Profiles of Devin Hester, Julius Peppers and other 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame honorees (2024)

The Pro Football Hall of Fame will welcome seven new members with bronze busts and gold jackets in Saturday’s ceremony.

The Class of 2024 includes pass rushers Dwight Freeney and Julius Peppers, linebackers Patrick Willis and Randy Gradishar, wide receiver Andre Johnson, return man Devin Hester and defensive tackle Steve McMichael. The ceremony airs at noon ET on NFL Network and ESPN.

The festivities kicked off Thursday with the Hall of Fame Game, which ended late in the third quarter due to inclement weather. The Bears beat the Texans 21-17.

Here is more on each of the seven 2024 Hall of Fame inductees.

Dwight Freeney

For a decade, Freeney was the Colts’ closer.

“End this,” Peyton Manning would tell him before the defense jogged onto the field. “This is your time.”

Freeney relished it, the stakes and the spotlight, the game’s outcome hinging on his ability to beat the man across from him. Games were mostly a grind, he says: As one of the league’s premier pass rushers, Freeney typically spent the better part of three hours getting held, chipped, punched and double-teamed. But he learned to play chess with the offensive tackle, using dozens of snaps early to set himself up for a precious moment in the fourth quarter when he could pounce.

“In a one-score game, he was Michael Jordan with the ball in his hand and a few seconds left,” says former Colts tight end and longtime teammate Dallas Clark. “We’d all sit on the sideline, knowing exactly what was about to happen.”

Freeney knew, too.

“The best part is when you know the other guy is scared to death,” he says. “He’s not getting any help. He knows exactly what move I’m gonna do, and he knows he can’t stop it.”

Read more from Zak Keefer here.

Randy Gradishar

Gradishar was being asked to deliver a history lesson.

That’s what the 72-year-old thought, anyway, when he got a call from the Denver Broncos in January. He was told the team’s owners, Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner, entering their second year in charge of the organization, wanted to discuss the Orange Crush defense and its impact on the franchise and the city. Who better to ask about the dominating unit than its tackling-machine linebacker who still lived up the road?

“I was tricked,” Gradishar said.

When he saw two of his former Denver teammates at the team facility, Tom Jackson and Billy Thompson, Gradishar knew his 35-year wait for football immortality was over. He was being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame after being approved as the senior finalist. The kid who grew up in Champion Township, Ohio, working at his father’s grocery store until famed coach Woody Hayes pulled him to Ohio State, was going to live forever in Canton, Ohio.

As he received the news, Gradishar thought about that path and all who had helped him travel it. Then, a realization washed over him.

“The Orange Crush defense is finally being recognized,” he said.

Read more from Nick Kosmider here.

Devin Hester

Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower, who helped the NFL create the new kickoff rule, remembers 11 years ago when Hester lined up to return a punt against Washington. Hightower was in the coaching box, helping chart for the defense for Washington that afternoon, when Hester took off.

The 81-yard touchdown tied Deion Sanders’ record for return scores.

“The whole team said all week that we weren’t going to kick it to him. We kicked it to him and guess what happened,” Hightower said with a laugh. “He did what he does best. He’s special.”

Hightower, who’s been coaching in the NFL since Hester’s rookie season, doesn’t think we’ll see another returner like him.

“I still in my heart of hearts don’t think I’ll see another Devin Hester in my lifetime. Maybe my kids’ kids will see one,” he said. “He was just so special. Any time he touched the ball, he could go to the house. That’s rare. I haven’t seen that consistently from someone year in and year out.

“To be able to do it as long as he could for as good as he was, that’s why he’s going to the Hall. He’s just remarkable.”

Read more from Kevin Fishbain here.

Andre Johnson

Johnson understands the significance of the honor, and how much it means to his family, his fans and to the Houston Texans, as he becomes the franchise’s first Hall of Famer. However, there’s still a part of him that finds it hard to believe.

“The first time I went to visit the Hall of Fame (earlier this year), I walked in that room with those busts, and I think, for me, it was just kind of like, ‘Man, I’m one of these guys?'” he said. “There were so many greats to play this game and to be sitting in that room with those guys is a great feeling. I kind of feel like I’m dreaming a little bit.”

No one familiar with Johnson’s body of work has ever questioned his credentials or worthiness.

“One of my favorite players I’ve ever coached. One of my favorite people I’ve ever coached,” said San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, who was Houston’s wide receivers coach in 2006 and offensive coordinator in 2008 and 2009. “Andre was such a stud. Him and Julio (Jones) are the two most talented receivers I’ve ever been around. And Andre is probably the hardest worker I’ve ever been around — and not just receiver. He was always in shape, always knew how to work, never took one play off, never turned anything down in the run game. He was a true stud and a true Hall of Famer.”

Read more from Mike Jones here.

Steve McMichael

Bears fans know the tough and rugged defensive lineman who has long been worthy of Hall of Fame recognition.

But to Jarrett Payton, son of the late Walter Payton, it’s McMichael’s gift for making people feel good — “To put a smile on someone’s face,” he said — and his loving, charitable heart that should be highlighted right now.

McMichael didn’t just light up rooms but lives.

“(It’s) just how much he gave back throughout his life,” Payton said. “He didn’t really want a lot of recognition for it, but it’s paid off because everything that he’s given back, man, the city gave back to him, too, when they found out about his battle with ALS.”

Payton, who will present McMichael at the Hall of Fame ceremony, described it as similar to the outpouring of love and support for his father and family after Walter announced that he had a rare liver disease.

“I don’t think (McMichael knows) how much of an impact he had on people’s lives,” Payton said. “My goal is to highlight that. … The passion and love for life was oozing off of him every time you were in his presence. He turned a bad day into good day.”

Read more from Adam Jahns here.

Julius Peppers

Peppers was a 6-foot-7 defensive end whose long strides and fluid movements at times made it appear he didn’t go all-out every play. That was really the only criticism of him before the 2002 NFL Draft, in which the Panthers held the No. 2 pick.

And while some in the media thought the Panthers should take Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington, the Panthers went with Peppers. All he did was rack up nine Pro Bowl berths and 159 1/2 sacks, including 97 during two stints in Carolina. When he retired after the 2018 season at the age of 39, he trailed only Bruce Smith, Reggie White and Kevin Greene on the all-time sacks list. All three are in the Hall of Fame.

Now Peppers will join them in Canton despite — by his own admission — the absence of a signature pass move. Peppers has been talking to former Colts pass rusher Dwight Freeney a lot since the February announcement that both would be part of this year’s Hall of Fame class.

“I always compliment him on his spin move. When you think Dwight Freeney, that’s what you think about,” Peppers said. “I never really had a signature thing. It was a combination of things. It was versatility. It was putting different moves together, watching Reggie — taking the hump (move) from Reggie. Taking the speed from Jevon Kearse. Doing the long arm from like a Kevin Carter. It was a combination of all these different, great pass rushers and trying to put it together to make it my own.”

Clearly, Peppers was successful in doing so.

Read more from Joseph Person here.

Patrick Willis

Jim Harbaugh was watching NFL Network recently when a rerun left him scrambling for flight arrangements. The Los Angeles Chargers coach caught a replay of “The Knock,” the video series that captures the moment an inductee learns they’ve been selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

As Harbaugh found out, the Patrick Willis episode is a classic of the genre. With cameras rolling, the San Francisco 49ers linebacking great opened a door in Jackson, Tenn., to find Bryant Young, dressed in the hall’s distinctive gold jacket, ready to welcome his teammate to the Class of 2024.

“C’mon, man,’” is about all Willis could get out before vanishing tearfully into Young’s massive hug.

Watching the scene unfold, Harbaugh impulsively switched his RSVP for Willis’ induction ceremony from “maybe” to “heck yes.”

How could he not? Harbaugh coached the final four seasons of the linebacker’s eight-season career, giving the five-time All-Pro his first taste of winning in the NFL.

Willis will be the first Harbaugh-coached player to reach the Hall of Fame, another factor in the coach’s decision to make the trek.

“I watched Patrick’s reaction and said, ‘By golly, we’re going. So let’s get some flights,'” Harbaugh told reporters after a recent practice. “I think we’ll be able to make it to Canton.”

Read more from Daniel Brown here.

(Top photo: Perry Knotts via AP)