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The Pro Football Hall of Fame has released its list of 25 semifinalists to be considered for the 2014 class, per its official web site.
Former Chiefs guard Will Shields is certainly a very worthy candidate for the Hall of Fame. His career spanned from 1993-2006, and in that time the Kansas native made 12 Pro Bowls, was named to eight All-Pro teams, won the Ed Block Courage Award in 2005, and was named the Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2003.
Last year, Shields was a finalist in his first year of eligibility. Should he make it into Canton, he would join Jan Stenerud, Len Dawson, Bobby Bell, Willie Lanier, Emmitt Thomas, Buck Buchanan, Curley Culp and Derrick Thomas among other Chiefs players to be enshrined.
The list is as follows:
- Morten Andersen, K
- Steve Atwater, S
- Jerome Bettis, RB
- Derrick Brooks, LB
- Tim Brown, WR/KR
- Don Coryell, Coach
- Roger Craig, RB
- Terrell Davis, RB
- Ed DeBartolo Jr., Owner
- Tony Dungy, Coach
- Kevin Greene, LB/DE
- Charles Haley, DE
- Marvin Harrison, WR
- Joe Jacoby, OL
- Jimmy Johnson, Coach
- Walter Jones, OL
- John Lynch, S
- Karl Mecklenburg, LB
- Andre Reed, WR
- Will Shields, OL
- Michael Strahan, DE
- Paul Tagliabue, NFL Commissioner
- Aeneas Williams, CB
- Steve Wisniewski, C
- George Young, Contributor
From this point, the list will be knocked down to 15 nominees on Jan. 8, with the two senior committee nominees of Ray Guy and Claude Humphrey added to the list, making it 17 finalists in total.
No more than five modern-era nominees can be elected, and the total class cannot exceed seven or be less than four. Of the semifinalists, four are first-time eligible with Tony Dungy, Derrick Brooks, Marvin Harrison and Walter Jones making the cut.