Dungy, Lynch Semifinalists for Hall of Fame

The group of semifinalists includes 22 players and three coaches.

Fouts, wide receiver Charlie Joiner and tight end Kellen Winslow all had successful careers in this offense, and they have all been inducted into the Hall of Fame. This is the first year Favre is eligible. He also was a semifinalist in 2015.

Coach Tony Dungy: 1996-2001 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2002-08 Indianapolis Colts.

He led teams to 10 consecutive trips to the playoffs, which is an National Football League record for a head coach. He was named to the NFL’s All-Decade Teams for the 1980s and 1990s.

Both Lynch and Dungy have been semifinalists for the Hall of Fame before; this marks Dungy’s third nomination in a row while Lynch has been a semifinalist for the past four years. He’s reached the finalist portion each of the past two years.

The 25 modern-era semifinalists were determined by a vote of the Hall’s selection committee. It’s why the process of Hall of Fame evaluation can’t lean on fixed standards and milestones, but must be variable to account for factors beyond the player’s control, like injuries.

Already nominated by the seniors committee are Ken Stabler and Dick Stanfel. Former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr.is the contributor finalist. Voting will culminate February 6, the night before the Super Bowl.

Although there is no set number of enshrinees for any Hall of Fame Class, the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s current bylaws stipulate that between four and eight new members will be selected each year. He was a finalist previous year and given the underrepresentation of safeties, could have some momentum for induction. Therefore, a class of six, seven, or eight can only be achieved if one or more of the Contributor and Seniors Finalists are elected.

The NFL on Tuesday announced that Falcons legends Morten Andersen and Michael Kenn have been named semifinalists for the 2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

For each hopeful, this isn’t their first time making it this far.

The Class of 2016 can consist of no more than five modern-era finalists.