The Pro Football Hall of Fame has narrowed down its list of candidates for the class of 2025 modern era to 25 semifinalists.
Tight end Antonio Gates, who was the most notable snub from the Class of 2024, has made the list of semifinalists for a second straight year. Among those joining him are some notable players in their first year on the ballot: linebacker Luke Kuechly, quarterback Eli Manning, outside linebacker Terrell Suggs, safety Earl Thomas, kicker Adam Vinatieri and offensive lineman Marshal Yanda.
Later this year, the Hall of Fame will cut down the list of 25 semifinalists to 15 finalists. After voting on the finalists is completed, between four and eight new members will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s lass of 2025.
Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025 modern-era semifinalists
Here is the full list of the 25 modern-era semifinalists for the 2025 class. Players denoted with an asterisk (*) are in their first year of eligibility.
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Eric Allen, CB
Jared Allen, DE
Willie Anderson, T
Anquan Boldin, WR
Jahri Evans, G
Antonio Gates, TE
James Harrison, LB
Rodney Harrison, S
Torry Holt, WR
Luke Kuechly, LB*
Eli Manning, QB*
Robert Mathis, DE/LB
Steve Smith Sr., WR
Terrell Suggs, LB/DE*
Fred Taylor, RB
Earl Thomas, DB*
Adam Vinatieri, PK*
Hines Ward, WR
Ricky Watters, RB
Reggie Wayne, WR
Richmond Webb, T
Vince Wilfork, DT
Steve Wisniewski, G
Darren Woodson, S
Marshal Yanda, G/T*
How does Pro Football Hall of Fame voting work?
Any player or coach that has been retired for five full seasons is eligible to be selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and can be nominated by any fan.
After that, the Hall of Fame’s selection committee goes through three rounds of polling to decide which potential candidates become official nominees on the semifinalist list, according to the Hall of Fame’s website.
Now that the semifinalist list of 25 players has been decided, the committee will undergo further voting to trim the list down to 15 finalists. Then there’s another round of polling to get down to a final 10 names, then a final seven. Each member of the selection committee can then pick five of the seven names in the final vote.
Every player that receives more than 80% ‘affirmative votes’ in the final round is inducted into the Hall of Fame.