Former Viking Jared Allen was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the smallest induction class in 20 years following offseason rule changes meant to make it harder to get inducted.
Jared Allen was a four-time All-Pro who finished his career with 136 sacks, including a league-leading 22 in 2011 for Minnesota. He also led the league in sacks with 15 1/2 for Kansas City in 2007 and reached double digits in seven straight seasons. His final game was a Super Bowl loss for Carolina against Denver in the 2015 season.
Antonio Gates, Eric Allen and Sterling Sharpe were also voted into the Hall of Fame on Thursday.
While the small class is a change from past years when at least seven people got inducted in each of the previous 12 classes, it isn't unprecedented.
There were only four inductees in the 2005 class and there were 18 other years with three or four inductees since the first class of 17 was enshrined in 1963.
New rules were instituted this year after a push by Hall of Famers to make the Hall more exclusive and it led directly to the smaller class. The modern era candidates were voted from 15 down to seven in the final stage, instead of five in past years.
The 49 voters then got to vote for five of the seven with anyone reaching 80% or finishing in the top three getting into the Hall. In past years, the five finalists all got an up-or-down vote with all five getting in for the past 17 years.
The candidates from the seniors, coach and contributor categories were then all placed in a group with voters picking three. Candidates also needed 80% support with the top finisher automatically getting in even if he fell short.
The four other modern-era candidates who reached the final stage but fell short were Willie Anderson, Torry Holt, Luke Kuechly and Adam Vinatieri. Those four automatically advance to the final 15 for next year's voting.
The other eight finalists who got cut earlier were Manning, Jahri Evans, Steve Smith Sr., Terrell Suggs, Fred Taylor, Reggie Wayne, Darren Woodson and Marshal Yanda.
The senior candidates who fell short were Maxie Baughan and Jim Tyrer, with Mike Holmgren falling short as the coach and Ralph Hay as the contributor.