Four more of the NFL’s best get to join the most hallowed team possible. Every year around Super Bowl week, the NFL community waits anxiously on pins and needles to see which of the league’s legends will earn their spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Though many players are worthy and deserving of the honor of being enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the voters often must make difficult and controversial decisions that keep some fan favorites from earning the chance to have immortality and their busts displayed in Canton, Ohio.
This year, there were just four players inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, while multiple stars were snubbed and forced to wait for another season. It is the smallest class in two decades, since 2005, also a four-member class. That is the year Dan Marino, Steve Young, Fritz Pollard and Benny Friedman were enshrined.
Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri, Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, all in their first year of eligibility, were left out in the cold.
From its offensive powerhouses to the standout defenders it boasts, the Class of 2025 will forever be remembered by fans of teams across the country.
Here are the NFL legends that were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year:
TE Antonio Gates – Gates was one of the most electrifying and dominant pass-catchers of his era and set a new criterion and benchmark for the tight-end position in the 2000s. He paired extremely well with Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers, who was always prepared and willing to look in Gates’ direction in the red zone.
A native of Detroit, Michigan, Gates still gives back to the game works for the Chargers’ front office as a Legend Ambassador and remains one of the most beloved players in the franchise’s history.
“The opportunity I got speaks volumes of how [the Chargers] believed in me,” Gates said. “I’m happy it all paid off.”
CB Eric Allen – Allen came into the NFL as a second-round pick in the 1988 NFL draft after playing collegiately for the Arizona State Sun Devils. He spent the lion’s share of his career with the Philadelphia Eagles. Over the course of his 14-year career in the league, Allen accumulated 54 interceptions and scored nine defensive touchdowns.
He is a member of the Philadelphia Eagles 75th Anniversary Team and was also inducted into the Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame.
“Rarely does life play out like you want it to,” said Allen, who was elected in his 19th year of eligibility. “There’s always some curves and bends. But time always reveals the truth. … It took maybe time for people to see the complexity of my situation.”
WR Sterling Sharpe – Sharpe, out of the University of South Carolina, was a match up nightmare for defenders and was a consistent and productive wide receiver with the Green Bay Packers before his career was cut short due to a neck injury in 1995. The older brother of Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe, Sterling earned First-team All-Pro honors three times in his seven-year career, and was the NFL’s receptions leader in 1989, 1992, and 1993.
Had Sharpe been able to play longer, he likely would not have had to wait so long to earn his rightful place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“I don’t think that has really set in yet,” Sterling Sharpe said. “It’s one of those situations where the closer it gets to having the same color jacket he has and standing in same place he stood and being able to have a convo about the journey to get there I think it will set in. But right now, it hasn’t hit home yet.”
DE Jared Allen – Allen was one of the most dominant and feared pass-rushers in the NFL throughout his career. He got home to the quarterback an incredible 136 times in his 12-year career and became a fan-favorite with the Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, and Minnesota Vikings in the 2000s and 2010s.
“You almost appreciate it more,” Allen said about being one of four chosen for enshrinement. “Nothing comes easy. When I found out it was only four, it became more special. There’s a true emphasis on what it means to be a Hall of Famer. Clearly, we fit that. For me, it was kind of a sigh of relief.”
The newest members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame will be inducted August 2 in Canton, Ohio.
