They included Troy Aikman, Sammy Baugh, Terry Bradshaw, Drew Brees, John Elway, Brett Favre, Dan Fouts, Otto Graham, Bobby Layne, Sid Luckman, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Joe Namath, Aaron Rodgers, Bart Starr, Roger Staubach, Fran Tarkenton, Johnny Unitas, Norm Van Brocklin, and Steve Young.
The finalists included Marcus Allen, Jerome Bettis, Jim Brown, Earl Campbell, Earl "Dutch" Clark, Eric Dickerson, Tony Dorsett, Marshall Faulk, Harold "Red" Grange, Franco Harris, Hugh McElhenny, Lenny Moore, Marion Motley, Bronko Nagurski, Walter Payton, Adrian Peterson, Barry Sanders, Gale Sayers, O. J. Simpson, Emmitt Smith, Jim Taylor, Thurman Thomas, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Steve Van Buren.
They included Lance Alworth, Raymond Berry, Fred Biletnikoff, Cris Carter, Tom Fears, Larry Fitzgerald, Marvin Harrison, Bob Hayes, Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch, Don Hutson, Michael Irvin, Calvin Johnson, Charlie Joiner, Steve Largent, Dante Lavelli, James Lofton, Don Maynard, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Pete Pihos, Jerry Rice, John Stallworth, Charley Taylor, and Paul Warfield.
[19] On December 9, 2019, 12 tight end finalists were announced, including Dave Casper, Mike Ditka, Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez, Rob Gronkowski, Ron Kramer, John Mackey, Ozzie Newsome, Charlie Sanders, Shannon Sharpe, Kellen Winslow, and Jason Witten.
Sixteen of the 33 defensive linemen were defensive tackles, including Junious "Buck" Buchanan, Curley Culp, Art Donovan, "Mean" Joe Greene, Cortez Kennedy, Bob Lilly, Gene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb, Leo Nomellini, Merlin Olsen, Alan Page, John Randle, Warren Sapp, Tom Sestak, Ernie Stautner, Randy White, and Bill Willis.
The finalists included Chuck Bednarik, Bobby Bell, Derrick Brooks, Dick Butkus, Harry Carson, Bill George, Kevin Greene, Jack Ham, Ted Hendricks, Clarke Hinkle, Sam Huff, Luke Kuechly, Jack Lambert, Willie Lanier, Ray Lewis, Von Miller, Ray Nitschke, Dave Robinson, Joe Schmidt, Junior Seau, Mike Singletary, Lawrence Taylor, Derrick Thomas, Brian Urlacher, and Dave Wilcox.
[24] Sixteen of the 30 defensive back finalists were cornerbacks, including Herb Adderley, Champ Bailey, Lem Barney, Mel Blount, Willie Brown, Darrell Green, Mike Haynes, Jimmy Johnson, Dick "Night Train" Lane, Patrick Peterson, Mel Renfro, Darrelle Revis, Deion Sanders, Aeneas Williams, Charles Woodson, and Rod Woodson.
Fourteen of the 30 defensive back finalists were safeties, including Jack Christiansen, Brian Dawkins, Kenny Easley, Ken Houston, Paul Krause, Yale Lary, Ronnie Lott, Troy Polamalu, Ed Reed, Johnny Robinson, Donnie Shell, Emlen Tunnell, Larry Wilson, and Willie Wood.