Most offensive guards don’t make the Pro Football Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, but it does happen. Bruce Matthews and guard/tackle Larry Allen are recent examples.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers guard Alan Faneca might be next. He’s not a lock for enshrinement on his first ballot – last year’s inductee, Will Shields, also a guard, entered the Hall in his fourth – but Faneca’s place on the 2000s All-Decade first team speaks loudly come voting time.