PFHOF Class of 2026

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has announced the Class of 2026: Drew Brees, Roger Craig, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly, and Adam Vinatieri.

I already profiled those players as candidates: Brees and Fitzgerald here, Kuechly and Vinatieri here, and Craig in a post dedicated to the Senior, Coach, and Contributor candidates. I won't rehash those profiles, though I encourage you to check them out if you haven't already. You may also be interested in my post on this year's finalists, which focused on concise horse-race predictions rather than analysis of their careers.

The elections of Brees, Fitzgerald, Kuechly, and Vinatieri are not surprising, so in this piece I'll discuss Roger Craig, and the candidates who weren't elected, including Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft, Frank Gore, Jason Witten, and Eli Manning.

First, though, I want to acknowledge the death of Hall of Fame quarterback Sonny Jurgensen, who played for Philadelphia and Washington from 1957-74. In 2019, I ranked Jurgensen as the 86th-greatest player of all time, and the 12th-best QB of the Modern Era. Jurgensen was regarded as the best pure passer of his generation, and maybe of all time. Other than maybe Dan Marino, I don't know if there's ever been another passer to put so much touch on his passes. Jurgensen combined accuracy and catchability in a way that may be unmatched in history. Like Marino, he also had a very quick release, and preposterously low sack rates, despite spending most of his career with abysmal offensive lines.

Jurgensen never started a playoff game, much less a Super Bowl, but he was universally respected for his toughness and for his brilliance as a passer. Jurgensen twice set the NFL single-season record for passing yards, and he had the highest passer rating of his generation, with a better TD/INT differential (+66) than his more celebrated contemporary Johnny Unitas (+37). Jurgensen and Unitas were the quarterbacks on the 1960s All-Decade Team. After his playing career, Sonny became a fixture as an announcer on Washington's radio team. He is arguably the most beloved player in franchise history.

The Class of 2026: Snubs

Drew Brees and Larry Fitzgerald were first-ballot HOFers, selected without a shred of controversy. Luke Kuechly was Defensive Rookie of the Year, a 7-time Pro Bowler and All-Pro, Defensive Player of the Year, and a member of the 2010s All-Decade Team. Adam Vinatieri is the NFL's all-time leader in field goals and points, and he also owns numerous postseason records. Fitzgerald and Vinatieri were named to the NFL's 100th Anniversary Team. I'm sure there are some fans who feel that Kuechly's career was too short, or that kickers don't belong in Canton, but they're a minority: neither of these selections are surprising or broadly controversial. The controversy, therefore, lies in who got passed over.

Frank Gore didn't make it, which I thought he would. Gore ranks 5th all-time in 1,000-yard rushing seasons (9), 4th all-time in yards from scrimmage (19,985), and 3rd all-time in rushing yards (16,000). Running backs take a terrible beating, and have the shortest average careers of any position. Gore played for 16 seasons, gaining over 500 yards in all of them, and holds the record for most games played by a running back. Football Perspective's Chase Stuart pointed out that Gore led the NFL in rushing from 2005-14, 2011-20, and 2012-21. The other players to lead at least three times are Hall of Famers Tuffy Leemans, Steve Van Buren, Joe Perry, Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly, O.J. Simpson, Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson, Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Curtis Martin, and LaDainian Tomlinson, plus future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson, and now Derrick Henry, as well, whom I assume will get a gold jacket some day.

On the other hand, Gore was never the best RB in the league, and he had a lot of pretty good seasons, with only one (2006) that most people would regard as great. He never led the NFL in any major stat, he was never an Associated Press first-team All-Pro, and he never won a Super Bowl.

I think it hurt Gore to be part of such a strong first-year class, with Brees and Fitzgerald both going in on the first ballot — and I think Roger Craig hurt him. You don't need to study the HOF process for very long to realize that the voters prefer not to enshrine multiple players from the same position or the same team in the same year. Gore and Craig were both San Francisco 49er running backs. On paper, Gore's résumé is obviously superior: he rushed for almost twice as many yards (16,000) as Craig (8,189), he had three times as many 1,000-yard seasons (9 to 3), and he made more Pro Bowls (5 to 4). But Craig was a Senior candidate, a three-time Super Bowl champion, and the 1988 Offensive Player of the Year, with a decidedly higher peak than Gore.

Gore is comparable in some ways to players like Jerome Bettis, Curtis Martin, or Tony Dorsett, none of whom were ever widely considered to be the best RB in football, but all of whom are in the Hall of Fame. Dorsett was elected on his 1st ballot, in 1994, Martin on the 2nd ballot, in 2012, and Bettis on his 5th ballot, in 2015. I'm confident Gore will be inducted eventually. My guess now is that he loses out to fellow RB Adrian Peterson next year, but goes in for 2028, when he will be the best RB on the ballot and the best 49er on the ballot.