PITTSBURGH — I have some bad news for the five wide receivers standing in line, nervously shuffling their feet, hoping their name gets called for the Pro Football Hall of Fame: If they don't get called this year, Larry Fitzgerald is about to cut in front of them.

Fitzgerald has a great chance, one would think, to be a first-ballot selection when he becomes eligible next year. That only ratchets up the significance of this year's election for the five receivers among the 25 HOF semifinalists announced Wednesday.

The waiting has been the hardest part for Hines Ward, Anquan Boldin, Torry Holt, Steve Smith Sr. and Reggie Wayne, who have 34 semifinal appearances among them. Holt and Wayne are the only two who have advanced beyond this stage.

Will any get in? Hall voters have been tough on receivers lately. Only one from the past two classes made it — and that was Cliff Branch via the seniors category (as opposed to modern-era receivers). The last modern-era choice was a slam dunk in Calvin Johnson three years ago.

This should be the year that at least one of the five breaks through — and it should be Ward (although it probably won't be).

I have made Ward's case multiple times. He is, simply put, one of the finest all-around football players I have ever seen. He was impactful on a huge percentage of plays because when he wasn't catching passes, he was helping ignite the Steelers' prolific run game.

Ward was the best blocking receiver of his time, maybe ever, and that has to count for something. They named a rule after the guy, for goodness sake, after he snapped the jaw of Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers with a blind-side block.

I'm with Peter King, who before he retired last year put Ward on his all-time team — "all-time" meaning all the players King had seen since he began covering the NFL in 1984. His receivers were Randy Moss, Jerry Rice, Tyreek Hill and Ward. And that sounds about right to me.

In a radio interview last year, I asked King about Ward's spot on his team.

"I've covered the game for 40 years. He's the best all-around receiver I have ever seen," King said. "And what that means is he's very productive. You don't catch a thousand passes without being very productive. But he's also the best blocker I've ever seen as a wide receiver. That is so important. You ask any coach, 'What do you want in your wide receivers?' I want a guy who's unselfish, who gives himself up, who'll sell out to block.

"I have no regrets whatsoever about making him one of the top four receivers I have covered."

As you might expect, King has been bullish on Ward's HOF candidacy for years. What I can never figure out is, why don't more voters see it like him? What's the obvious case against Ward?

The numbers?

That always makes me laugh because Ward has the numbers. If you consider touchdowns important, for example, you should know that Ward had more regular-season TD catches than Boldin, Smith, Holt or Wayne. He also is the only one among the five with double-digit playoff TD catches (10). His numbers are fine, even though he didn't play indoors like Wayne and Holt and waited years before he got to work with a great quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger.

Ward reminded me of that years ago, when I was making his case for the Hall.

"And I had a young Ben," Ward said. "We only asked him to pass the ball 20, 25 times. I played with eight quarterbacks, and I can name every one of them: Kordell Stewart, Kent Graham, Mike Tomczak, Ben, Charlie Batch, Tommy Maddox, Byron Leftwich and Pete Gonzalez."

He laughed and added: "That was a Buffalo Wild Wings trivia question. Somebody couldn't get Pete Gonzalez."

It's fitting the Steelers played the Browns on Thursday, because Ward absolutely torched them. In 25 games, 21 of which were wins, Ward had 126 catches, 1,490 yards and 10 touchdowns (not to mention countless effective blocks and at least a few haymakers).

Oh, and he's also the only one among the five receiver semifinalists with a Super Bowl MVP trophy on his shelf. That should also count for something.

Don't get me wrong. All those guys were great — Boldin, Wayne, Holt and Smith. Nobody would deny that. But as King opined, Ward is the best all-around player among them.

The list of 25 semifinalists, which includes former Steelers linebacker James Harrison, will be cut to 20 in December. That group will be whittled to a handful or so before the Super Bowl, and this feels like a final plea to voters, with Fitzgerald looming next year:

If you're going to vote for a receiver, vote for the guy who made the most winning plays, even when he wasn't catching the ball.

(c)2024 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.