NFL announces 2025 Hall of Fame Class

Jared Allen (Mike Morbeck, Wikimedia Commons)

The 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame class was announced on Thursday as the National Football League announced the winners of their annual awards. The four players going into the Hall of Fame this year are tight end Antonio Gates of Detroit, Michigan, defensive end Jared Allen of Dallas, Texas, wide receiver Sterling Sharpe of Chicago, Illinois and cornerback Eric Allen of San Diego, California.

Eric Allen

Allen played 14 seasons in the National Football League with the Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints and Oakland Raiders from 1988 to 2001. A six-time Pro Bowler, Allen had 787 combined tackles, 54 interceptions for 826 yards, eight interceptions for touchdowns, three sacks and seven fumble recoveries for 63 yards and one fumble recovery for a touchdown, which came in a 38-14 Raiders win over the Seattle Seahawks on September 30, 2001.

Jared Allen

Allen played 12 seasons in the NFL with the Kansas City, Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers from 2004 to 2015. A five-time Pro Bowler, Allen is the NFL all-time leader in safeties with four. He also had 648 combined tackles (503 solo tackles and 145 assisted tackles), 171 tackles for a loss, six interceptions for 55 yards, one interception for a touchdown, 58 pass deflections, 32 forced fumbles, 19 fumble recoveries for 84 yards and one touchdown, and 136 sacks. The fumble recovery for a touchdown came on October 18, 2009. It was for 52 yards and came in a 38-10 Vikings win over the St. Louis Rams. After his football career, Allen actually became a high performance curler.

Antonio Gates

One of the best tight ends of all-time, Gates played 16 seasons from 2003 to 2018 with the Chargers organization (14 in San Diego), where he became one of the best players ever at his position. The eight-time Pro Bowler is first all-time in touchdowns among tight ends (116), fourth among tight ends in receptions (955), and fourth all-time in receiving yards (11,841). While with the Chargers, Gates had great chemistry with eight-time Pro Bowl quarterback Philip Rivers.

Sterling Sharpe

Sharpe played seven seasons in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers from 1988 to 1994. The five-time Pro Bowler had a magical 1992 NFL season as he led the league in receptions (108), receiving yards (1461), and touchdown catches (13). Sharpe also led the NFL in receptions (90 in 1989 and 112 in 1993) and touchdown catches (18) in 1994. In all, Sharpe had 595 catches for 8134 receiving yards and 65 touchdowns.