Ben Roethlisberger, Rob Gronkowski and All Potential Candidates for 2027 Hall of Fame Class

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026 will be enshrined Saturday, including Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly, Adam Vinatieri, and Roger Craig.

After those gridiron greats take their place in football immortality, attention turns to those players who will be eligible for enshrinement next year, both for the first time and as returning candidates.

Who are they, and which names should we hear their names called in February as part of the NFL Honors ceremony?

Let's take a look.

First Time Eligible

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Players eligible for enshrinement for the first time in 2027 include:

• Rob Gronkowski
• Ben Roethlisberger
• Adrian Peterson
• Richard Sherman
• Cam Newton
• Antonio Brown
• Alex Mack
• Andrew Whitworth
• Eric Weddle
• Gerald McCoy
• Le'Veon Bell
• Joe Haden
• Malcolm Jenkins
• Brandon Brooks
• Dont'a Hightower
• Ryan Kerrigan

Most Likely Inductees

Gronkowski, Roethlisberger, and Peterson feel like sure things, with both dominating their positions during their careers.

Gronkowski was a game-changing tight end who won four Super Bowl titles during his time with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers and is a four-time first-team All-Pro. He is also the greatest player at his position in postseason history, with 81 catches, 1,163 yards, and 12 touchdowns.

Peterson is a product of a bygone era; a true running back who could take over a game as much, if not more so, than any quarterback. His excellence was rewarded at the end of the 2012 NFL season with an MVP award, the last time a running back was recognized as the league's best player.

Peterson rushed for 14,918 yards, 120 touchdowns, appeared in seven Pro Bowls, and was a four-time first-team All-Pro. That he played for seven different teams but did not win a Super Bowl should not affect the voters' desire to enshrine the game-changer.

Roethlisberger ranks seventh in NFL history with 64,088 yards and 418 touchdowns, and has two Super Bowl championships. Despite arguments about his elite status throughout much of his career, he was one of the most prolific throwers in a golden era of quarterback play in the league, for one of its most storied franchises.

He barely sneaks in amid the absence of another obvious candidate not named Eli Manning.

Notable Returning Holdovers

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Those players who have yet to take their place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame but remain eligible include:

• Terrell Suggs
• Willie Anderson
• Marshal Yanda
• Eli Manning
• Torry Holt
• Reggie Wayne
• Steve Smith Sr.
• Jahri Evans
• Frank Gore
• Jason Witten
• Bill Belichick
• Robert Kraft

Predicted Inductees

Holt will finally join the rest of his Greatest Show on Turf teammates in the Hall, an honor that probably should have come much sooner. In a year without a first-ballot wide receiver, Big Game and his 920 receptions, 13,382 yards, 74 touchdowns, and seven Pro Bowls finally end up in Canton.

A member of the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team and two-time league leader in receiving yards, Holt should have had his bust join teammates Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce, Orlando Pace, and head coach Dick Vermeil long ago.

After being snubbed in 2026, New England Patriots coach and architect of the team's two-decade dynasty, Bill Belichick, will also take his much-deserved place in immortality.

An eight-time Super Bowl champion as a defensive coordinator for the New York Giants and a head coach for the Patriots, and 12 appearances in the big game combined, Belichick is arguably the game's greatest coach and belongs alongside George Halas, Don Shula, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, and Vince Lombardi.