Pro Football Hall of Fame 2019: Inductees, Highlights and Reaction

On Saturday night, members of the National Football League gathered at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta to recognize some of the game's top players at the 8th Annual NFL Honors. Part of the ceremony included the announcement of the 2019 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

While the event is a relatively new tradition, the Hall of Fame is a storied fraternity whose first class was inducted back in 1963. The most recent class included eight individuals: five modern-era candidates, one seniors finalist and two contributors.

Here are some of the highlights and the reactions from the night's announcements. First, though, here's a look at the full list of modern-era finalists.

2019 Modern-Era HOF Finalists

Steve Atwater

Champ Bailey

Tony Boselli

Isaac Bruce

Don Coryell

Alan Faneca

Tom Flores

Tony Gonzalez

Steve Hutchinson

Edgerrin James

Ty Law

John Lynch

Kevin Mawae

Ed Reed

Richard Seymour

Reed, Bailey, Gonzalez Get In on 1st Ballot

Whittling down the list of 15 finalists to five is no easy task, which is why it can make for an understandably lengthy deliberation process. This year's process took just under eight hours, according to Peter King of ProFootballTalk.

However, it's hard to imagine that the discussions surrounding former safety Ed Reed, former cornerback Champ Bailey and former tight end Tony Gonzalez took up much time during the meeting. All three were voted in at the first time of asking.

According to Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area, the discussion on Reed took less than three minutes.

Steve Wyche of NFL Network reported that the voting process, at six-and-a-half hours, was quicker than normal because the selections of Reed and Bailey were "pretty quick."

You are not likely to find many folks who feel that these three first-year finalists don't deserve to be in Canton.

Not Everyone Was Happy with Final Voting

While almost everyone can agree that Reed, Bailey and Gonzalez deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, this doesn't mean that everyone was happy with the way the final voting turned out. Plenty of media members and former players feel there were some snubs in the selection process.

More than a couple people, for example, believed that former offensive tackle Tony Boselli—a five-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro—deserved to be a part of the group.

Pete Prisco of CBS Sports believes both Boselli and Steve Hutchinson deserved to get in this year.

Meanwhile, Luke Easterling of USA Today pleaded his case for Ronde Barber—who wasn't even a finalist—over Ty Law, who did manage to get in.

The good news for guys like Hutchinson, Boselli and Barber is that next year will bring with it another opportunity.

Gracious Words All Around

As one might expect, this year's finalists behaved like true and grateful professionals regardless of whether they got in.

Players like Gonzalez and Reed showed their appreciation of the award:

Meanwhile, players who didn't get in, such as Boselli, showed their appreciation for just being considered.

"Thank you to the Jacksonville Jaguars and all of our amazing fans for all of the support you gave me leading up to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection," Boselli said in a statement. "It didn't go the way we were hoping, but it's a great 2019 class! Maybe next year."

While being a class act isn't a prerequisite for the Hall of Fame, it's nice to see that so many of the league's legends are exactly that.