Pro Football Hall of Fame 2026 Semifinalists — Offense

On Wednesday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced this year's semifinalists. I already wrote about the initial 128 nominees, so I'll just briefly recap that this is a strange year because we have an incredibly strong first-year class, including Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Frank Gore, Jason Witten, Philip Rivers, and Geno Atkins. All except Atkins are semifinalists.

Among the 26 modern semifinalists, 17 primarily played offense, 8 primarily played defense, and 1 was a special teamer. In this article, I'll examine those 17 offensive semifinalists. Let's go by position.

Quarterbacks

Semifinalists: Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Philip Rivers.

Eliminated quarterfinalists: N/A

Brees and Rivers are first-time nominees, and Brees will obviously sail through. Eli was a finalist last year, in his first year on the ballot. It will be interesting to see how the voters treat him and Rivers relative to one aanother.

Drew Brees
San Diego Chargers, 2001-05; New Orleans Saints, 2006-20
2 OPOY, 5 AP All-Pro, 13 Pro Bowls

Brees is a Hall of Fame lock. It would be shocking if he doesn't go in on the first ballot. He is 2nd all-time in passing yards and passing touchdowns, he set numerous minor records, and he was the MVP of Super Bowl XLIV. He made more Pro Bowls than the other QBs on the ballot (Manning and Rivers) combined.

I wrote in depth about Brees following the 2018 season.

Eli Manning
New York Giants, 2004-19
4 Pro Bowls

I recently published an entire article about Eli Manning's Hall of Fame worthiness, which I hope you'll read. He was a finalist last year, but not among the top seven. With strong candidates like Brees, Fitzgerald, and Gore joining the ballot this year, it's hard for me to see him making much progress. There also may be some voters who supported him last year but prefer Rivers. I'd be shocked if he's not a finalist again, but I'd also be surprised if he gets elected this cycle.

Philip Rivers
San Diego / Los Angeles Chargers, 2004-19; Indianapolis Colts, 2020
8 Pro Bowls

Rivers is an eight-time Pro Bowler, which is a strong point on his Hall of Fame résumé. That's twice as many as Manning, who was drafted the same year, and no QB with more than six Pro Bowls has failed to make it to Canton. Rivers also ranks 6th all-time in yards, TDs, and TD/INT +/-. He was an All-Pro candidate several times, and he was 3rd in MVP voting in 2009.

I would vote for him. From 2008-10, Rivers was as good as any QB in football. I chose him as NFL MVP in 2008, and in 2009 I chose Brees as my All-Pro but Rivers was a close runner-up:

Rivers creates plays. There are good quarterbacks who can hit open receivers, and there are great ones who can hit a guy even when he's covered. Rivers is one of the latter. His decision-making, leadership, toughness, and accuracy are all top-notch, and he has evolved into a really exceptional player. Rivers led the NFL this season with 42.8% of his passes going for first downs, and 64 completions of 20 yards of more.

Rivers never gave up on a game, he created a ton of big plays, and his stats are absolutely HOF caliber. He deserves a gold jacket.

Many people associate Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, and Rivers, all of whom were chosen in the top 10 in the 2004 NFL Draft. Among the three, Rivers clearly has the best box stats, but he's also the only one whose team never won a Super Bowl. I'm really not sure how the voters will treat him, except that I'd be stunned if he's elected this year.

Running Backs

Semifinalists: Frank Gore, Fred Taylor.

Eliminated quarterfinalists: Warrick Dunn, Eddie George, Marshawn Lynch, LeSean McCoy, Lorenzo Neal, and Ricky Watters.

I think two things happened with the quarterfinalists. One is that Gore is by far the voters' preferred candidate, and other RBs did not feel like strong choices with him on the ballot. The other is that there are lot of RBs right now who feel close to equal, and the voters are having trouble sorting them out.

I'm disappointed McCoy didn't advance. He made six Pro Bowls, he was first-team All-Pro twice, and he was chosen to the All-Decade Team for the 2010s. McCoy is arguably the best open-field runner since Barry Sanders. His vision, acceleration, and cutting ability were absolutely Hall of Fame caliber, plus he's one of the two or three best bad-weather RBs in history. He was also a good receiver who had multiple 500-yard receiving seasons. A whiff by the committee, but I suspect he'll do better next year with Gore off the ballot.

Frank Gore
San Francisco 49ers, 2005-14; Indianapolis Colts, 2015-17; Miami Dolphins, 2018, Buffalo Bills, 2019; New York Jets, 2020
1 AP All-Pro, 5 Pro Bowls, 2010s All-Decade Team

Gore had nine 1,000-yard rushing seasons, 5th-most all-time. He gained 19,985 yards from scrimmage, 4th-most all-time. He rushed for 16,000 yards in his career, 3rd all-time. There's some compiling in there, where Gore was a good player rather than elite one, but he had an All-Pro peak — PFWA named Gore first-team All-Pro in 2006 — and an unusual number of good seasons. I don't think his election will be, or should be, controversial. With Brees and Fitzgerald also on the ballot this year, I guess there's some possibility he gets pushed to next year, but my bet is that he gets in right away.

Fred Taylor
Jacksonville Jaguars, 1998-2008; New England Patriots, 2009-10
1 AP All-Pro, 1 Pro Bowl

This is Taylor's 7th consecutive year as a semifinalist. He was also a Hall of Fame finalist each of the last two years, so he may have some momentum, though I don't think there's any way he gets elected this year.

I liked the Jaguars of the late '90s. I think a lot of people did; that was a fun team to watch. Taylor had a very promising rookie season, then got hurt and missed most of the next year. Then he came back and had another great season, but got hurt and missed most of his fourth year. After that he mostly stayed healthy, but fell off the radar a little bit as players like Priest Holmes and LaDainian Tomlinson soaked up a lot of the attention available for running backs.

Taylor was a very good RB, but I think there are too many "very good" runners from that era, and I don't think Taylor stands out. If we're electing Jaguars, I prefer his teammate Jimmy Smith.

Wide Receivers

Semifinalists: Larry Fitzgerald, Torry Holt, Steve Smith, Hines Ward, Reggie Wayne.

Eliminated quarterfinalists: Anquan Boldin, Jimmy Smith.

I am a pretty big Anquan Boldin fan, but I understand why there wasn't room for him with so many excellent WRs on the ballot. I would take Boldin over Ward, and probably Smith.

Larry Fitzgerald
Arizona Cardinals, 2004-20
3 AP All-Pro, 11 Pro Bowls, 2010s All-Decade Team

Fitzgerald ranks 2nd all-time in receiving yards, 6th in receiving touchdowns, and he made double-digit Pro Bowls. He's going into Canton on the first ballot. No one, including Drew Brees, is more likely to be inducted this year.

Fitz had great hands, he was a good blocker, and he has a terrific postseason résumé. I wrote about Fitzgerald in depth following the 2018 season.

Torry Holt
St. Louis Rams, 1999-2008; Jacksonville Jaguars, 2009
2 AP All-Pro, 7 Pro Bowls, 2000s All-Decade Team

Torry Holt has been a Hall of Fame finalist six years in a row. With so many strong first-year-eligible candidates, I doubt this is his year, but after Fitzgerald waltzes into Canton, I think Holt is the next WR up. He didn't have a long career, but he averaged 1217 yards per season, the most in history by any player with at least 10 seasons. Holt had the most catches, most yards, and most first downs of any receiver in the '00s. He had six 1,300-yard seasons. No one else that decade had more than four. Holt gained 1,600 yards in a season twice. No one else in the decade did that. Holt's seven Pro Bowls are more than Calvin Johnson, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, and Reggie Wayne (6 each), almost twice as many as Steve Smith, Hines Ward, and his former teammate, Hall of Famer Isaac Bruce (4 each).

I've seen some people grouse about Holt's nickname. On the one hand, I get it, because I think Holt made it up himself, and you can't give yourself a nickname. But when he introduced himself as Big Game Torry Holt, I guess some people thought he meant that he saved his best for the most important games. That's not how I interpreted it. Like, if a player has 150 receiving yards, you might hear the anchor on a highlight show say, "Torry Holt had a big game today." That's what I thought he meant: that he had a lot of big games. For what it's worth, Holt had more 150-yard games (12) than Larry Fitzgerald (10).