LEGENDS IN THE MAKING: Sterling Sharpe and Mike Holmgren Named Finalists for Pro Football Hall of Fame Class
The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced their non-modern era player finalists for the 2025 class on Tuesday, including two former Green Bay Packers: head coach Mike Holmgren and receiver Sterling Sharpe. The Hall of Fame’s five finalists in the contributor, coach and senior player categories will be whittled down to up to three inductees, which will be announced during the league’s “NFL Honors” broadcast on February 6th.
Holmgren is the lone coaching finalist out of the group, receiving the nod over semifinalists Bill Arnsparger, Tom Coughlin, Chuck Knox, Dan Reeves, Marty Schottenheimer, George Seifert, Mike Shanahan and Clark Shaughnessy. After winning two Super Bowls as a San Francisco 49ers assistant coach, Holmgren became the Packers’ head coach in 1992. He took the team to two Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl XXXI, before departing to take over the Seattle Seahawks — who allowed him to hold the title of not only head coach but also general manager and executive vice president.
He also took the Seahawks to Super Bowl XL, but only after he was stripped of his general manager title. For his career, he recorded a 161-111 record as a head coach and only finished below .500 three times in his 17 years as a head coach, all coming with the Seahawks.
Sharpe, despite only playing seven years in the NFL, was a three-time first-team All-Pro receiver and a five-time Pro Bowler, leading the league in receiving touchdowns twice, receiving yards once and receptions three times. He earned the receiving triple crown during the 1992 season. Before retiring early with a neck injury, Sharpe posted 595 receptions for 8,134 yards and 65 receiving touchdowns. During the seven seasons when he was in the league, only Jerry Rice outproduced him as a receiver.
Along with Sharpe, there are two other senior players who were named as Hall of Fame finalists: Maxie Baughan, a former nine-time Pro Bowl linebacker, and Jim Tyrer, an American Football League all-decade offensive tackle. The contributor finalist is Ralph Hay, one of the original founders of the NFL.
Since adding the contributor category, the Pro Football Hall of Fame has generally inducted one coach, one contributor and one senior player into each class, beyond the modern-era players. The Hall of Fame has recently changed their process, though, allowing the voting committee to induct up to three members from this pool of five finalists per class, regardless of which category they come from. This means that the 2025 class, hypothetically, could induct all three senior player candidates and choose to punt on the contributor and coach candidates.
