Here is this year's possible timeline for Jets D-line great Joe Klecko's quest to become one of the two Seniors candidates to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in February:
June 1 — Deadline for the Hall of Fame to mail the preliminary list of eligible nominees to the nine members of the HOF Seniors Committee. The list consists of carryover nominations from the previous year, first-time-eligible candidates, and nominations from any outside source.
June-July — The nine Seniors Committee members, by mail ballot, reduce the list of nominees to 15 Seniors finalists.
Third Week of August — Five of the nine Seniors Committee members (selected on a rotating basis) attend the committee's annual meeting in Canton, Ohio, where, according to the Hall, "they are charged with the responsibility of nominating two candidates from that list to be among the 17 finalists for Hall of Fame election."
November — The full HOF Selection Committee reduces the list of Modern Era candidates from a Second Preliminary List in September to a Third Preliminary List of 25 semifinalists and then to a Final Preliminary List of 15 Modern Era finalists during the month of November. The two Seniors finalists are added to that list of preliminary finalists.
Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015 — The full HOF Selection Committee meets the day before Super Bowl XLIX in Phoenix, AZ, to vote on the Class of 2015. The two Seniors members are carried through on the several reductions at this meeting, to a list of 10 + 2 names, then 5 + 2, then to an up-down vote on the Class of '15 inductees. Any of the seven finalists who receives at least 80% of the vote from the 46 selectors is in the Hall of Fame.
Of the 22 Seniors Committee nominees from 2004 through this past February, 19 have been voted into the Hall of Fame, an 86.4% success rate. If Joe Klecko is one of the two Seniors nominees in August, he has an excellent chance of becoming a Pro Football Hall of Famer.
