Pats Pulpit
The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its final group of semifinalists for the 2026 class on Tuesday. Among the 26 modern-era players to garner enough support among voters are six with ties to the New England Patriots.
The group is headed by franchise legends Rodney Harrison, Vince Wilfork and Adam Vinatieri and also includes short-time Patriots Fred Taylor, Torry Holt and Reggie Wayne.
Logan Mankins, James Harrison and Asante Samuel, on the other hand, did not make the cut.
Harrison saw action in a combined 199 regular season and playoff games over the course of his 15-year career in the NFL, including 72 as a member of the Patriots. A cornerstone of two Super Bowl-winning defenses, he is a three-time All-Pro and two-time Pro-Bowler who is one of only two NFL players — the other being Ray Lewis — to register 30 interceptions and 30 sacks over the course of their careers. Since his retirement in 2009, he has been enshrined into both the Patriots’ and the Chargers’ Halls of Fame.
Wilfork started his career as a first-round draft pick by the Patriots in 2004 and during his 13 seasons in the NFL played a total of 213 games. A majority of those — 179 — came during his 11 years in New England, where he won a pair of Super Bowls and earned five All-Pro and Pro Bowl designations each. After his retirement following the 2016 season, he was voted into the Patriots Hall of Fame.
Vinatieri spent the first 10 of his 24 NFL seasons in New England, where he was integral to establishing the team’s dynasty. He kicked game-winning field goals in the team’s first two Super Bowls and later added two more rings to his collection, one as a Patriot and one as a member of the Colts. He retired in 2021 after having appeared in 397 games and as the NFL’s all-time leading scorer as well as a member of three All-Pro teams, three Pro Bowls, the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 2000s, and the NFL’s 100th Anniversary Team.
Taylor, Holt and Wayne, meanwhile, all joined New England toward the tail end of their legendary careers. Among them, Taylor is the only one to actually make it out of training camp and appear in a game as a Patriot. He saw action in 13 contests and a playoff game between 2009 and 2010, and finished his career with the club with a combined 108 carries for 425 yards and four touchdowns — a fraction of his total career rushing production of 12,308 rushing yards and 69 TDs on 2,663 carries.
Harrison, Wilfork, Vinatieri, Taylor, Holt and Wayne are among 11 total ex-Patriots making it to the semifinal round for induction into the Hall of Fame in 2026. Joining them are longtime New England head coach Bill Belichick as well as former executive Francis “Bucko” Kilroy and team owner Robert Kraft and senior candidates Stanley Morgan and Henry Ellard.
In a subsequent step, the remaining...
