Prolific receiver Sterling Sharpe and Super Bowl-winning coach Mike Holmgren advanced to the final stage of voting for the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame class. But the wait goes on for former Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin.
Sharpe was picked as one of three finalists in the Seniors category for players whose career ended in 1999 or earlier, along with Maxie Baughan and Jim Tyrer, in voting results announced Tuesday. Holmgren was picked as the lone finalist in the coaching category and Ralph Hay, who helped found the NFL more than a century ago, was the finalist in the contributor category.
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Coughlin was one of the nine semifinalists in the Coach category for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was a finalist for the first time in 2023 but didn’t advance. Holmgren is more than likely to be elected this year.
Coughlin, the first coach in Jaguars history, took the expansion franchise to the AFC championship game in his second season and again in 1999. He had an unceremonious departure after the 2001 season and later returned to the franchise as an executive.
But Coughlin’s greatest success came with the Giants, where he won two Super Bowl titles. He went 170-150 in 20 seasons. Only one former Jaguars player has reached the Hall of Fame, left tackle Tony Boselli in 2022.
The five will be grouped together for voting by the full selection committee in January. Voters can pick three of the candidates, meaning a maximum of three can reach the 80% threshold needed for induction. If no one gets 80% of the votes, then the leading vote-getter will get into the Hall.
The selection committee will vote separately on 15 finalists from the modern era, with the 2025 inductees being announced during Super Bowl week in New Orleans in February.
Sharpe had a short but productive career for the Green Bay Packers from 1988-94. His best season came in 1992, when he became the sixth player to win the receiving triple crown, setting set an NFL record with 108 catches for 1,461 yards and 13 touchdowns.
He broke his own record with 112 catches in 1993 and led the NFL with 18 touchdown receptions in his final season, 1994, before a neck injury cut his career short.
Sharpe was a three-time All-Pro and had 595 catches for 8,134 yards and 65 TDs. He trailed only Jerry Rice over his seven-year career in receptions and TD catches.
Baughan was one of the top linebackers in the game in the 1960s for Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Rams. He helped the Eagles win an NFL title as a rookie in 1960 and made nine Pro Bowls in a 10-year span with one first-team and five second-team All-Pro selections.
Tyrer was a six-time All-Pro and member of the AFL all-decade team for the 1960s as the left tackle protecting Len Dawson on the Kansas City Chiefs. He won three AFL titles and one Super Bowl with the Chiefs franchise before ending his career with Washington in 1974.
Tyrer was considered a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame at the time of his retirement. Every other nonspecialist who was a six-time All-Pro and is eligible for the Hall has been inducted.
But shortly after he was picked as a finalist for the first time, Tyrer shot his wife in a murder-suicide in September 1980. Tyrer had been dealing with depression and severe headaches that experts now believe might have been CTE, the degenerative brain disease that has been found in many former NFL players who endured repeated blows to their heads in their career. CTE can be diagnosed only posthumously.
Tyrer didn't get voted in that year and wasn't nominated again until this year.
Sharpe and Baughan were never finalists during their time in the modern era category.
Holmgren was one of the most influential offensive coaches, starting with his time as an assistant on two Super Bowl champion teams in San Francisco.
He went on to coach Green Bay for seven seasons, winning a Super Bowl following the 1996 season. He coached 10 years in Seattle and finished with a 161-111 record, going to three Super Bowls overall.
Holmgren also had a big impact on future coaches, with Andy Reid and Jon Gruden going on to win Super Bowls after working under him in Green Bay.
Hay owned the Canton Bulldogs from 1918-22 and hosted the meeting the led to the formation of the NFL. He beat out a group of semifinalists that included six-time Super Bowl champion owner Robert Kraft.
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