Former Tennessee football star tight end Jason Witten could be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as early as 2026.
He joins a long and illustrious list of first-time eligible options to be voted into the Hall, according to Adam Schefter. Additional notable players include Larry Fitzgerald, Drew Brees, Phillip Rivers, Julian Edelman, Frank Gore, Greg Olsen, Dez Bryant and others.
The Hall of Fame, based out of Canton, Ohio, is an extremely select group reserved for the best of the best in pro football history. The organization describes the process to get in as such.
“The Hall of Fame’s selection process includes multiple steps in which the nominees are scrutinized. The Hall facilitates the procedure of reviewing candidates with the Selection Committee. Following a screening process that reduces the original list of nominees (typlically in excess of 150) to 50 (plus ties), the Selection Committee reduces the list to 25 Semifinalists, followed by a later vote to reduce to 15 Finalists.
“At the annual meeting shortly before the Super Bowl, the Finalists are scrutinized even further by the Selectors, who after a thorough discussion of each Finalist, will reduce the list from 15 to 10, then 10 to 7. At that point, the Selectors cast their final ballot — choosing five of the seven remaining Finalists. Those who receive at least 80% favorable votes will be elected, with a maximum of five and no fewer than three. (Should fewer than three Finalists receive 80% favorable voting, the Finalist(s) closest to that figure would be elected.)”
Tennessee is currently represented by three players from the university in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Doug Atkins, Peyton Manning and Reggie White all got the nod.
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Witten played in the NFL from 2003-2020 with a one-year retirement in 2018 before returning to the field. He spent every season with the Dallas Cowboys except for his final year with the Las Vegas Raiders.
In this time, Witten was a two-time First-Team All-Pro (2007, 2010), two-time Second-Team All-Pro (2008, 2012), 11-time Pro Bowler, Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year and Bart Starr Award Winner. In his NFL career, he totalled 1,228 receptions for 13,046 yards and 74 touchdowns.
Witten played at Tennessee from 2000-2002 before being selected with the 69th overall pick in the 3rd round of the 2003 NFL Draft by the Cowboys. Out of Elizabethton, Tennessee, he was named a First-Team All-SEC player in 2002.
In 31 college games, he produced 74 receptions, 922 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. He was initially recruited as a defensive end to the Vols, but transitioned to tight end early in the fall of his freshman year due to a lack of depth at the position.
In 2017, the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year was unveiled, given to a college player who shows strong leadership qualities on and off the field.
