Only one-third of the seniors nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026 made the cut, and Browns icon Clay Matthews Jr. is one of them.
The Hall of Fame announced a cut from 162 to 52 (top 50 plus ties) Thursday, Oct. 2.
To be considered this election cycle, each person in the seniors category could have appeared in a professional football game no more recently than the 2000 season.
Many who followed Matthews ' career as a Browns linebacker from 1978-93 viewed him Hall of Fame worthy.
Matthews was relatively as productive in his prime as was teammate and tight end Ozzie Newsome, who made the Hall of Fame in 1999; except, Matthews' prime lasted longer. In fact, the Falcons liked him so much that they kept him for three seasons (1994-96) after Cleveland 's Bill Belichick regime let him go.
Matthews was a mainstay on the Browns' seven postseason teams from the 1980s, including ones that reached the AFC championship games capping the 1986, 1987 and 1989 seasons.
He first was eligible for the Hall in 2002 and has bounced around two-plus decades of debates.
Among those also making the seniors cut to 52 is Dick Schafrath , who had a marathon run as a Browns left tackle mostly in the win-heavy 1960s.
Among those who didn't are ex-Browns Gary Collins and Earnest Byner. Some Browns historian types are sure to groan over the exclusion of Collins, who starred on the Browns' last NFL championship team (1964) and was great at his position (and also was a great punter) in an era before padded receiver stats.
Here is a list of the remaining 52 seniors:
QUARTERBACKS (5): Ken Anderson, Charlie Conerly, Roman Gabriel, Jack Kemp, Don Meredith.
RUNNING BACKS (6): Ottis Anderson, Larry Brown, Roger Craig, Chuck Foreman, Cecil Isbell, Paul "Tank" Younger.
WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS (9): Mark Clayton, Isaac Curtis, Lavvie Dilweg, Henry Ellard, Harold Jackson, Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, Stanley Morgan, Art Powell, Otis Taylor.
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN (11): Jay Hilgenberg, Chris Hinton, Joe Jacoby, Mike Kenn, Bob Kuechenberg, Marvin Powell, Dick Schafrath, Jerry Sisemore, Walt Sweeney, Jim Tyrer, Al Wistert.
DEFENSIVE LINEMEN (4): L.C. Greenwood, Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Jim Marshall, Harvey Martin.
LINEBACKERS (8): Carl Banks, Maxie Baughan, Mike Curtis, Larry Grantham, Lee Roy Jordan, Clay Matthews Jr., Matt Millen, Tommy Nobis.
DEFENSIVE BACKS (8): Dick Anderson, Bobby Boyd, Pat Fischer, Lester Hayes, Albert Lewis, Eddie Meador, Lemar Parrish, Everson Walls.
SPECIAL TEAMS (1): Steve Tasker.
Members of the seniors committee, who also serve on the Hall's full selection committee, will reduce the list of 52 candidates to 25, then again to nine, in balloting that will occur over the next several weeks. They then will meet virtually to discuss those nine semifinalists and will choose three finalists for the Class of 2026.
The Canton Repository sports department can be contacted via email at sports@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Clay Matthews, Dick Schafrath remain Hall of Fame seniors candidates
