New Orleans will keep a seat at the table when it comes to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Times-Picayune sports columnist Jeff Duncan is among the 28 members named to the Hall’s newly formed selection committee, preserving a New Orleans connection after the committee was trimmed from 50 members as part of a bylaw overhaul.
Duncan has been on the selection committee for 12 years, and in that span he served as the presenter for four Saints Hall of Famers: Morten Andersen in 2017, Drew Brees in 2026, Sam Mills in 2022 and Willie Roaf in 2012. Rickey Jackson was inducted in the Class of 2010. Duncan took over the role from former Times-Picayune columnist Peter Finney, who served on the committee for decades.
The Hall said the smaller committee came after a two-year review of the selection process involving Hall staff members, board members, Hall of Famers and current selection committee members.
The overhaul brings several changes. One person - not a selection committee member - will handle all initial presentations at the annual selection meeting, instead of having a selector represent a candidate’s market.
Selectors also will no longer be tied to specific NFL teams by geography. And after the required five-year waiting period, all players will come from the same pool regardless of how long they’ve been retired.
The Hall is also changing how it handles the other categories. Separate subcommittees will pick one coach and one contributor candidate each year.
The contributor category has been expanded and can now include a person’s time as a player and/or coach, along with other contributions to the game. Those coach and contributor finalists will join the players on the list discussed at the Hall’s annual meeting, which is returning to an in-person format after a six-year run that began during the COVID pandemic.
The committee’s in-person annual meeting will now consider candidates in three groups: players, coaches and contributors.
Along with Duncan, the new committee includes Hall of Fame players Jared Allen, Dan Fouts and Will Shields. Fouts, who also works as an NFL analyst for NBC Sports, has served on the selection committee for 10 years.
The rest of the committee is made up of current and former media members: Howard Balzer of Sirius XM NFL radio in Phoenix; Jarrett Bell of USA Today; David Birkett of the Detroit Free Press; Vic Carucci of WGRZ-TV in Buffalo; Mike Chappell of CBS-TV 4/FOX-TV 59 in Indianapolis; Peter Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette; Scott Garceau of 105.7-FM/WMAR-TV in Baltimore; Bob Glauber, formerly of Newsday; Vahe Gregorian of the Kansas City Star; Nicki Jhabvala of the Pro Football Writers of America; Lindsay Jones of the Ringer; Ira Kaufman of JoeBucsFan.com in Tampa, Fla.; Ross Ketover of NFL Films; Sam Kouvaris of SamSportsLine.com in Jacksonville, Fla.; Jeff Legwold of ESPN in Denver; Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press; Gary Myers, formerly of the New York Daily News; Sal Paolantonio of ESPN in Philadelphia; San Pompei of The Athletic in Chicago; Mike Sando of The Athletic in Seattle; Jim Trotter, formerly of NFL Network in Los Angeles; Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News; Eric Williams of Sports Illustrated in Los Angeles; and Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk in Dallas.
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