For the second year in a row, record-setting Eagles cornerback Eric Allen has been named one of 15 finalists for enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
This is Allen’s 19th year of eligibility. Players have 20 years once they become eligible for consideration five years after they retire and then they move on to the Seniors Committee.
Allen has been one of the more egregious Hall of Fame snubs of his generation. He’s the only cornerback in NFL history with at least 54 regular-season interceptions and eight TD returns not in the Hall of Fame, and he wasn’t even a finalist until last year in his 18th year of eligibility.
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The Hall of Fame selection committee began the selection process with a list of 167 nominees, then reduced that throughout the fall to 50 and then 25 semifinalists before determining the final list of 15 finalists.
The selection committee will meet in New Orleans Super Bowl week to pick from four to eight Hall of Famers from that list of 15, and the Hall of Fame Class of 2025 will be announced Feb. 6, the Thursday before Super Bowl LIX. The enshrinement will be in August in Canton, Ohio.
Allen, the Eagles’ 2nd-round pick in 1988 out of Arizona State, had 58 interceptions and nine touchdown returns including the postseason in a brilliant 14-year career. He had more interceptions than 22 of 37 defensive backs already in the Hall of Fame.
Allen made a splash as a rookie with five interceptions for the 1988 NFC East champs and then added eight in 1989, 2nd-most in the NFL behind Browns safety Felix Wright. He was named to the first of his six Pro Bowl teams and 1st-team All-Pro.
NFL
In the Eagles’ 1992 wild-card game in New Orleans – their first postseason win in 12 years – Allen capped a wild 26-0 fourth quarter with an 18-yard pick-6 off Bobby Hebert. That was the first INT return for a touchdown in Eagles postseason history.
In 1993, Allen had six interceptions and returned four of them for touchdowns, at the time an NFL single-season record (since broken by DaRon Bland of the Cowboys).
He left Philadelphia after the 1994 season as the final star from the Buddy Ryan Era to bolt via free agency during the great migration under former owner Norman Braman. He finished his career with three seasons with the Saints and four with the Raiders.
Allen shares the Eagles franchise interception record of 34 with Bill Bradley and Dawkins. His five INT touchdown returns with the Eagles are a club record, one more than Malcolm Jenkins.
Another long-time Eagle — linebacker Maxie Baughan — is a seniors committee finalist and is also a finalist this year. Baughan, the Eagles’ 2nd-round pick in 1960, spent the 1960 through 1965 seasons with the Eagles and made his first five of nine 1st-team All-Pro selections as an Eagle.
The Eagles have selected 10 Hall of Famers in the conventional NFL draft and two others — Reggie White and Cris Carter — in the supplemental draft.
Players they’ve drafted who’ve gone on to become Hall of Famers are George McAfee in the first round in 1940, Steve Van Buren in the first round in 1944, Pete Pihos in the fifth round in 1945, Lou Creekmur in the 26th round in 1948, Chuck Bednarik in the first round in 1949, Tommy McDonald in the third round and Sonny Jurgensen in the fourth round in 1957, Bob Brown in the first round in 1964, Carmichael in the seventh round in 1971 and Brian Dawkins in the second round in 1996. McAfee and Creekmur never played for the Eagles.
Jason Peters will be eligible for Hall of Fame consideration in 2028 — assuming he doesn’t play again — and Jason Kelce will be eligible in 2029.
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