The Pro Football Hall of Fame will announce its class of 2016 next Saturday, the day before Super Bowl 50. Former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo is on the ballot, and will face a simple yes/no vote. If 80 percent of the voters say yes, DeBartolo will be inducted.
There will be senior nominees voted on their own accord, and then there will be the bulk of the nominees. The voters will decide among 15 finalists, narrowing them down to ten, and then figuring out the five individuals that will be inducted later this summer.
Terrell Owens is the most prominent member of the 49ers among the finalists. He faces a tough year, in a class that includes Brett Favre and Alan Faneca as the other two first-time nominees. Tony Dungy, Marvin Harrison, Kevin Greene, Orlando Pace, and Kurt Warner are five other candidates that will see a strong case made in the voting room. Don Coryell and Terrell Davis are two other intriguing candidates that are a bit more in the dark-horse category.
Here is a full list of this year's finalists:
K Morten Andersen
S Steve Atwater
Coach Don Coryell
RB Terrell Davis
Coach Tony Dungy
OG Alan Faneca
QB Brett Favre
OLB/DE Kevin Greene
WR Marvin Harrison
OT Joe Jacoby
RB Edgerrin James
S John Lynch
WR Terrell Owens
OT Orlando Pace
QB Kurt Warner
Owens has the all-time numbers to be worthy of enshrinement, but receivers have been among the toughest candidates to figure out in recent years. It feels like recent receivers have been short-changed a bit in light of the changes in offensive football. We are starting to see some of the quarterbacks of that era retire, so it will be interesting to see how some of them are treated as well.
I've attached a poll to see what people think about his candidacy. Will he be a first ballot Hall of Famer?