Canton, Ohio is home to the Pro Football Hall of Fame where NFL greats become legends, immortalized in the football world.

On Tuesday, January 2, the 15 finalists were announced for the 2018 Hall of Fame where they are now just one last step away from joining the icons that came before them. The complete list of finalists are:

Ray Lewis, LB

Brian Urlacher, LB

Edgerrin James, RB

Randy Moss, WR

Terrell Owens, WR

Isaac Bruce, WR

John Lynch, S

Brian Dawkins, S

Everson Walls, DB

Ty Law, CB

Tony Boselli, OT

Kevin Mawae, C

Joe Jacoby, OT

Steve Hutchinson, OG

Alen Faneca, OG

Since there can only be a maximum of eight inductees (and a minimum of four), let’s take a closer look at the players on the list that I think will get inducted this year

(NOTE: this does not mean the players that I don’t name won’t be inducted. I am just naming the people that I think will definitely get in for 2018).

Highlight videos will be hyperlinked to each player’s name.

Ray Lewis:

Arguably one of the most dominant players to ever play the linebacker position, Ray Lewis is a guaranteed Hall of Famer and any Ravens fan can back me up on this. If you were lucky enough to watch Lewis play, or unfortunate enough to have to play against him, then you know exactly how good he really has been.

Lewis has played 228 career games in his 17 seasons (all with the Ravens) and started 227 of them which, on its own, shows the effect that Ray Lewis has on a defense. Then, you throw in his 41.5 sacks and his 1562 tackles throughout his career--not to mention he’s a two time Super Bowl champ and a 13 time Pro Bowler-- and it’s easy to believe that voting Lewis into the Hall of Fame is a no-brainer.

His involvement in a murder investigation back in 2000 is the only thing that could taint his otherwise perfect Hall of Fame contention, but he was strictly a witness to the deaths of two men, despite the common word of mouth, so Lewis should have no problem with getting his gold jacket.

Brian Urlacher:

The only other linebacker to be named a finalist besides Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacher was also an absolute beast on the field. I grew up with a cousin who was a Chicago Bears fan, and I never heard the end of it every time the Bears would play my Philadelphia Eagles because Urlacher would just take control of the game every single play (and practically every game in general).

My relationship with Brian Urlacher is bittersweet. I loved him because he was one of the best linebackers I had ever seen in my entire life, but I hate him because he was an Eagle. In his 13 seasons with the Chicago Bears, Urlacher started 180 out of his 182 games played and finished his career with 41.5 sacks, 1040 tackles, 340 assists on tackles and 22 interceptions!

Brian Urlacher is, in my mind, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, and I doubt you could find anyone (that actually saw him play) who would disagree with me on that.

Randy Moss:

Randy “The Freak” Moss is a guaranteed Hall of Famer, hands down. I’ve personally seen the 6 feet 4 inches tall wide receiver dominate defenses my entire life, and it’s been weird not seeing my favorite wide receiver ever on the field since he retired.

Moss finished his career with 15,292 receiving yards and 156 touchdown receptions while also being sent to the Pro Bowl six times. Surprisingly enough, Moss has never won a Super Bowl even though he played with New England for three seasons. It was practically the end of his career, and during his time in NE, Eli Manning had pulled a rabbit out of his hat to beat the Patriots for Manning’s first Super Bowl victory) but Randy Moss is a bonafide Hall of Famer.

He even made his last name a verb when football fans all over the country began using the term “Mossing” when referring to catching the ball over another person and basically robbing them of the ball.

Terrell Owens:

Another one of my favorite wide receivers, Terrell Owens has never had a dull moment in his career. This isn’t TO’s first year eligible for the Hall of Fame, but maybe this year will finally be his year that he gets inducted. By the numbers, Owens has every stat that qualifies for the Hall of Fame with 219 games, 1078 receptions, 15,934 receiving yards and 153 touchdowns, but voters on the committee have admitted that they didn’t vote for Owens because of his off-field behavior, something that these voters are not allowed to do.

Candidates are meant to be voted on based strictly on their on-field performance, and Terrell Owens should have been a first-year inductee with the numbers he’s earned in his career. TO’s only “problem” is that he’s disrupted every locker room he’s ever played in, which I can understand may be why he might not have been liked by all of his teammates, but his behavior certainly made it more exciting and entertained for the fans.

To the voters, Terrell Owens deserves to be in Canton. This isn’t like the debate of Barry Bonds and his Hall of Fame induction because Terrell Owens never cheated to influence a game. Owens dominated the game and did so with pure talent. I mean, come on, if O.J. Simpson is in the Hall of Fame after everything, then why shouldn't Terrell Owens when he hasn't even gotten close to being in that kind of trouble?

Brian Dawkins:

Brian Dawkins, "Weapon X," "Wolverine," whatever you prefer to call him, is a Hall of Fame after this year, and I would bet everything I have on it. I’ve saved the best for last because he truly is the greatest defensive player I have ever had the pleasure of seeing play during their career.

Of all the names on the list of finalists, I know Brian Dawkins the best because he has been a Philadelphia Eagle for 13 of his 16 years in the NFL. He spent his last three seasons with Denver before officially retiring as an Eagle on April 28, 2012, after signing a one day contract with Philadelphia.

Brian Dawkins, a man loved so much by the city of Philadelphia because he represented it perfectly, rightfully got his No. 20 retired on September 30 against the New York Giants, and I remember seeing Dawkins come running out of the tunnel on all fours like an animal would as if it just happened yesterday.

One of the hardest hitting players to ever play the Safety position, Dawkins finished his career with 895 tackles, 236 assists on tackles, 37 interceptions, 26 sacks and 36 forced fumbles. He started 221 out of his 224 games played and with each of those games he stepped onto the field for, he fired up the thousands upon thousands of people in the stands and even the millions watched from home.

The only other player I have seen play with the level of passion and intensity that Dawkins played with is Ray Lewis so I think it’s poetic, in a way, that these two football titans could be inducted together as part of the 2018 class.