2026 PFHOF Finalists: Senior, Coach, Contributor

Each year, nominees to the Pro Football Hall of Fame fall into four general categories: Modern-Era Players, Seniors, Coaches, and Contributors.

⦁ Modern-Era Players are those who retired within the last 25 years. This season, that means those whose careers extended to at least the 2001 season. Players must have been retired for at least five years, which means players who retired before the 2021 NFL season are eligible. I profiled the Modern semifinalists in late November, in two posts: one for offense and another for defense and special teams.
⦁ Seniors are players who retired more than 25 years ago. This season, that means players who retired prior to the 2001 season.
⦁ Coaches include both head coaches and assistant coaches, though even the most qualified assistant coaches never advance. This category is not divided into modern and senior; it can include coaches from any era as long as they are not active in the NFL.
⦁ Contributors are individuals who made some impact on the league beyond playing or coaching. These nominees are usually (but not always) league commissioners, team owners, or front office personnel types like general managers. Contributors do not have to be retired.

The senior, coach, and contributor nominees are chosen by small subcommittees, then elected or not by the entire voting panel in the week leading up to the Super Bowl. Between 1-3 of them will be elected to the PFHOF class of 2026. This year's finalists are seniors Ken Anderson, Roger Craig, and L.C. Greenwood, plus longtime New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and longtime Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

Seniors

Ken Anderson
Quarterback
Cincinnati Bengals, 1971-86
32,838 yards, 197 TD, 160 INT, 81.9 passer rating
1 MVP, 1 OPOY, 1 consensus All-Pro, 2 AP All-Pro, 4 Pro Bowls

Few players embody the divide between stats and the eye test quite like Kenny Anderson. Statistical analysis shows Anderson as one of the most outstanding quarterbacks of all time, easily top-20, and a glaring Hall of Fame snub. During his career, he was regarded as a good QB, but not a true great like Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw, Dan Fouts, Bob Griese, Ken Stabler, and Roger Staubach. Anderson was a two-time HOF finalist as a Modern nominee, in 1996 and '98.

Baseball writer Bill James has noted that the more time passes, the more we rely on statistics to guide our understanding of players. That favors Anderson, who unquestionably has HOF-caliber stats. He was the consensus best player in the NFL in 1981, when he was first-team All-Pro, Offensive Player of the Year, and NFL MVP. That year, he led the Bengals to Super Bowl XVI, where they lost a heart-breaker to the 49ers, 26-21. Anderson was 25/34 for 300 yards, 2 TDs, and 2 INTs in the Super Bowl. Four Pro Bowls is on the low side for a Hall of Famer, but not so low as to be a huge red flag. Stabler only made four Pro Bowls, and Bradshaw only made three.

Do I think Anderson will be elected this year? No. I think Belichick and Kraft are going in, and I wouldn't bet on any of the senior players. But if James is right about the increasing primacy of stats as you get further removed from a player's career — and I think he is right — then Anderson will get in eventually.

How do I feel about Anderson's candidacy? Well, certainly the stats overstate his excellence. I wrote about Anderson at some length in 2017 and 2018, and I would refer you to those posts, because my analysis hasn't really changed since then. I do think Anderson deserves a bust in Canton, and if I was on the panel, I'd vote for him.

Roger Craig
Running Back
San Francisco 49ers, 1983-90; Los Angeles Raiders, 1991; Minnesota Vikings, 1992-93
8,189 rush yards, 4.11 average, 56 TD; 566 rec, 4,911 yards, 17 TD
1 MVP, 1 OPOY, 1 consensus All-Pro, 2 AP All-Pro, 4 Pro Bowls

Roger Craig's list of awards and honors is exactly the same as Anderson's. He made four Pro Bowls, which is a little more impressive for RBs than QBs, and he was All-Pro in both 1985, when he had 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards, and 1988, when he rushed for 1,502 and added 534 receiving. He was named OPOY in '88, and NEA chose him as MVP. As a point of interest, in '85 Craig had more yards from scrimmage, 50% more TDs (15-10), and fewer fumbles (5-8) than in '88.

Craig's strengths as a candidate are very different from Anderson's. Craig does not have a strong statistical argument. He only had three seasons in which he rushed for at least 850 yards, and '88 was the only time he topped 1100. He had a great reputation as a receiver, because he led the NFL in receptions one year and he was the first player with 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season, but his career stats aren't really any better than those of contemporaries like Herschel Walker and Earnest Byner, neither of whom ever went anywhere as HOF candidates.

Craig was a very good receiver, but not S-tier like Marshall Faulk or Lenny Moore. He had good hands, he caught passes in stride to maintain momentum, and he had great acceleration, a terrific first step after getting possession on both rushes and receptions. He wasn't a power back, but he was a good blocker and a tough, determined runner. John Madden said, "He makes every team look like they're bad tacklers." If Craig had maintained his top level of play for another year or two, he'd probably be in Canton already.

OPOY award notwithstanding, Craig was never really considered the best RB in football; that was usually Eric Dickerson. So if Craig's case is not primarily based on stats, and not on official recognition or a shooting star career like Gale Sayers or Terrell Davis, what drives his candidacy?

It's the 49ers dynasty. And I think this case has some real validity.

From 1981-89, the Niners won four Super Bowls, marking them as one of the NFL's greatest dynasties. However, those teams do not have a lot of HOF representation. Head coach Bill Walsh is in, of course, as are quarterback Joe Montana and DB Ronnie Lott. The Niners also had Fred Dean from 1981-85 and Charles Haley from 1986-91, and Jerry Rice joined the team in 1985, so at any given time they had 4-5 HOFers, one of whom was a coach.

That's low for a distinguished dynasty. The 1950s Browns have 9 Hall of Famers. The 1960s Packers have 12. The 1970s Steelers have 11. So why do the 1980s Niners only have five? They won as many Super Bowls as Pittsburgh's Steel Curtain, and almost as many championships as the Vince Lombardi Packers (5), who dominated a much smaller league.

The only remaining '80s 49ers who I think might ever get elected to Canton are Craig and defensive coordinator George Seifert, who could be inducted for what he did as head coach from 1989-96. The Mount-Rushmore-level greatness of Walsh, Montana, Lott, and Rice notwithstanding, I think it is obvious that the 49ers dynasty is underrepresented in Canton, and I would support Craig as a candidate, though I have a slight preference for Ken Anderson.

Craig was only a Hall of Fame finalist once as a modern candidate, in 2010. He was also a finalist in 2020, as part of the Centennial Class, but was not elected. I don't have a great sense for how the voters will view this year's Senior nominees, except that, as I noted above, I think they're all underdogs in a year when Belichick and Kraft are likely to be the panel's preferred candidates.