Ranking each of the Hall of Fame semi-finalists for the Broncos
- Could the biggest name from the Orange Crush defense finally gain entry?
- Three former coaches make the list
The Denver Broncos are a team that has started to see many of their former greats finally reach the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
John Elway earned his induction in 2004 and both Gary Zimmerman and Shannon Sharpe followed. In recent years, many former Broncos have gotten the call, such as Peyton Manning, Steve Atwater, John Lynch, Terrell Davis and Pat Bowlen.
Other former Broncos, who spent the majority of their careers with other teams such as Ty Law and Brian Dawkins, have also been selected.
The NFL recently released a list of 60 names of former players, coaches and contributors that have been named semi-finalists for the class of 2024. Four names on that list will catch the eyes of Broncos fans who will be hoping at least one of them will be on that final list to go into Canton.
Here, I am going to rank each of these semi-finalists in order of how deserving they are of this great honor.
Broncos Pro Football Hall of Fame Semi-Finalists: Class of 2024
. . . 45. Alex Gibbs. Alex Gibbs. OL Coach, 1995-2003. . 4.
Alex Gibbs is probably not talked about as much as he should be in relation to the success of the Denver Broncos in the late 1990s, but he absolutely should be. As the team's offensive line coach, he created the zone-blocking scheme that helped Terrell Davis become the most dominant running back in the league behind one of the best rushing attacks of its era.
Gibbs was an integral piece of the team's back-to-back Super Bowl wins in 1997 and 1998. Mike Shanahan was often credited for being able to plug any running back in the backfield and making a 1,000-yard rusher out of them.
Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson and Reuben Droughns are all examples of this. But it was the blocking scheme set up by Gibbs that was most responsible for that.
After he left Denver, Gibbs was the assistant head coach and offensive line coach for the Atlanta Falcons, Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks before serving as an offensive line consultant for the Broncos in 2013.
He sadly passed away in 2021 at the age of 80, so this would be a posthumous induction if he were to get that far in the process. Still, it's nice to see Gibbs' name mentioned as he was a fantastic coach.