The Arizona Cardinals’ 2025 season hasn’t gone as planned, but the Cardinals received some exciting news off the field on Tuesday morning when the Pro Football Hall of Fame released its list of 26 modern-era semifinalists for the Class of 2026.
That list included three quarterbacks, two running backs, five receivers, a tight end, a kicker, six offensive linemen, three defensive linemen, two linebackers, and three defensive backs.
The Cardinals’ Greats that Made the Pro Football Hall of Fame Semifinalists?
The semifinalists for the 2026 Hall of Fame Class included three former Cardinals players, including Larry Fitzgerald.
The other two Cardinals were Terrell Suggs and Lomas Brown.
This is Fitzgerald’s first year on the ballot, alongside Drew Brees, Phillip Rivers, Frank Gore, and Jason Witten as the other four first-year eligible players.
Fitzgerald played his entire 17-year career with the Cardinals, went to 11 Pro Bowls, and was a First-team All-Pro once.
The Cardinals’ great had nine different 1,000-yard seasons, including five straight from 2007-2011. Fitzgerald led the NFL in receptions in 2005 and 2016 and led the league in touchdowns in 2008 and 2009.
The former star collected 1,432 receptions in his 17-year career, with 17,492 receiving yards and 121 touchdowns. Fitzgerald went to the playoffs four times with the Cardinals, including his ridiculous 2008 playoff run that got the Cardinals to the Super Bowl.
With Kurt Warner as his quarterback, Fitzgerald reeled in 30 catches for 546 yards and seven touchdowns in four games.
Fitzgerald last played in 2020, so this is the first year he is eligible for the ballot.
This is also the first time Brown has made it as a semifinalist. Brown spent 18 years in the NFL, mostly with the Detroit Lions.
The former great left tackle spent three years with the Cardinals, including one of his seven Pro Bowl seasons. Brown played his last season in 2002 when he won the Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The former Cardinals offensive lineman has been through the selection process for a while now, but has made it to the Semifinal stage for the first time this year.
The other former Cardinal on the list is Suggs, who spent part of a season with the Cardinals at the tail-end of his career. The former Cardinal is mostly known for his 16-plus years with the Baltimore Ravens, where he was a seven-time Pro Bowler and an All-Pro.
Suggs won a Super Bowl with the Ravens and won his second with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019 before retiring.
Now, all three former Cardinals have made the semifinalists list for the 2026 Hall of Fame Class. The selection started at 128, before being trimmed to 52 and now 26.
The next step will be to trim the nominees to 15 Finalists, which will be announced on Dec. 3. Then, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026 will be announced at “NFL Honors” in San Francisco in February and enshrined in August in Canton, Ohio.