The NFL announced its Hall of Fame Class of 2026 during NFL Honors on Thursday night, with the big stories having already been leaked that Robert Kraft and former Cleveland Browns HC Bill Belichick did not get in. In a very different way, Browns DE Myles Garrett got in before the team’s former legendary coach.
OL Joe Thomas is the most recent Cleveland player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. While none of them made the final cut, five former Browns were a part of the process for the 2026 class:
- HC Marty Schottenheimer was one of 12 coaches who advanced in the process
- LB Clay Matthews and OL Dick Schafrath advanced among the senior candidates
- Returners (among other things) Eric Metcalf and Josh Cribbs were nominated among the 2026 class
The list of candidates that became eligible for the 2027 Hall of Fame class includes CB Joe Haden and OL Alex Mack from the Browns history:
Those are just the names that are now eligible, with a ton of names, like Kraft and Belichick, remaining on the ballots. Haden and Mack are highly unlikely to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but it is interesting to see them noted above.
Cleveland has 18 members inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
- Jim Brown
- Paul Brown
- Joe DeLamielleure
- Len Ford
- Frank Gatski
- Otto Graham
- Lou Groza
- Gene Hickerson
- Leroy Kelly
- Dante Lavelli
- Mike McCormack
- Bobby Mitchell
- Marion Motley
- Ozzie Newsome
- Joe Thomas
- Paul Warfield
- Bill Willis
- Mac Speedie
Who do you think the next Browns-connected Hall of Famer will be?
Share your inductee in the comment section below
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