Following the enshrinement of Super Bowl 50 champion DeMarcus Ware in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the 2023 class earlier this month, the Denver Broncos will have to wait to see if they’ll have another enshrinee in 2024.
Former coach Mike Shanahan and late former coach Dan Reeves have been overlooked by voters in the coach/contributor category for the 2024 class. Instead, voters have named Buddy Parker the coach/contributor finalist. He won a pair of NFL titles before the Super Bowl era with the Detroit Lions.
Shanahan will now have to wait at least one more year before a trip to Canton.
Shanahan, 70, coached as an assistant at five colleges before beginning his pro career as a wide receivers coach with the Broncos in 1984. He was promoted to offensive coordinator after one season and later held that same role with the San Francisco 49ers, winning his first Super Bowl in 1994.
Shanahan became Denver’s head coach in 1995 and went on to win back-to-back Super Bowls in the late 1990s. In 14 seasons, he went 138-86 with the Broncos, which represents the most wins by a coach in Denver’s history. Shanahan was added to the team’s Ring of Fame in 2021.
Reeves was also a semifinalist in the coach/contributor category, but his family will also have to wait at least one more year.
The Broncos might still have a representative in the 2024 class, though.
Former Denver linebacker Randy Gradishar is a semifinalist for the 2024 Hall of Fame class as a senior candidate. He will learn his fate when up to three senior finalists are selected for the 2024 class on Aug. 22.
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