Bengals' Anderson, 49ers' Willis Among 15 Finalists for Hall's Class of 2022

The wait is over for linebacker Patrick Willis and offensive tackle Willie Anderson. Both are among the 15 finalists named Thursday for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s modern-era Class of 2022, revealed to a national audience by the NFL Network.

For Willis, the former San Francisco 49ers’ star, the pause wasn’t long. He’s in his third year of eligibility. But Anderson? This is his ninth year, and frustrated Bengals’ fans were beginning to wonder if he’d ever be nominated.

Well, now he has … and hallelujah. In 54 years of existence, Cincinnati has had only one player (former tackle Anthony Munoz) inducted into the Hall. 

Anderson, who played right tackle, now has a chance to be the second. He deserves that opportunity. In his 13 NFL seasons, he played opposite nine of the top 10 all-time pass rushers in the NFL and surrendered just one sack.

It was to Hall-of-Famer Bruce Smith, who holds the league record at 200 career sacks.

Joining Anderson and Willis are three players in their first years of eligibility – wide receiver Andre Johnson, linebacker DeMarcus Ware and special teams’ standout Devin Hester. Completing the roll call are nine finalists from this year – including Top-10 choices Tony Boselli, Richard Seymour, LeRoy Butler and Zach Thomas – as well as former defensive end Bryant Young.

Young’s return is encouraging. He was the only finalist in 2020 who didn’t return a year later. That prompted several former players – all of whom were offensive linemen who opposed Young – to join a conference call where he was compared favorably to Hall-of-Famers Warren Sapp and John Randle.

Sapp was a first-ballot choice. Randle was elected in his second year of eligibility. This is Young’s 10^th year of eligibility.

Hester’s inclusion is a mild surprise. The Hall’s board of selectors historically has been slow to move on special teams’ candidates, with only three specialists – kickers Jan Stenerud and Morten Andersen and punter Ray Guy – elected to the Hall.

However, Hester was also one of two return specialists named to the NFL’s 100^th anniversary team. Billy “White Shoes” Johnson was the other, and he’s never been a finalist.

The Class of 2022 will be chosen by the Hall’s board of 49 selectors when it meets virtually on Jan. 18, 2022. At that time, the 15 finalists are presented for discussion, with a vote taken afterward to pare the group to 10. Then, after further discussion, those finalists are reduced to five, with an 80 percent approval of each candidate required for election.

Since going to five inductees in 2007, only once has a Top-5 finalist not been chosen by the board. That was former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue in 2007. Tagliabue was a three-time modern-era finalist, falling short in three successive years (2007-09). He returned in 2017 as one of two contributor candidates but again was denied.

In his fifth try, he was finally elected to the Hall as a member of the 2020 Centennial Class.

The modern-era Class of 2022 finalists was chosen from a preliminary list of 123 candidates that was reduced to 26 semifinalists in November. Joining the 15 finalists in the Jan. 18 election are finalists from the coaches (Dick Vermeil), senior (Cliff Branch) and contributor (Art McNally) categories.

Here, then, are this year’s 15 finalists for Canton’s modern-era Class of 2022:

2022 HALL-OF-FAME FINALISTS

OFFENSE (5)

WIDE RECEIVERS (3) – * Torry Holt, Andre Johnson, * Reggie Wayne.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN (2) – * Tony Boselli (T), Willie Anderson (T).

DEFENSE (9)

DEFENSIVE LINE – * Jared Allen (DE), * Richard Seymour (DE), Bryant Young (DT).

LINEBACKERS – * Zach Thomas, Sam Mills, DeMarcus Ware, Patrick Willis.

DEFENSIVE BACKS – Ronde Barber (CB), * LeRoy Butler (S), Darren Woodson (S).

SPECIAL TEAMS (1)

Devin Hester

* Denotes 2021 Finalist.