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Former Steelers players Jerome Bettis and Kevin Greene were named as two of the 25 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame 2014 class of inductees Thursday, marking the fourth straight year Bettis has been a finalist, and the first time Greene has been a finalist.
Bettis's 13,662 rushing yards ranked fifth all time upon his retirement. He was eventually surpassed by LaDainian Tomlinson, and the pair make up the only rushers in the top 10 career rushing yards list who are not in the Hall of Fame.
Tomlinson will likely be inducted upon reaching eligibility in 2016.
Greene's 160 sacks are third-most in the NFL since 1982 (when the league began recording them as official statistics), and no active player is within 26 sacks of that total (John Abraham is at 133.5). He trails Bruce Smith (200) and Reggie White (198) on that list, and has 10 more than 2013 Hall of Fame inductee Chris Doleman.
Congratulations to DaBus and Kevin Greene. Finalists for the HOF. Both men were big influences in my career.
— Brett Keisel (@bkeisel99) January 10, 2014
The 15 finalists will be pared down over Super Bowl Weekend, and the 2014 class will be announced at that time. As few as four candidates and as many as seven will be inducted.
2014 Pro Football Hall of Fame Finalists
DE/LB Kevin Greene
RB Jerome Bettis
K Morten Anderson
LB Derrick Brooks
WR Tim Brown
Eddie J. DeBartolo Jr.
Tony Dungy
DE/LB Charles Haley
WR Marvin Harrison
OT Walter Jones
S John Lynch
WR Andre Reed
OL Will Shields
DE Michael Strahan
CB Aeneas Williams
