By Larry Holder and The Athletic NFL Staff
Aug 2, 2024
Julius Peppers, Andre Johnson, Dwight Freeney, Patrick Willis and Devin Hester headline the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2024 class that will be inducted during Saturday’s ceremony in Canton, Ohio.
The five modern-era selections won out over 10 other finalists in Jan. 17 balloting by the Hall’s 50-member selection committee.
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Senior committee candidates Randy Gradishar, a linebacker for the Denver Broncos in the 1970s and ‘80s; and Steve McMichael, a defensive tackle on the Super Bowl-winning 1985 Chicago Bears; will also be enshrined.
Here’s how to watch the ceremony, the order of the speeches, who’s presenting each inductee and analysis of why each player will have their bust in Canton.
How to watch
When: Saturday, Aug. 3.
Time:Noon ET.
Where:Pro Football Hall of Fame; Canton, Ohio.
Where to watch:ESPN and NFL Network.
The 2024 Hall of Fame class, listed in order of induction:
DE Dwight Freeney
Team history: Indianapolis Colts, 2002-12; San Diego Chargers, 2013-14; Arizona Cardinals, 2015; Atlanta Falcons, 2016; Detroit Lions, 2017; Seattle Seahawks, 2017.
Presenter: Jim Irsay (Colts owner).
Even among NFL immortals, Freeney will stand out. There are few players in the history of the league who can say they perfected a technique to such a degree that it became their own. Freeney’s spin move is one of them.
Largely because of that devastating spin move, Freeney finished his career with 47 forced fumbles and 125 1/2 sacks, which rank third and 18th all-time, respectively. He compiled 44 forced fumbles and 107 1/2 sacks as a member of the Colts. Both are second-most in franchise history behind Robert Mathis, who could join Freeney in the Hall of Fame.
Freeney’s dominance also carried over to the biggest stages. The three-time first-team All-Pro and seven-time Pro Bowler ranks sixth all-time with 11 postseason sacks. He was a vital part of the Colts’ playoff success during the Peyton Manning era, helping the franchise reach two Super Bowls and winning it all against the Bears in the 2006 season. — James Boyd, Colts beat writer
GO DEEPERHe 'put the fear of God in people': How Dwight Freeney spun his way into the Hall of FameDT Steve McMichael
Team history: New England Patriots, 1980; Chicago Bears, 1981-93; Green Bay Packers, 1994.
Presenter:Jarrett Payton (son of Walter Payton).
The defensive tackle often was overlooked in a defense full of stars and personalities, which is why it took him 24 years of eligibility to make the hall. Pro Bowl voters often looked past him, too. But opposing players did not.
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“He’s definitely up there with Howie Long, Dan Hampton, John Randle, Jerry Ball and Reggie White, all the greats I played against,” former Lions center Kevin Glover said. “He’s in that group of guys.”
Since sacks became an official statistic, McMichael was equally effective against the pass and run. In official sack statistics, McMichael ranks fourth all-time among pure defensive tackles. He led the Bears’ defensive line in tackles seven times, and the Bears allowed the fewest rushing yards in the league over a 10-year period when he was with them. — Dan Pompei, NFL senior writer
GO DEEPERSteve McMichael's Hall of Fame induction will highlight Bears family loveLB Randy Gradishar
Team history: Denver Broncos, 1974-83.
Presenter:Tom Jackson (former Broncos linebacker).
None who will be inducted in 2024 waited longer than Gradishar, who last played in 1983 and will be inducted as a senior candidate. Gradishar is the only member of the Orange Crush Broncos defense inducted, and many feel his honor is long overdue. By comparison, the Steel Curtain Steelers have five Hall of Famers, the Doomsday Cowboys have four, the 1985 Bears have four and the Purple People Eater Vikings have three.
He has been close four previous times — he was a modern-era finalist in 2003 and 2008, and a senior candidate in 2020 when the hall had a special expanded Centennial class. In addition to being a seven-time Pro Bowler, Gradishar was the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1978. He averaged 16 tackles per game. — Pompei
GO DEEPERRandy Gradishar's induction gives 'Orange Crush' defense rightful place in Hall of FameKR/PR Devin Hester
Team history: Chicago Bears, 2006-13; Atlanta Falcons, 2014-15; Baltimore Ravens, 2016; Seattle Seahawks, 2016.
Presenter: Juanita Brown (Hester’s mother).
The greatest return man in NFL history took three tries to make it in the Hall of Fame — longer than it usually took him to make it to the end zone. The delay was likely because he primarily was a special teams player, and hall voters traditionally don’t value special teams players as much as offensive (especially) or defensive players. But he was a special teams player like no other.
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He scored once for every 32.1 returns, and would have had many more returns if opponents did not try kicking away from him after his second season. Hester is the only player being inducted who was voted to the NFL’s 100th anniversary team, and one of two players, along with Peppers, who was named all-decade twice. Deion Sanders once said this of Hester: “There’s no man that was feared more than Devin Hester with a ball in his hands on special teams. And that’s coming from me.” —Pompei
GO DEEPERBears players grew up watching Devin Hester. Now they get to see him enter Hall of FameLB Patrick Willis
Team history: San Francisco 49ers, 2007-14.
Presenter: Ernicka Willis (Willis’ sister).
For years Willis was the best thing — the only thing — to watch on some pretty awful 49ers squads. During his rookie year in 2007, he would finish with 18, sometimes 20, tackles in one game. Afterward, it was hard to reconcile that this normal-sized football player — Willis was 6-foot-1, 242 pounds — had been doing such superhuman things on the field a few minutes earlier. It was because of his size that then-coach Mike Nolan and linebackers coach Mike Singletary initially were reluctant about taking Willis with the No. 11 pick.
Willis wasn’t the traditional, bulked-up middle linebacker Nolan and Singletary were accustomed to. Instead, he used his defensive back-like speed to strike and chase down opponents, including the 2007 Offensive Rookie of the Year Adrian Peterson, whom Willis and the 49ers held to 3 yards on 14 carries in a Week 14 win that season. Willis finished with 174 tackles to lead the league and was named the Defensive Rookie of the Year.
None of his stops was more impressive than the one in which he ran down Arizona Cardinals slot receiver Sean Morey following a 62-yard chase. The game was tied 31-31 at the time, the 49ers had been caught in busted coverage and the 5-11, 193-pound Morey had a wide-open field in front of him. A touchdown that late in the game would have won it for Arizona. Willis’ speed and hustle instead forced a field-goal attempt that the Cardinals missed, and the 49ers went on to win the game in overtime — Matt Barrows, 49ers senior writer
GO DEEPERPatrick Willis' lasting 49ers impact equals a cross-country flight for Jim HarbaughDE Julius Peppers
Team history: Carolina Panthers, 2002-09, 2017-18; Chicago Bears, 2010-13; Green Bay Packers, 2014-16.
Presenter:Carl Carey (Peppers’ agent).
The game always seemed to come easy to Peppers — or games, plural.
Peppers spent two seasons on North Carolina’s basketball team before the Panthers drafted him second overall in 2002. The towering, 6-7 Peppers was the Defensive Rookie of the Year after a 12-sack season. And he never looked back, racking up double-digit sacks in 10 of his 17 seasons — the last one at the age of 37 in 2017 during his second stint in Carolina.
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Peppers is fourth on the NFL’s career sacks list, and two of the guys ahead of him — Reggie White and Kevin Greene — spent time with the Panthers. But Peppers is the first Panthers draft pick to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Considering his nine Pro Bowls, six All-Pro honors and his place on two NFL all-decade teams, it was pretty much a given that Peppers would get elected on his first ballot. His induction speech could be on the short side. Peppers was never much for talking, preferring to let his actions speak. Man, did they ever speak loudly. — Joseph Person, Panthers beat writer
GO DEEPERThe super-talented Julius Peppers' run to the Hall of Fame: Bigger, faster and strongerWR Andre Johnson
Team history: Houston Texans, 2003-14; Indianapolis Colts, 2015; Tennessee Titans, 2016.
Presenter:Gary Kubiak (former Texans coach).
The three wideout logjam finally has been broken by Johnson. Next up will likely be Torry Holt or Reggie Wayne. Johnson, who has been eligible for three years, was wildly productive for the Texans without the kind of supporting casts with which Holt and Wayne played. His best quarterback was Matt Schaub (and he played with many others who made Schaub look like Peyton Manning or Kurt Warner), yet Johnson had five seasons with at least 100 catches, more than any wide receiver in the Hall of Fame. He also had three 1,500-yard receiving seasons, tied for second-most ever behind only Jerry Rice. — Pompei
GO DEEPERAndre Johnson in awe of Hall of Fame honor, even as others saw it coming(Photo: Frank Jansky / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
