The Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame has minimize down an inventory of 60 semifinalists for senior gamers, coaches, and contributors for the 2024 class. Fortunately, there are a handful of Atlanta Falcons who’ve made that record and have no less than an outdoor shot of touchdown within the Corridor of Fame.

A 12 months in the past, many of those gamers and coaches made this record, so we’ll hope no less than one or two of those worthy candidates really make it to Canton in 2023. Let’s check out who made it this far and may proceed on through the subsequent spherical of cut-downs for the Class of 2024.

Mike Kenn

We’ve written concerning the the reason why Kenn belongs within the Corridor of Fame many instances in an try to assist push him in to Canton, and we’ll preserve that torch burning.

As I’ve written earlier than, Kenn is likely one of the higher and extra sturdy tackles in NFL historical past, having performed extra video games for the Falcons than some other participant, beginning in 17 straight seasons, making the Professional Bowl 5 instances, and being named an All-Professional as soon as. Solely three offensive linemen in NFL historical past appeared in additional video games than Kenn, a testomony to his iron man nature. Solely Lomas Brown performed extra video games than Kenn and isn’t within the Corridor of Fame, an injustice in its personal proper provided that he additionally was an amazing participant.

Kenn belongs with the NFL’s all-time greats, arguably greater than some other man on this record. I hope that is the 12 months.

Tommy Nobis

Nobis performed for some actually putrid Falcons groups, however he was as feared and revered a linebacker as you would discover within the league in his period. The truth that his statistics appear modest given the modest monitoring of the period and he performed for such terrible groups have harm his case, however his friends thought he was probably the greatest linebackers of his period, and so they noticed him play first-hand. Bear in mind, Corridor of Famer operating again Larry Csonka as soon as remarking that he’d quite face fellow Corridor of Famer Dick Butkus than Nobis.

The linebacker dubbed Mr. Falcon was the unique franchise nice, and as biased as my viewpoint may be, I feel he should make the Corridor in addition to Kenn.

Billy “White Sneakers” Johnson

Johnson pioneered some nice finish zone dances, was one of many NFL’s unique nice returners, and is a Falcon legend. His pace and shiftiness made him extremely harmful on particular groups and helped pave the way in which for a lot of legendary returners to come back, and was a helpful receiving risk in his personal proper. That oversized impression on the sport ought to make him

George Kunz

One other actually nice, considerably forgotten offensive lineman. He spent 12 seasons within the NFL between the Falcons and Colts and mauled folks regardless of clocking in at below 260 kilos, managing seven Professional Bowls and 5 All-Professional nods in his profession. One among my favourite footnotes is that he was traded for the #1 choose that grew to become Steve Bartkowski, a staff document holder for many passing classes till Matt Ryan obliterated all of them.

Chris Hinton

The identical Professional Bowl and All-Professional nods as Kunz, and the reverse path that Kunz took, as Hinton went from the Colts to the Falcons as a substitute of vice versa. Great at each deal with and guard over 13 NFL seasons, Hinton was one of the vital underrated gamers of his era and a worthy Corridor choose.

One other enjoyable tidbit: The Colts selected to commerce him and Andre Rison to the Falcons for the choose that grew to become Jeff George, who might be as well-known for his Falcons stint as he’s for his work in Indianapolis.

Clay Matthews Jr.

I’ll echo final 12 months’s writeup: You in all probability is aware of Matthews’ son, the previous Packers nice Clay Matthews III, as nicely or higher than you recognize Matthews Jr. The longtime Cleveland Brown was nonetheless a really nice linebacker, piling up 4 Professional Bowl berths, two All-Professional nods, plus almost 1,600 tackles to go along with almost 70 sacks and 18 interceptions. Matthews stays the oldest participant ever to get a sack in NFL historical past with the Falcons, managing to snag one as a full-time starter for the staff at 40 years outdated in 1995. His profession started in 1978.

Dan Reeves

Until you grew to become a fan within the post-Michael Vick period, you recognize Dan Reeves. Arguably the staff’s biggest coach, he piloted the Falcons to one among their two Tremendous Bowl berths in 1998, and was instrumental to Vick’s early improvement with the staff.

He gained a Tremendous Bowl ring as an assistant with the Cowboys and achieved success with each the Giants and Broncos, as nicely, and turned in an eight 12 months profession as a participant. For his all-around contributions, he appears very prone to land within the Corridor of Fame earlier than later.

Wealthy McKay

Within the contributor class, we’ve got McKay, a person who the fanbase has been sharply divided on for a few years. The son of NFL legend John McKay, Wealthy oversaw some nice Tampa Bay groups as their normal supervisor earlier than hopping over to Atlanta and bringing in minor Falcons legends like Justin Blalock, Jerious Norwood, and Matt Schaub, in addition to all-time greats like Roddy White and Jonathan Babineaux. After an in any other case combined run, he was succeeded by Thomas Dimitroff as normal supervisor, and has contributed to climb the organizational ladder as Arthur Clean’s proper hand man. He oversaw negotiations for the development of each Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, and has been on the league’s Competitors Committee for 27 years. His nomination is much less about what he did for the Falcons than what he’s completed for the league over the previous three a long time, and I believe he’ll finally get the nod.

Probably the most disappointing omission continues to be Jessie Tuggle, a Falcon nice who has a powerful case as an all-time nice at linebacker. Tuggle is my favourite participant ever—bias disclosed—but in addition is fourth in tackles per Professional Soccer Reference since 1987, has two of the highest three mixed deal with seasons all-time, and was a feared playmaker and tonesetter for some terrific Falcons defenses within the Nineties. I’d like to see him garner severe consideration down the road.

Nonetheless, this can be a record of people that have contributed to NFL historical past in methods each massive and small, in addition to some actually nice Falcons. I sincerely hope we see lots of them make it, beginning with Kenn, Nobis, and Reeves.