The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced sweeping changes to their voting process on Friday, and it’s going to make the eventual induction of former Buffalo Bills special teams ace Steve Tasker even more difficult. There will no longer be a separate pool of senior nominees who missed selection during their 15-year eligibility window. All players who haven’t played in the past five years will be considered together for induction into the Hall of Fame.
Previously, as a senior candidate, the selection committee narrowed it from 25 candidates to 9 semifinalists. Then two were put forward to a vote of the full committee.
All former players will now fight for 13 semifinalist spots (down from 15 PLUS the 9 senior nominees) and then that finalist list will be limited to a max of five. Finalists will still need 80% of the vote to make it into the Hall of Fame.
Tasker was a Senior’s Committee semifinalist this past year, so it stands to reason he would have been among the seven most deserving candidates for that position this year. Instead of going head to head with seven guys, he will need to beat out every eligible player in NFL history for one of 13 semifinalist spots.
In 2027, the competition is going to be fierce. First-time eligible players include Rob Gronkowski, Adrian Peterson, Ben Roethlisberger, Alex Mack, Richard Sherman, and Eric Weddle. Returning finalists from a year ago are Willie Anderson, Jahri Evans, Frank Gore, Torry Holt, Eli Manning, Terrell Suggs, Reggie Wayne, Kevin Williams, Jason Witten, Darren Woodson, and Marshal Yanda. Those names alone are more than 17 players for 13 finalist spots.
The Hall of Fame (which is not an entity of the NFL) also shrank the number of voters from 50 to 25 plus three alternates. There will no longer be a Hall of Fame voter from all 32 NFL cities.
There will still be one coach finalist and one contributor finalist every year. Those will now be an up/down vote with 80% needed to pass. Last year, Bill Belichick was left off the final list in favor of adding another player. Now, off-the-field finalists won’t compete for spots with on-field finalists.
