On Tuesday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced 26 semifinalists for the modern-era Hall of Fame class of 2026, and for the first time, that list includes Detroit Lions legendary offensive lineman Lomas Brown. Retired in 2002, Brown has been eligible for the Hall of Fame for nearly 20 years now, but this is the first time he’s been considered into the semifinal round of voting.
“I was just flabbergasted,” Brown said in a press conference at Allen Park. “I didn’t have words at that point. I’m still
kinda short of words to say what this means to me. Just the appreciation. I’ve been out the game since ‘02, that was my last year. I’ve been (eligible) since 2007, and to get to this round now, it just feels great. It really does. You feel appreciated.”
It not likely a coincidence that Brown made it this far in 2025, after the Lions organization made a hard push to get him to this stage. Earlier in September, the team launched a full campaign to get him into the Hall of Fame, including an impressively-designed website full of testimonials from legendary NFL players from Brown’s era endorsing his admission into the Hall. The campaign was largely pushed by Lions media information manager Greg Maiola—or as Brown calls him, “G-Money.”
“It just means to me that you did something right, you did something right for this organization,” Brown said. “I know through my 11 years that I was here we had some up and down years—more probably down than up years that I was here.
“So, just to hear from other players that I played against, guys that I played with, just the appreciation that I feel that went into some of the things that they said. Sheila Hamp Ford, the rest of this organization, they’ve been good to the big guy.”
Brown’s playing career briefly overlapped with that of Lions coach Dan Campbell when the two were together with the Giants. Campbell called Brown a teammate you never forget. Unsurprisingly, Campbell had a great story about the two that he still remembers today—a good 24 years later.
“Look, I’ll never forget, I’ve brought this up. We’re playing Washington,” Campbell said. “Bruce Smith, we got like a play pass, he’s right on my head, I’m like, ‘Okay, here we go.’ Came up, he just swats me. Bruce Smith just freaking swats me, and there’s LB [Brown], dude. Here’s there to help me. He’s like, ‘I got you.’ Really just covered for me when really, he had another job to do. He’s supposed to kind of help the guard, he comes back, he helps me. Unbelievable teammate, man. Always upbeat, never a bad day. Willing to do whatever for a teammate, and just a hell of a player, man.”
The next step in the process is for the list of 26 players to get cut down to 15 by the Selection Committee. That announcement should come before the end of 2025.
