OL Kramer, LB Brazile named as senior finalists for 2018 Hall of Fame Class

Former Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Jerry Kramer and ex-Houston Oilers linebacker Robert Brazile were named as senior finalists for the 2018 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Thursday.

Both players will be up for consideration by the 48-member Hall of Fame selection committee on the Saturday before Super Bowl LII in February. To be elected, they must receive 80 percent of the votes.

The 2018 class will be announced on Feb. 3, the day before Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis.

Kramer, 81, was a pivotal member on Vince Lombardi’s teams that won five NFL championships as well as the first two Super Bowls. The guard was named to the NFL’s All-Decade team for the 1960s and remains the lone member of the league’s 50th Anniversary Team that resides outside of the Hall of Fame.

Prior to his modern-era eligibility expiring in 1988, Kramer was a Hall of Fame finalist nine times. He also was a senior finalist in 1997.

Brazile, 64, was named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1975 after being the sixth overall pick of the draft. He made seven Pro Bowl teams during a career that also earned him a spot on the NFL’s All-Decade team for the 1970s.

“I don’t know what to say,” Brazile told the Houston Chronicle. “I’m speechless. I’m so happy, I’m just floating. It’s such an honor, a blessing. I can’t believe it after all these years. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”