Pittsburgh Steelers legends WR Hines Ward and OLB James Harrison officially missed the cut of finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025, it was announced Saturday. Their failure to advance to the finalist category yet again begs the question — will they ever see their day in Canton?

There were 15 Modern-Era Finalists announced for this year’s class, including five players in their first eligible season for nomination — Luke Kuechly, Eli Manning, Terrell Suggs, Adam Vinatieri and Marshal Yanda. Among those the other finalists were: CB Eric Allen, DE Jared Allen, OT Willie Anderson, OG Jahri Evans, TE Antonio Gates, WR Torry Holt, WR Steve Smith Sr., RB Fred Taylor, WR Reggie Wayne and S Darren Woodson.

Former Steelers LB James Harrison (and Bengals, 2013, and Patriots, 2017) is a three-time semifinalist, up for consideration in each of the past three years. Harrison ranks second all-time for the Steelers franchise in sacks (80.5), forced fumbles (33), third in tackles for loss (122), playing 177 career games with the black and gold — 13th most in franchise history. Harrison is a 2x All-Pro, 5x Pro Bowler, 2x Super Bowl Champion and was 2008’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Harrison’s “Immaculate Interception” in Super Bowl 43 — a 100-yard pick-six that currently stands as the longest interception TD in NFL history. The legendary play gave the Steelers a 17-7 lead over the Arizona Cardinals heading into the half, eventually going on to win the game outright, 27-23. In that same game, he totaled a sack, four QB hits, 14 tackles (1 TFL). Super Bowl 43 was Harrison’s third of what would be four total career Super Bowl appearances.

Hines Ward, with the Steelers from 1998-2011 seasons, has been a Hall of Fame Semifinalist in each of the past nine classes. Ward is currently the Steelers’ all-time leading receiver, playing with the franchise for the entirety of his NFL career, amassing exactly 1,000 receptions for 12,083 yards and 85 TDs. Ward, like Harrison, notched two Super Bowl wins (also 2005, 2008), and was Super Bowl XL’s MVP with a 5-123-1 — the score being a 43-yard trick play from WR Antwaan Randle El — Pittsburgh’s only passing touchdown of the day.

Ward ranks 12th in Approximate Value in franchise history per Pro Football Reference. Harrison, meanwhile, ranks 18th.

Pro Football Reference has attempted to quantify a player’s chances of a bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame with the “PFR Hall of Fame Monitor.” Here’s a brief summary regarding its formula, courtesy of PFR:

To summarize, the base formula uses weighted Approximate Value (which is 100% of the player’s peak year, 95% of their second-best year, 90% of their third-best, and so on) as a starting point. Bonuses are added for Pro Football Hall of Fame All-Decade selections, MVP awards, Defensive Player of the Year awards, first-team AP All-Pro selections, Super Bowls/titles, and Pro Bowls, in descending weights.

In addition, bonuses are added if a player has earned first-team All-Pro in over 33% of their seasons.

On top of the base formula, there are statistical bonuses given depending on the position. For quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends there are different thresholds depending on the era they played in so as to narrow the gap between the depressed passing stats before 1980 and the explosion after that.

Similar to JAWS, a score of 100 is around the average modern-era HOF inductee for each position

The average PFR HOF Monitor score for Hall of Fame wide receivers is 101 (Steve Smith Sr., a finalist this year, has a score of 99.91), while the average score for outside linebackers is at 103 (Suggs has a score of 94.80). Ward and Harrison have PFR Monitor values of 75.67 and 75.93, respectively.

Do you think Ward and Harrison will ever make it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Do they deserve it? Why or why not?