The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s revamped selection process will get its first real test with the Class of 2027, and the early headliners are impossible to miss: Adrian Peterson, Rob Gronkowski, Ben Roethlisberger and Richard Sherman.
Friday’s changes reshaped the path to Canton in a major way. The selection committee has been cut from 50 members to 25, with three non-voting participants added.
The senior category is gone for players retired at least 25 years. Classes will now range from three to seven inductees, chosen from 15 finalists - 13 players, one coach and one contributor.
Any candidate who earns at least 20 of the 25 votes, or 80 percent, gets in.
That sets the stage for a crowded and very subjective decision in February at the Super Bowl, when selectors will trim the 15 finalists to seven before each voter picks six names.
Among the first-year eligible players, Peterson and Gronkowski stand out in a different tier. Peterson’s case starts with volume, but the real story is how overwhelming he was at his peak.
His 2012 season remains one of the great individual seasons in league history: after tearing his ACL and MCL in Week 16 of 2011, he came back to rush for 2,097 yards, helped carry the Minnesota Vikings to the playoffs and won MVP. He remains the only non-quarterback to win the award since 2007.
His later years were more of a journeyman run, but for most of his career he was one of the NFL’s elite and one of the league’s defining faces at running back.
Gronkowski’s Hall case is built on a shorter, injury-riddled stretch that was still overwhelming. He played nine years before his first retirement at 29, then finished with 11 seasons overall.
In that span, he was a four-time first-team All-Pro and a four-time Super Bowl champion. At his best, his rare mix of size and speed made him a central piece of the offense in both the passing game and the run game.
Roethlisberger also carved out a place as one of the defining AFC quarterbacks of his era. From 2003 through 2011, Brady, Manning or Roethlisberger represented the AFC in the Super Bowl, and Roethlisberger got there three times, going 2-1. He never always filled up the stat sheet the way some of his contemporaries did, but his size and physical style from the pocket made him a constant problem for defenses.
Sherman’s candidacy brings a different kind of debate, because cornerback careers don’t usually stay at their highest level for long. Even so, he was a face of the Seahawks’ Legion of Boom, one of the league’s most dominant defenses, and for a stretch in his prime the argument for best corner in football came down to Sherman and Darrelle Revis. Revis went into the Hall in 2023 in his first year of eligibility.
The group of players who were finalists last year is stacked again. Willie Anderson, Torry Holt, Jason Witten, Terrell Suggs, Jahri Evans, Frank Gore, Eli Manning, Reggie Wayne, Kevin Williams, Darren Woodson and Marshal Yanda will all be part of the mix when the Hall’s selectors meet.
That pool will create difficult choices. Some names, like Willie Anderson and Torry Holt, have been waiting for a long time.
Others, like Eli Manning, bring a Hall case built around signature postseason moments more than year-to-year consistency. Gore’s argument leans on longevity and a huge body of work, even if his peak didn’t quite reach the same height as some others.
The rest of the player field includes Rodney Harrison, Robert Mathis, Steve Smith Sr., Fred Taylor, Earl Thomas, Vince Wilfork, Cam Newton, Antonio Brown and Andrew Whitworth. With the senior path removed, players who have been retired for at least 25 years now have to fight for the same 13 finalist spots as everyone else, which means names like Ken Anderson no longer have a separate lane into Canton.
On the coaching side, Bill Belichick is the lone finalist again after being the only coach in that spot last year. Tom Coughlin, Mike Holmgren, Chuck Knox, Buddy Parker, Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer, George Seifert and Mike Shanahan were semifinalists a year ago. Belichick projects as the clear favorite, especially after his omission helped drive the Hall’s structural overhaul, though the conversation around other coaches will continue into 2028 and beyond.
The contributor category includes Robert Kraft, Bud Adams, Art Rooney Jr., Frank Kilroy and Jim Tunney. That group now also takes playing and coaching into account, not just a person’s work off the field.
Under the new setup, someone who had a modest playing career but later made a major impact as a general manager or broadcaster can have that playing career folded into the overall evaluation. Referees also fall under this category.
In Other News...
Harrison Smiths Vikings Return Could Hinge On One Unwanted Reality
The Vikings head into the 2026 season with a safety room that looks sturdy enough to move on without Harrison Smith, even if the veterans presence still looms over the position. Josh Metellus is positioned as the likely short-term replacement, and Minnesota has also shown a clear preference for developing younger players, which makes the path back for Smith far less straightforward than it once was.
Kevin OConnell has not completely shut the door on bringing Smith back, but the opening may be narrower than the fan base would like. For now, it appears the veterans return would depend less on sentiment and more on circumstances the Vikings would rather avoid, including injuries or other unexpected roster changes that alter the depth chart. [Read more 🡒]
Harrison Smith Return Raises A Bigger Vikings Question
Harrison Smith is back in the Vikings fold after a spring release, and the move says as much about Minnesotas defensive priorities as it does about the veteran safetys standing in the building. The one-year deal, reportedly worth $12.25 million with the chance to climb higher, brings back one of the franchises most trusted players at a time when the secondary is still being shaped around younger pieces.
Smiths return also keeps alive a bigger question for Minnesota: how the coaching staff balances his workload and leadership with the need to develop the safeties around him. The Vikings lost Jamal Adams to a season-ending injury, which only raised Smiths importance, and now the expectation is that hell still play a significant role rather than simply serve as an experienced presence on the roster. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Could Be Near A J.J. McCarthy Decision Fans Feared
J.J. McCarthys first stretch with the Vikings has been defined by two frustrating themes: injuries and uneven play. For a team that invested in his future, that kind of early turbulence naturally invites uncomfortable questions, especially when a backup quarterback spot can turn from developmental to disposable in a hurry. Minnesota would prefer the former, but the pressure around the position has only grown as the season has unfolded.
The trade chatter adds another layer, with the Chargers emerging as a possible destination because of the connection to Jim Harbaugh, who coached McCarthy at Michigan. Los Angeles has Justin Herbert entrenched as the starter and Trey Lance as a less experienced backup, which makes the idea of adding a quarterback with familiar coaching ties and long-term upside easy to understand. For the Vikings, the real question is whether McCarthy is still part of their own plan, or whether they are close to making a move fans did not want to see coming. [Read more 🡒]