A defense-dominated nine-member Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2023 includes Ronde Barber, Darrelle Revis, DeMarcus Ware, Zach Thomas, Joe Thomas and Joe Klecko.
With a rare lean toward defense, the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s class of 2023 features two of the best cornerbacks in league history, one of the all-time sack leaders and a linebacker who frustrated some of the game’s best quarterbacks on his way to multiple 100-tackle seasons.
Cornerbacks Ronde Barber and Darrelle Revis, outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware and linebacker Zach Thomas were all selected for enshrinement in the Hall’s Class of ’23, as was tackle Joe Thomas, a 10-time Pro Bowl selection with the Cleveland Browns.
It marks the first time since the league’s AFL-NFL merger in 1970 that four of the maximum five slots in a modern-era class have been defensive players. In 2021, three of the modern-era enshrinees were defensive players (LeRoy Butler, Richard Seymour and Bryant Young), and the fourth defensive player in the class — Sam Mills — had been a Seniors committee finalist.
Also selected for enshrinement this year were coach Don Coryell, defensive tackle/end Joe Klecko, linebacker Chuck Howley and cornerback Ken Riley. Klecko, Howley and Riley were Seniors committee finalists and Coryell was a coach/contributor committee finalist.
The Hall’s newest nine-member class will be formally enshrined in early August in Canton, Ohio.
