The Pro Football Hall of Fame made headlines earlier this year when they announced that they were going to expand next summer's induction class to 20 members. Hall of Fame president David Baker said that the expansion to 20 members was to celebrate the league's centennial anniversary while also clearing out the backlog of deserving players who have yet to get the call to Canton. 

On Thursday, the Hall released its 122-member, modern-era nominees for next summer's Hall of Fame class. Below is a position-by-position look at each player who made the cut. 

Quarterbacks: Randall Cunningham, Jake Delhomme, Boomer Esiason, Jeff Garcia, Jeff Hostetler, Dave Krieg, Donovan McNabb

Running backs: Shaun Alexander, Tiki Barber, Earnest Byner, Larry Centers, Corey Dillon, Eddie George, Priest Holmes, Edgerrin James, Thomas Jones, Maurice Jones-Drew, Eric Metcalf (who is being considered based on his other duties as a receiver and return specialist, Clinton Portis, Fred Taylor, Herschel Walker (who is also being considered based on his duties as a kickoff returner), Chris Warren, Ricky Watters

Fullbacks: Mike Alstott, Daryl Johnston, Lorenzo Neal

Wide receivers: Isaac Bruce, Gary Clark, Donald Driver, Henry Ellard (also PR), Torry Holt, Chad Johnson, Derrick Mason, Muhsin Muhammad, Jimmy Smith, Rod Smith, Hines Ward, Reggie Wayne

Tight ends: Dallas Clark, Ben Coates, Keith Jackson, Brent Jones, Jeremy Shockey, Wesley Walls

Offensive linemen: Willie Anderson (T), Matt Birk (C), Tony Boselli (T), Lomas Brown (T), Ray Donaldson (C), Alan Faneca (G), Kevin Gogan (G/T), Jordan Gross (T), Chris Hinton (G/T), Kent Hull (C), Steve Hutchinson (G), Lincoln Kennedy (T/G), Olin Kreutz (C), Chris Samuels (T), Jeff Saturday (C), Brian Waters (G), Richmond Webb (T), Erik Williams (T), Steve Wisniewski (G) 

Defensive linemen: John Abraham (DE also LB), La'Roi Glover (DT/NT), Casey Hampton (DT/NT), Chester McGlockton (DT), Leslie O'Neal (DE), Simeon Rice (DE), Richard Seymour (DT), Justin Smith (DE), Neil Smith (DE), Greg Townsend (DT/NT), Bryant Young (DT)

Linebackers: Carl Banks, Cornelius Bennett, Lance Briggs, Tedy Bruschi, James Farrior, London Fletcher, Seth Joyner, Wilber Marshall, Clay Matthews, Willie McGinest (who also played DE), Sam Mills, Chris Spielman, Takeo Spikes, Darryl Talley, Zach Thomas, Jessie Tuggle, Patrick Willis

Defensive backs: Eric Allen (CB), Steve Atwater (S), Ronde Barber (CB/S), LeRoy Butler (S), Nick Collins (S), Merton Hanks (S), Rodney Harrison (S), Albert Lewis (CB), John Lynch (S), Terry McDaniel (CB), Tim McDonald (S), Troy Polamalu (SS), Bob Sanders (S), Troy Vincent (CB), Darren Woodson (S) 

Punters & kickers: David Akers (K), Gary Anderson (K), Jason Elam (K), Jeff Feagles (P), Jason Hanson (K), Sean Landeta (P), Ryan Longwell (K), Nick Lowery (K), Reggie Roby (P), Rohn Stark (P), Matt Turk (P)

Special teams: Johnny Bailey (PR/KR), Josh Cribbs (KR/PR), Mel Gray (PR/KR), Brian Mitchell (KR/PR), Steve Tasker

This list will be trimmed down to 25 semifinalists in November and 15 finalists in early January. The Hall of Fame's selection committee will then discuss each finalist on the eve of Super Bowl LIV before naming the five players who will be part of the 2020 Hall of Fame induction class. 

The class will also include 10 senior inductees, three contributors, and two coaches.