Pro Football Hall of Fame 2017: NFL Inductees, Class Finalists and Predictions

The Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2017 will be announced during the NFL Honors awards show, which will be televised on Fox on Saturday, February 4 at 8 p.m. ET.

According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame's website, a 48-person Selection Committee is tasked with deciding which Modern Era finalists (any player who retired more than 25 years ago and has been out of pro football for at least five seasons) will make the Hall.

You can read the entire process via that link, but in a nutshell, a list of 15 finalists is whittled down to five, and then the individual committee members vote "yes" or "no" on each of the five final Hall of Fame candidates.

If the candidate receives a "yes" vote from at least 80 percent of the committee, then he's in. If not, then he's out.

Separate from that process are senior finalists, players whose careers ended more than 25 years ago, and contributor finalists, people who contributed to the game off the playing field. They also need at least 80 percent of Senior and Contributor Committee votes, respectively, to make the Hall of Fame.

Below you'll find a list of all 15 Modern Era finalists, the senior and contributor finalists and predictions for who will make the cut this year.

First, here's a look at who made the Hall of Fame last year. You can also see each class via Pro Football Reference, as well as yearly finalists via the Pro Football Hall of Fame website.

2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class Inductees

Player	Teams	Years
QB Brett Favre	Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers, New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings	1991-2010
LB Kevin Greene	L.A. Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers, Carolina Panthers, San Francisco 49ers	1985-1999
WR Marvin Harrison	Indianapolis Colts	1996-2008
OT Orlando Pace	St. Louis Rams, Chicago Bears	1997-2009
QB Kenny Stabler	Oakland Raiders, Houston Oilers, New Orleans Saints	1970-1984
OG Dick Stanfel #	Detroit Lions, Washington Redskins	1952-1958

# Senior Committee nomination

Now, here's a list of each 2017 candidate.

2017 Pro Football Hall of Fame Finalists

Player	Teams	Years
PK Morten Andersen	New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings	1982-2007
OT Tony Boselli	Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans	1995-2002
WR Isaac Bruce	Los Angeles / St. Louis Rams, San Francisco 49ers	1994-2009
HC Don Coryell	St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Chargers	1973-1986
RB Terrell Davis	Denver Broncos	1995-2001
S Brian Dawkins	Philadelphia Eagles, Denver Broncos	1996-2011
S Kenny Easley #	Seattle Seahawks	1981-1987
OG Alan Faneca	Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals	1998-2010
OT Joe Jacoby	Washington Redskins	1981-1993
Owner Jerry Jones *	Dallas Cowboys	1989-Present
CB Ty Law	New England Patriots, New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos	1995-2009
SS John Lynch	Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Denver Broncos	1993-2007
C Kevin Mawae	Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans	1994-2009
WR Terrell Owens	San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals	1996-2010
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue *	NFL Commissioner	1989-2016
DE Jason Taylor	Miami Dolphins, Washington Redskins, New York Jets	1997-2011
RB LaDainian Tomlinson	San Diego Chargers, New York Jets	2001-2011
QB Kurt Warner	St. Louis Rams, New York Giants, Arizona Cardinals	1998-2009

# Senior nominee

* Contributor nominee

2017 Hall of Fame Class Inductee Predictions

Player	Teams	Years
RB LaDainian Tomlinson	San Diego Chargers, New York Jets	2001-2011
SS John Lynch	Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Denver Broncos	1993-2007
QB Kurt Warner	St. Louis Rams, New York Giants, Arizona Cardinals	1998-2009
HC Don Coryell	St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Chargers	1973-1986
RB Terrell Davis	Denver Broncos	1995-2001
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue *	NFL Commissioner	1989-2016

# Senior nominee

* Contributor nominee

Analysis

There's no argument against LaDainian Tomlinson making the Hall of Fame. He's the fifth-leading rusher of all time and scored 162 touchdowns, including 31 in 2006. Let's move on.

Safety John Lynch was the secondary anchor of a tough Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He won a Super Bowl with the 2002 Bucs, which had one of the best defenses in the history of football, allowing only 196 points all year.

Lynch has been a finalist four times already. Expect the fourth time to be a charm for the nine-time Pro Bowler, three-time First-Team All-Pro and new San Francisco 49ers general manager.

Kurt Warner and Terrell Davis are in similar boats. Both players had relatively short times in the spotlight (Davis only played four full seasons and parts of three others, while Warner bounced from being a starter to a backup over the course of 11 years). Both players were also white-hot at their peaks, with each man winning a Super Bowl MVP and regular-season MVP (in Warner's case, he did so twice).

The question is whether you can look past their short primes and vote them into the Hall. Given that they are both three-time finalists, the time seems right for them to make their entrances. At their respective peaks, they were the best players in the game, winning MVP awards during Super Bowl-winning seasons. Believe it or not, that happens a lot less often than you'd think.

Don Coryell may have never made a Super Bowl as head coach, but he was the inventor of the Air Coryell passing offense, which radically changed the game. Its imprint is still on football to this day.

He should make the Hall for the impact he had on football long after he left it.

Finally, Paul Tagliabue should make the Hall. He helped advance football's popularity exponentially during his time in office, making it the clear No. 1 sport in the United States by the time he completed his tenure. He also helped oversee the expansion of the league to 32 teams.

Like Coryell, Tagliabue has waited patiently at the Hall's doorstep, as he is also a four-time finalist. Expect him to make it this year.