As a part of tonight’s NFL Honors program, the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame class has been revealed. It consists of just 4 players this 12 months. Here is the total breakdown of the 2025 class:
Eric Allen, cornerback (1988-2001)
Playing long enough to be a part of the Reggie White–Jerome Brown Eagles defenses to Jon Gruden‘s Raiders teams, Allen excelled well into his 30s and is one in all the good playmaking cornerbacks in NFL history. Allen is chargeable for eight pick-sixes, cramming seven of them between the 1993 and 2001 seasons. Allen finished his 14-year profession with 54 INTs, which is tied for twenty first in NFL history.
The Eagles drafted Allen within the 1988 second round and installed him as a starter on Buddy Ryan‘s defense in Week 1 of his rookie season. Allen intercepted 13 passes over his first two years, helping the Eagles — with White on the wheel — form a dominant defensive nucleus. The Eagles won the NFC East in Allen’s rookie season, ending a five-year playoff drought. As Randall Cunningham soared on offense, Allen patrolled the back line of a defense geared around one in all the NFL’s all-time greats. Allen joins White because the Hall of Famers from that unit.
Allen notched 4 pick-sixes in the course of the 1993 season, including this gem against the Jets, however the Eagles fell wanting the playoffs that 12 months and dipped a bit because the Cunningham years waned. Allen still made the Pro Bowl every year from 1991-95, following a first-team All-Pro honor in 1989. He signed with the Saints as a free agent in 1995, playing three years in Latest Orleans, before joining the Raiders in Gruden’s first offseason on the controls.
Because the Raiders hoarded aging players who still had plenty left within the tank during Gruden’s first stint as HC, Allen was amongst the most efficient. He nabbed six INTs at age 35 in 2000, returning three for scores. That season snapped a seven-year Raiders playoff skid and produced a run to the AFC championship game — the franchise’s first in 17 years. Allen retired after the ’01 season, starting 214 games. Amongst pure corners, that ranks third all time. While the turnover counts aided Allen, his longevity will send him to Canton nearly 25 years after his retirement.
Jared Allen, defensive end (2004-15)
Among the finest sack artists of his era, Jared Allen will make this a two-Allen class (on an enormous night for NFL Allens). Jared excelled for the Chiefs and Vikings, being a part of a win-win trade in 2008, after which retired after playing in Super Bowl 50 as a Panther. Allen sits twelfth within the sack era (1982-present) in QB drops, racking up 136 despite playing only 12 seasons.
The Chiefs drafted Allen within the 2004 fourth round out of Division I-FCS Idaho State. He immediately became an impact edge rusher but joined a team in transition. As Kansas City’s offense-oriented team aged, Allen ascended and have become a star for a franchise in decline. After the Chiefs made the playoffs in 2006 under first-year HC Herm Edwards, Allen led the NFL with 15.5 sacks in his fourth season. The 2007 Chiefs went 4-12, losing their final nine games. The Chiefs cashed out on a player who had encountered off-field trouble, in the shape of two 2006 DUIs, early in his profession. The trade equipped each the Chiefs and Vikings.
Throughout the 2008 draft, Kansas City dealt Allen to Minnesota for first- and third-round picks. A win-win swap sent tackle Branden Albert and running back Jamaal Charles to the Chiefs within the ’08 draft, while Allen landed an extension (six years, $73.26MM) enjoyed his prime within the Twin Cities. Registering 14.5 sacks in back-to-back seasons, the second effort falling just wanting a Super Bowl after Minnesota’s Brett Favre-led team lost in additional time within the NFC championship game, Allen then made a run on the NFL record in 2011. Allen tallied 22 sacks in the course of the ’11 season, falling a half-sack wanting Michael Strahan‘s official record.
Allen played out his Vikings contract in 2013, signing with the Bears. Chicago then traded him to Carolina for a conditional sixth-round pick in the course of the 2015 season, as he joined fellow former Bear Charles Tillman in going for a championship with the Panthers. Although Carolina went 15-1 and ranked sixth defensively, the team’s high-powered offense fell to a superior Denver defense in Super Bowl 50. Allen needed to attend a bit before his induction, but he has gained entry on this 12 months’s unusually small class.
Antonio Gates, tight end (2003-18)
Gates stays the NFL’s leader amongst touchdown receptions by a decent end. The longtime Philip Rivers goal totaled 116 TD grabs during his 16-year profession, bettering Tony Gonzalez‘s mark by five. Gonzalez also played 17 seasons (to Gates’ 16). Gates tied Gonzalez’s then-record in 2016, posting five TDs across his final two seasons. The converted basketball player’s mid-2000s surge helped the Chargers win 4 straight AFC West titles to shut the last decade.
The Chargers made Gates an integral a part of that climb, which stays the franchise’s best sustained stretch since its Air Coryell years. LaDainian Tomlinson shattered the single-season touchdown record, which still stands nearly 20 years later, and Gates broke through as an impact tight end. The Chargers built their passing attack around Gates for a few years, and he helped anchor the team’s skill-position group in between Tomlinson’s exit and Keenan Allen‘s arrival.
Initially playing alongside Drew Brees, the ex-Kent State hooper earned first-team All-Pro honors in his second, third and fourth seasons. Gates only suited up for the Chargers, walking away after his age-38 season. The Bolts and Gates agreed to 5 contracts, essentially the most lucrative a five-year, $36.2MM extension in 2010.
Although Gates needed to attend a 12 months before being enshrined, he’s one in all the best tight ends in NFL history. His 116 TD receptions rank seventh all time at any position. While his production tailed off as he hit his mid-30s, after making eight consecutive Pro Bowls from 2004-11, the previous UDFA remained a solid red zone goal for Rivers.
Sterling Sharpe, wide receiver (1988-94)
If the NFL had a No. 1 contender status to Jerry Rice during his peak, Sharpe would have been one of the best answer. The star Packers pass catcher was 5-for-7 in Pro Bowl nods, during an era where that meant more, and raced to 3 All-Pro first teams during a profession cut short by a neck injury.
Sharpe was near doing enough for Hall entry by the point he retired at 29, and he exited just before Favre grew into MVP form. In Favre’s early years, nonetheless, Sharpe helped the Green Bay trade acquisition turn into one in all the sport’s best.
The No. 7 overall pick in a 1988 draft that also included Hall of Famers Michael Irvin and Tim Brown, Pro Bowler Anthony Miller and single-game receiving yardage king Flipper Anderson, Sharpe was the primary wideout off the board. The physical South Carolina product, who entered the league two years before brother Shannon (and with much greater fanfare), posted a 1,400-yard season in 1989, helping QB Don Majkowski finish second in MVP voting. Sharpe added one other 1,100-yard 12 months in 1990 and soared back to the All-Pro level when the Pack landed Favre in ’92.
Sharpe’s first 12 months with Favre featured the wideout break Art Monk’s single-season record by catching 108 passes. Becoming the primary receiver to post back-to-back seasons with 100 catches, Sharpe broke his own mark with 112 grabs in 1993. Sharpe led the NFL in touchdown receptions in 1992 (13) and ’94 (18), reaching the latter perch despite coping with the neck injury and other ailments.
The Favre-Sharpe connection played a central role within the Packers snapping a 10-year playoff drought, and within the duo’s first playoff game, they attached on a game-winning rating to beat the Lions in Detroit. Sharpe scored three touchdowns in Green Bay’s wild-card win. Sharpe never missed a game and retired rating thirteenth in profession catches (595) and 18th all time in TD receptions (65).
