will be reduced by mail ballot to 15 modern-era candidates (announced in mid-January). That list will increase to 17 finalist nominees with the inclusion of the two recommended candidates of the Hall of Fame’s Seniors Committee. The Seniors Committee nominees, who were announced in August, are Marshall Goldberg and Emmitt Thomas. The Class of 2008 will be determined at the Selection Committee’s annual meeting on Saturday, February 2, 2008, in Phoenix, AZ the day before Super Bowl XLII.

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Pro Football Hall of Fame Board Selects Semi-Finalists for Class of 2008