The Pro Football Hall of Fame is changing the way it hands out bronze busts, and one of the biggest shifts could close the door on a long-shot path for some longtime Minnesota Vikings names.
On Friday, the Hall announced a set of revised induction procedures that trim the selection committee from 50 voting members to 28 and shrink the annual finalist pool. Instead of 15 modern-era players, 3 Seniors players, 1 coach and 1 contributor, the new format will feature 13 total players, 1 coach and 1 contributor.
The most significant change, though, is the end of the separate Seniors category. Going forward, every eligible player will be judged in one pool after the required five-year retirement period.
Candidates who make it to the final seven will also no longer carry over as finalists the following year. Contributor eligibility will now be based on a candidate’s full football résumé, including playing, coaching and other contributions.
That adjustment matters because the Seniors category had long served as a second door for players whose first run through Hall of Fame consideration came and went without a bust in Canton. In recent years, Roger Craig, Sterling Sharpe and the late Steve “Mongo” McMichael were among those enshrined through that lane.
For Vikings fans, the change hits close to home because Jim Marshall had once been part of that process. Marshall, the team’s original Iron Man, was a Seniors finalist in 2004 but did not get in that year. He has remained on the list of Seniors candidates at various points since then, though he has not been one of the three finalists since that 2004 run.
With the Seniors category now gone, the path that once offered Marshall another shot at the Hall appears to have disappeared with it.
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