The Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026 will be inducted on Saturday as five all-time NFL legends become immortalized in Canton, Ohio. Every year when the next batch of greats goes down in history, it raises the question of which players will follow in their footsteps. The book is not fully written on the active players in consideration, but for a large handful, the Hall will come calling when it is all said and done.
Players like Aaron Rodgers who are synonymous with football are no-doubt future Hall of Famers regardless of the quality of their play between now and retirement. With Rodgers set to close his career this year, eligibility is just around the corner. He and the rest of next year's retirees (if he follows through on his pledge to hang up his cleats after the 2026 season) will be under consideration for Hall of Fame election in 2032.
The five-year period between retirement and eligibility exists to eliminate recency bias. For the active players who are virtual locks to receive a gold jacket, their legacies will be just as strong in five years as they are today. In fact, some might become even greater.
Below are the active NFL players who are locks to earn a spot in the Hall of Fame.
Aaron Rodgers, QB, Steelers
Not only is Aaron Rodgers a top 10 quarterback of all time, but he also ranks near the top of the 100 greatest players to ever grace an NFL field. With four MVP awards, a Super Bowl MVP honor and the league's career interception rate record in hand, there are hardly any more accolades for Rodgers to stack up in what he says will be his final year.
Patrick Mahomes, QB, Chiefs
By age 30, Patrick Mahomes already stacked up two regular-season MVP trophies and three Super Bowl MVP crowns. The individual accolades speak for themselves, and the team success element puts him in rare air as one of just five quarterbacks to ever win at least three Super Bowls. Mahomes is as transcendent of a player as there is in the NFL right now -- a quarterback who quickly became the face of a dynasty and who redefined his position with unmatched improvisational skills.
Lamar Jackson, QB, Ravens
Detractors will knock him for the lack of a Super Bowl title, but even without a ring, Lamar Jackson is a legend at the quarterback position. He is already the greatest rusher in the position's history with 6,522 yards, and anyone who doubted that his passing ability would ever match his athleticism outside the pocket has been silenced in the last couple of years. Jackson now also stands as the most efficient passer in league history with a 102.2 rating. He is a future Hall of Famer as both a rusher and passer, and history says that winning two MVP awards constitutes a lock to receive a gold jacket.
Matthew Stafford, QB, Rams
The case for Matthew Stafford to clinch a spot in Canton was strong but not airtight before the 2025 season. Now that he has an MVP on his ledger, it is hard to envision him falling short of Hall of Fame status. Quarterbacks with both an MVP and a Super Bowl victory are shoo-ins in the eyes of Hall of Fame voters, and Stafford joined that group when he led the league in passing yards, touchdowns and TD-INT ratio as a 37-year-old. If he delivers on expectations and wins another title this year, Stafford could go from a "likely inductee" to a potential first-ballot selection in a matter of two seasons.
Derrick Henry, RB, Ravens
The 12,000-yard club is the threshold for guaranteed Hall of Fame status. Every single eligible rusher to reach that landmark has been enshrined in Canton. Derrick Henry joined the group last season (and, in fact, became the 10th player to hit 13,000 yards) while also moving into fourth place on the all-time rushing touchdowns leaderboard with 122. What is most impressive about Henry's reign as the greatest ballcarrier of his generation is that he continues to dominate defenses into his 30s. He seems to have plenty left in the tank.
Tyreek Hill, WR, free agent
The gruesome knee injury Tyreek Hill sustained last year puts his career in jeopardy, but if he has already played his final snap, his career accolades are already Hall of Fame-worthy. Hill is the only receiver in NFL history to post two 1,700-yard seasons, and he did so in consecutive years in 2022 and 2023. He finished top 10 in MVP voting both times, and that was after he earned a Super Bowl title during his run with the Chiefs. At his peak, Hill's game-breaking speed made him one of the most dangerous vertical threats the game has ever seen.
Davante Adams, WR, Rams
Only six players have ever led the NFL in receiving touchdowns in three different seasons. Last year, Davante Adams did it with his third separate team. His 14 scores with the Rams placed him in elite company and proved that even at 33, he remains one of the toughest covers in the game. In his prime, Adams was a three-time first-team All-Pro who caught passes at will and racked up receptions en route to becoming the 18th player to crack the 1,000 career catch threshold.
Mike Evans, WR, 49ers
If not for the hamstring and clavicle injuries that cost him more than half of last season, Mike Evans could have broken the NFL record for consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. The streak came to an end with him playing just eight games, but the 11 straight years of at least 1,000 yards were the most to start a career. That extended run of consistent, high-end production made Evans a Buccaneers legend, not to mention the Super Bowl he won with them in 2021. Anything Evans achieves with the 49ers is gravy on what is already a Hall of Fame-worthy résumé.
Travis Kelce, TE, Chiefs
There are only 10 tight ends in the Hall of Fame, and Rob Gronkowski will become the 11th when he gains eligibility in 2027. In an era where the position is more active in the receiving game than ever before, Gronkowski and Travis Kelce could be the first part of a new wave of legends to be enshrined in the Hall. The latter is a no-doubter thanks to his three Super Bowl titles, seven consecutive All-Pro selections and the fact that in every year but one, he racked up at least 800 receiving yards. Kelce is also the most prolific pass-catcher in postseason history.
Trent Williams, OT, 49ers
Only a couple of other active players are as surefire of a first-ballot Hall of Famer as Trent Williams. His longevity as an elite left tackle -- and the fact that he has essentially only become better with age, rather than the other way around -- is uncanny. All three of his first-team All-Pro selections came in his mid-30s, and even though he acknowledged that he may not play beyond his current contract (which runs through 2027), it does not take much imagination to foresee him remaining a league standard until his retirement.
Lane Johnson, OT, Eagles
It is practically unbelievable how much of an impact Lane Johnson has on the Eagles. With the legendary right tackle in the lineup, Philadelphia is 110-57-1. Without him, the record falls off a cliff to 18-27. He was integral in two Super Bowl runs and regularly ranks as the league's best active offensive lineman, if not one of the greatest right tackles to ever play.
Chris Jones, DT, Chiefs
As arguably the second-greatest defensive tackle of his generation, behind Aaron Donald, Chris Jones can expect to give an induction speech in Canton before too long. He has been one of the premier pass-rushing defensive tackles since his arrival in the league in 2016 and twice eclipsed 15 sacks in a season. Jones anchored the Chiefs' defense for all three Super Bowl runs since 2020 and is a six-time All-Pro honoree.
Myles Garrett, EDGE, Rams
The trade that sent Myles Garrett from the Browns to the Rams this offseason reshaped the NFL's defensive power dynamic. Garrett is so impactful that Los Angeles' Super Bowl odds spiked aggressively with his arrival, and if he secures that first championship, his legacy will be complete. From his second professional season onward, Garrett has never posted fewer than 10 sacks or 18 QB hits in a campaign, and his legendary 2025 season, of course, went into the record books. The 23 sacks he racked up in his second Defensive Player of the Year campaign were the most in a single season and reflected Garrett's leveling up into a new echelon of backfield disruption. That is not to mention that he is also as prolific of a run defender as any active edge player.
Khalil Mack, EDGE, Chargers
Khalil Mack redefined positional nomenclature in 2015 when he earned enough votes to become an All-Pro at both defensive end and outside linebacker. That started the push to define players with his skill set as edge rushers rather than to pigeonhole them as simply defensive linemen or linebackers. The story of modern defense cannot be told without mentioning Mack. Plus, he is a former Defensive Player of the Year and a runner-up, and he made the Pro Bowl three times with three different teams for a total of nine appearances.
Von Miller, EDGE, free agent
It has been a handful of years since Von Miller last made star-level contributions to a team, but he accomplished so much during his 10-year Broncos tenure that everything since 2021 has simply been the cherry on top of a remarkable career. And even then, Miller was a cog in the Rams', Bills' and Commanders' edge rusher rotations over the last few seasons. Those years helped him retain his status as the active career sack leader with 138.5, most of which he accrued during that time in Denver in which he won Defensive Rookie of the Year, finished second twice in Defensive Player of the Year voting and seven times landed on the All-Pro team. Miller is also a two-time Super Bowl champion and one of just two defensive players in the last 23 years to win Super Bowl MVP.
T.J. Watt, EDGE, Steelers
Until Garrett reset the single-season sack record last year, T.J. Watt held the top spot on the leaderboard along with Michael Strahan at 22.5. Watt was also the second-fastest player to hit the 100 career sack mark and became the first player to lead the NFL in sacks in three separate seasons. All of that is to say that Watt is an all-time great pass rusher, and he might not even be close to done yet. The Steelers star has finished top four in Defensive Player of the Year voting five times, most recently in 2024.
Bobby Wagner, LB, free agent
With the Legion of Boom behind him, Bobby Wagner became synonymous with the Seahawks' defensive greatness in the 2010s. He was a top-five finisher in the MVP race during the 2014 run to the Super Bowl, and that kicked off 11 consecutive years of All-Pro production from one of the league's great modern linebackers. Wagner is the active tackle leader at exactly 2,000 and is one of just three players to ever hit that landmark. He has never failed to hit the 100 tackle threshold in a season.
