The Pro Football Hall of Fame's class of 2024 will officially be inducted on Aug. 3.
With less than a month until the annual event in Canton, Ohio, we're examining which players — past and present — on the league's 32 teams we think will one day receive a similar honor.
Here are three San Francisco 49ers who should eventually receive football immortality:
Nick Bosa
Bosa is still very early in his career, but it is not hard to spot the trajectory he is on as one of the best defensive players of his era. In five years, he has already been named to four Pro Bowls, missing out on that honor only during the 2020 season when he was limited to just two games due to injury.
He has already been a first-team All-Pro and has a Defensive Player of the Year award (2022), while also topping 10.5 sacks in three consecutive seasons.
He will be 27 years old during the 2024 season and should still theoretically be in the prime of his career for several more years. There is some projection and “what if” happening here, but as long as Bosa stays relatively healthy and continues producing the way he has so far. He looks like a player with a spot waiting for him in Canton. Especially if he eventually helps the 49ers get over the hump in the playoffs and helps produce a Super Bowl championship.
Joe Staley
Offensive lineman are the most difficult positions to evaluate, not only in terms of their actual play but also for Hall of Fame purposes. They do not really have the same type of counting stats that every other position has. It is just one of those positions you just kind of have to know. With Staley, it should be obvious when it comes to his impact and greatness.
After being picked in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft (No. 28 overall), he played 13 seasons as the 49ers' starting left tackle and was a model of consistency within their offense. He rarely missed games, made six Pro Bowls, was a second-team All-Pro three times and was named to the NFL’s all-decade team for the 2010s.
Trent Williams
Williams, like Bosa, is another player still active for the 49ers. Unlike Bosa, you do not have to do as much projecting with him because he is starting to get closer to the end of his career. His legacy is already pretty well established, and his resume is already nearly complete.
While he spent the bulk of his career (nine years) with Washington, he is just now set to enter his fifth year in San Francisco as the team’s starting left tackle. He has been one of the league’s elite lineman in both stops and already looks like a Hall of Fame presence.
He has been a Pro Bowler in 11 of his first 13 seasons (including 11 in a row) and a three-time first-team All-Pro (in each of the past three seasons).
He was great in Washington, but getting an opportunity to play in Kyle Shanahan’s offense in San Francisco has only increased his reputation and helped solidify him as a Hall of Fame tackle.
