Four two-time Super Bowl winners from the mid-2000s are among seven former Pittsburgh Steelers players on the initial list of “modern era” nominees for the 2025 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Receiver Hines Ward, linebackers James Farrior and James Harrison and defensive tackle Casey Hampton each played at least a decade for the organization, and each was part of the Super Bowl championship teams for the 2005 and 2008 seasons. All were on the 2010 Steelers team that won the AFC championship that year, too.
Others with Steelers ties among the 167 nominees for next year’s induction class include kicker Gary Anderson, outside linebacker Mike Vrabel and fullback John Kuhn.
The Hall of Fame will whittle the list down to 50 later this fall with the selection committee further reducing the list to 25 semifinalists and then 15 finalists before the pre-Super Bowl meeting to select up to five modern era players to earn induction late next summer.
Ward — a Steelers player from 1998-2011 — retired as the franchise career leader in most major receiving categories and was the MVP of Super Bowl XL. Farrior joined the Steelers in 2002, made first-team All-Pro in 2004 and played until 2011.
The 2008 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Harrison appeared in 177 games for the Steelers from 2002-17 and was the franchise sacks leader until being surpassed by T.J. Watt last season. Hampton made five Pro Bowl appearances as the stout nose tackle for the Steelers from 2001-12.
Last year, Ward and Harrison made it to the semifinal round for the second consecutive year.
Anderson spent the first 13 seasons of his 23-year NFL career with the Steelers, making 309 of his 538 career field goals for them.
Vrabel’s career successes came mostly while playing for the New England Patriots, though he was drafted by the Steelers in 1997 and spent his first four seasons with them.
A fullback from Shippensburg University, Kuhn’s first nine NFL appearances were for the Steelers in 2006.
Among the biggest names on the first-timeeligible list are quarterback Eli Manning; running backs Marshawn Lynch and Darren Sproles; and two players who were Steelers’ nemeses: former Baltimore Ravens edge defender Terrell Suggs and late Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas.
Others with local ties on the list include former Penn State players NaVorro Bowman and Steve Wisniewski as well as former Plum and West Virginia punter Pat McAfee.
