Pro Football Hall of Fame considering enshrining 20 in 2020

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is considering expanding the number of enshrinees for one season.

President David Baker said the Hall of Fame could potentially add 20 new members for the Class of 2020, both to deal with a backlog of deserving candidates and to honor the NFL's centennial season.

"It is extremely elite company, and it's not the Hall of very, very good. It's the Hall of Fame, and so it should be difficult to make it. But there's a lot of guys through the years, we've had several guys who are on All-Decade teams who aren't in the Hall of Fame," Baker said on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Monday.

"And so this is an opportunity with the centennial coming up, and what we've looked at potentially and has been approved, at least in concept, by our operating board - but we're going to have to go through the full board - is that potentially we would have 20 Hall of Famers enshrined for the year 2020."

The Hall of Fame traditionally elects between four and eight new members from a list of 15 modern-era finalists. The proposed expanded 2020 class would feature more inductees from different eras and categories.

"It would be the five normal modern-era players elected from 15 finalists, and then it'll be 10 seniors, three contributors ... and two (coaches)," Baker said of the potential 20-member class. "But again, I want to stress that that's got to be something that is passed by our board at its meeting on Friday, Aug. 2."