The Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame introduced Wednesday the 128 modern-era players nominated for consideration for the Class of 2026.
The record consists of 13 gamers eligible for the primary time: quarterbacks Drew Brees, Philip Rivers and Alex Smith; working backs Frank Gore and LeSean McCoy; huge receiver Larry Fitzgerald; tight ends Greg Olsen and Jason Witten; offensive linemen David DeCastro and Maurkice Pouncey; defensive linemen Geno Atkins and Jurrell Casey; and linebacker Thomas Davis.
Brees is the primary identify that jumps out: The 2010 Super Bowl MVP when he led the Saints over the Colts, Brees ranks second all-time in profession passing yards and profession passing touchdowns.
Rivers presents a extra fascinating case. He ranks seventh in profession passing yards and sixth in profession passing touchdowns. Nevertheless, he by no means received or appeared in a Super Bowl, and he had only a 5-7 file within the playoffs. Pro Football Reference’s “Hall of Fame Monitor” has Rivers with a rating of 98, barely beneath the typical Corridor of Fame rating for the place of 108. After all, a number of gamers beneath Rivers within the metric, together with his modern Kurt Warner, whose profession overlapped with Rivers’, made it to Canton.
Fitzgerald and Witten rank second and fourth all-time in profession receptions. Fitzgerald can be second in profession receiving yards and sixth in profession receiving touchdowns; Witten is second amongst tight ends in receiving yards and sixth amongst tight ends in receiving touchdowns.
The following step of the method cuts the record from 128 to 50 in mid-October, and that record will then be reduce to 25 later this fall, in line with the Professional Soccer corridor of Fame’s launch.
A 3rd vote will reduce the record down to fifteen gamers to be mentioned on the annual choice assembly forward of the Tremendous Bowl. The Class of 2026 can have three, 4 or 5 modern-era gamers, per the Corridor of Fame’s bylaws.
Right here is the total record. Class of 2025 finalists are have an asterisk subsequent to their identify, and gamers of their first 12 months of eligibility are italicized.
QUARTERBACKS (10): Drew Brees, Randall Cunningham, Jake Delhomme, Wealthy Gannon, Jeff Garcia, *-Eli Manning, Donovan McNabb, Steve McNair, Philip Rivers, Alex Smith.
RUNNING BACKS (21): Shaun Alexander, Mike Alstott (FB), Tiki Barber, Larry Facilities (FB), Jamaal Charles, Corey Dillon, Warrick Dunn, Arian Foster, Eddie George, Frank Gore, Priest Holmes, Steven Jackson, Chris Johnson, Thomas Jones, Jamal Lewis, Marshawn Lynch, LeSean McCoy, Eric Metcalf (additionally WR/PR/KR), Lorenzo Neal (FB), *-Fred Taylor, Ricky Watters.
WIDE RECEIVERS (18):
Anquan Boldin, Donald Driver, Larry Fitzgerald, *-Torry Holt, Chad Johnson, Brandon Lloyd, Brandon Marshall, Derrick Mason, Herman Moore, Muhsin Muhammad, Jordy Nelson, Jimmy Smith, Rod Smith, *-Steve Smith Sr., Hines Ward, *-Reggie Wayne, Wes Welker, Roddy White.
TIGHT ENDS (6):
Vernon Davis, Zach Miller, Greg Olsen, Wesley Partitions, Delanie Walker, Jason Witten.
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN (22):
*-Willie Anderson (T), Matt Birk (C), Lomas Brown (T), Ruben Brown (G), Ryan Clady (T), David DeCastro (G), *-Jahri Evans (G), Jordan Gross (T), Ryan Kalil (C), Olin Kreutz (C), Nick Mangold (C), Logan Mankins (G), Tom Nalen (C), Maurkice Pouncey (C), Jeff Saturday (C), Josh Sitton (G), Joe Staley (T), Brian Waters (G), Richmond Webb (T), Erik Williams (T), Steve Wisniewski (G), *-Marshal Yanda (G).
DEFENSIVE LINEMEN (13):
John Abraham (DE additionally LB), Geno Atkins (DT), Jurrell Casey (DT), Elvis Dumervil (DE), La’Roi Glover (DT/NT), Robert Mathis (DE), Haloti Ngata (DT), Jay Ratliff (DE), Simeon Rice (DE), Justin Smith (DE), Ted Washington (NT/DT), Vince Wilfork (DT/NT), Kevin Williams (DT).
LINEBACKERS (14):
NaVorro Bowman, Lance Briggs, Tedy Bruschi, Thomas Davis, James Farrior, London Fletcher, James Harrison, A.J. Hawk, *-Luke Kuechly, Clay Matthews III, Dat Nguyen, Takeo Spikes, *-Terrell Suggs, Lee Woodall.
DEFENSIVE BACKS (15):
Eric Berry (S), Kam Chancellor (S), Nick Collins (S), DeAngelo Corridor (DB), Rodney Harrison (S), James Hasty (CB), Carnell Lake (DB), Allen Rossum (DB), Asante Samuel (CB), Patrick Surtain (CB), Earl Thomas (S), Charles Tillman (CB), Troy Vincent (CB), Adrian Wilson (S), *-Darren Woodson (S).
PUNTERS/KICKERS (7):
David Akers (Okay), Gary Anderson (Okay), Jason Hanson (Okay), John Kasay (Okay), Sean Landeta (P), Shane Lechler (P), *-Adam Vinatieri (Okay).
SPECIAL TEAMS (2):
Josh Cribbs (KR/PR additionally WR), Brian Mitchell (KR/PR additionally RB).
