The fifteen 2009 Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists were announced Tuesday, adding their names to the two senior candidates announced in August.  The 25 semifinalists had been announced in November.

We’ve got a couple of great Hall of Fame discussions going already–one discussing our picks for the Hall of Fame Class of 2009, and one discussing the Hall of Fame worthiness of several current players.

The seventeen finalists:

WR Cris Carter
C Dermontti Dawson
DE Richard Dent
G Russ Grimm
WR Bob Hayes (Senior Candidate)
DE Claude Humphrey (Senior Candidate)
DT Cortez Kennedy
G Bob Kuechenberg
G Randall McDaniel
DT John Randle
WR Andre Reed
TE Shannon Sharpe
DE Bruce Smith
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue
LB Derrick Thomas
Team Owner Ralph Wilson
DB Rod Woodson

Sharpe, Woodson, Smith and Randle are all first year finalists.

Only two players from our original guess of the 15 finalists did not make it–Ray Guy and Charles Haley.  The two that made it that weren’t on our list were Cortez Kennedy and Ralph Wilson.  All five of our picks for the Class of 2009 made the cut.