Ranking the Five Biggest Pro Football Hall of Fame Snubs

Hi, I'm Matt Verteram of Sports Illustrated.

And we recently polled 8 Hall of Fame voters to find out who are the 5 biggest snubs of the Hall of Fame as we sit.

And number 5 was Torry Holt, a great wide receiver, the greatest show on turf with the Saint Louis Rams.

Played 10 years there before finishing up with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

He had 8 years in a row of over 1100 receiving yards, twice led the league in receiving yards, once in receptions.

Won a Super Bowl as a rookie in 1999, caught a touchdown pass in that 23-16 win.

Over the Tennessee Titans, and yet, not in the Hall of Fame with so many receivers trying to get in.

The logjam keeping Holt out.

But his resume speaks for itself.

A two-time All-Pro, a seven-time Pro Bowler.

Torry Holt, one of the greatest receivers the game's ever seen.

And yet, the voters haven't found a way to get him in yet despite being a finalist multiple times.

At number 4, a vintage throwback, Maxi Vaughn.

He split his career in the 60s with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Los Angeles Rams.

Vaughn came in and immediately made an impact with the Eagles in 1960 as a rookie, winning the NFL title, beating the Vince Lombardi Packers at Franklin Field.

One of the biggest omissions ever for a player who didn't get onto an all-decade team.

He made 6 straight all-pro teams, ultimately walked away from the game in 1970, came back for a cup of coffee with Washington in 1974 before going into a career in coaching, which had him coaching Ray Lewis and Derrek Brooks in their formative years in the 1990s.

At number 3, Reggie Wayne, a great, great receiver for Peyton Manning with the Indianapolis Colts in the 2000s, played alongside Marvin Harrison.

And while Harrison's in the Hall of Fame, running back Edwin James off that team in the Hall of Fame, and of course, Manning also in Canton.

Wayne has not a way to get there yet.

He was a six-time Pro Bowler, a three-time All-Pro.

He led the league in yardage in 2007 and in '06, helped the Colts win their first Super Bowl in Indianapolis, going on a run that culminated in Miami where they beat the Bears in a rain-soaked night.

In Super Bowl 41.

All told, Wayne had 8 1000 yard seasons.

He was one of the defining players of the decade.

And yet, in the end, he has had a hard time getting into camp, much of the same reason that Torry Holt has.

They continue to split votes with each other, with men like Steve Smith Senior, and it has kept him out of the Hall of Fame to this point.

But, being one of the top 3 snubs according to our voters, he's got a good chance to get in here at some point soon.

At number 2, Mike Holmgren.

Holmgren made a name for himself in the 80s and early 90s with the San Francisco 49ers, helping them win Super Bowls, both with Bill Walsh and George Seyfert.

As the offensive coordinator, Holmgren oversaw one of the great offenses of all time with Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Brent Jones, Roger Craig, so on and so forth.

And ultimately got his shot with the Green Bay Packers, a team that was of great glory in the 1960s but did nothing for a quarter century.

Then Holmgren showed up, Brett Favre showed up, Reggie White showed up, and so did the Lombardi Trophy.

Coming back to Title Town.

In the 1996 season after getting so close in 1993, 1994, and 1995.

But Holmgren wasn't done there.

After winning a Super Bowl, went right back to another one the following year, losing to the Denver Broncos, then went on to coach the Seahawks and had another Super Bowl appearance, losing that game in controversial fashion, Super Bowl 40 in Detroit to the Steelers.

Holmgren is one of two coaches to have a Super Bowl win and at least go to 3 and not be in the Hall of Fame.

The other, Bill Belichick, who, of course, famously got snubbed in the 2026 class and is likely to go in 2027.

Holmgren, easily, one of the greatest coaches of the last 50 years, and yet hasn't found his way to a gold jacket.

And number one, another coach, Mike Shanahan.

Shanahan beat Holmgren in Super Bowl.

32 in San Diego with the Broncos.

That was the first of two consecutive Super Bowls that Shanahan would win in Denver.

He is, along with Belichick, the only coach ever to win consecutive Super Bowls and not be enshrined in Canton.

He had 8 years of double-digit wins, 170 victories total in the regular season.

He was one of the defining coaches of his era with the zone blocking scheme, helping Terrell Davis rush for 2000 yards and earn MVP.

Honors .

But in the end, Shanahan hasn't found his way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

And yet, the wild part about it, despite being the number one snub from our voters, number one on our list, he hasn't yet even gotten close.

He's yet to be a finalist.

Shanahan is a stunning omission considering that during his coaching career, everyone figured he would waltz into Canton early on in his candidacy.