On Thursday, the Patriots announced wide receiver Julian Edelman, placekicker Adam Vinatieri and guard Logan Mankins as the three finalists for the 2025 induction class of the Patriots Hall of Fame.
Starting today, fans will have the ability to vote for their choice among those three Patriots legends on the Patriots’ team website, with one of those former players joining Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells as a part of this year’s class later this year.
Voting will take place through midnight on April 30, with the team announcing the winner later that week.
Edelman is a three-time Super Bowl champion, who spent his entire 12-year career with the Patriots from 2009 to 2020. After spending the bulk of the early part of his career as a fill-in-where needed guy, with a memorable stint playing defensive back on the 2011 team that lost in the Super Bowl, Edelman eventually settled in as one of Tom Brady’s most reliable targets.
Edelman is second in team history with 620 receptions, fourth with 6,822 receiving yards, fourth with 9,869 all-purpose and ninth with 36 receiving touchdowns. When it comes to postseason success, Edelman is among the most elite performers in league history, ranking third in NFL history with 118 postseason receptions behind Travis Kelce (178) and Jerry Rice (151). He is one of 17 NFL players with at least 1,000 career postseason yards and his 1,442 postseason receiving yards are third all-time, behind Rice (2,245) and Kelce (2,078).
In addition to the postseason numbers, Edelman has some of the greatest individual postseason moments in league history to his name, including an improbable catch that was crucial in the comeback win against the Falcons in Super Bowl LI, a Super Bowl MVP-winning performance in Super Bowl LIII against the Rams, and being on the passing end of a trick play touchdown to Danny Amendola that helped secure a comeback victory against the Ravens in the 2014 AFC Divisional Round at Gillette Stadium.
Vinatieri is inarguably the greatest kicker in the history of the NFL, spending the first 10 years of his storied 24-year career in New England from 1996 to 2005. And when you have the distinction of GOAT kicker, you know your resume is going to be pretty stacked:
- All-time leading scorer (2,673 points)
- Most career field goals made (599)
- Most combined regular season and postseason games played (397)
- Most career field goal attempts (715)
- Most consecutive made field goals (44)
- Most seasons with 100+ points (21)
- Most made field goals in a single postseason (14 in 2006)
- Most career overtime field goals (11)
When it comes to his trophy case, it’s brimming with Lamar Hunt Trophies and Super Bowl rings, most of which won while wearing a Patriots uniform. Vinatieri’s New England teams won the AFC four times (1996, 2001, 2003, 2004), going on to win three Super Bowls in four seasons from 2001 to 2004. In his career, he was selected to three All-Pro teams, three Pro Bowls, and is a member of both the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team and the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. For Patriots honors alone, he’s a member of their All-1990s Team, All-2000s Team, 50th Anniversary Team and All-Dynasty Team.
On top of all the accolades, Vinatieri has a handful of hall of fame moments that all of us in New England remember well.
During the 2001 postseason, he was the author of two of the most difficult kicks in NFL history - both taking place in the same game against the Oakland Raiders in the AFC Divisional Round. The first was a 45-yard field goal with 27 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime, and the second being a 23-yard field goal to close out the old Foxborough Stadium with a 16-13 win, advancing the Patriots to the AFC Championship Game. Both kicks occurred in blinding snow - images forever etched into Patriots lore.
Later that postseason, Vinatieri played hero again, as he kicked a 48-yard field goal as time expired to beat the St. Louis Rams 20-17 in Super Bowl XXXVI. Two years later, he put the hero cape on yet again, kicking another Super Bowl-winning field goal. This time, it was against the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII, as Vinatieri was good from 41 with four seconds left, sealing a 32-29 win.
Earlier this year, Vinatieri was a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, but was surprisingly snubbed from joining Jan Stenerud and Morten Andersen as the third pure placekicker to be inducted into football’s most exclusive fraternity. While he missed out on a gold jacket in 2025, he’ll have a chance at a red one this spring.
Logan Mankins is possibly the best Brady-Belichick Era Patriot to not have won a Super Bowl ring, yet all who watched the six-time All-Pro know how important he was to the fabric of Foxborough’s winning culture. Spending nine of his 11 seasons in the NFL with the Patriots from 2005 to 2013, Mankins was selected to six Pro Bowls while donning the Flying Elvis.
Mankins - a finalist for this distinction for a third-straight year - earned an iron man reputation, starting all 130 regular season and 17 postseason games in which he appeared in Patriots uniform. With Mankins in the lineup, New England’s offense finished in the top 10 in eight of his nine seasons. He is a member of two different Patriots All-Decade Teams (2000s and 2010s), as well as their 50th Anniversary Team, and helped lead the Patriots to two AFC Championship Game wins in 2007 and 2011.
It goes without saying that all three of these players are more than deserving of a red jacket, and will eventually receive that distinction down the line. But for 2025, only one will join Parcells as the 37th member of the Patriots Hall of Fame.
Here’s a complete list of every player and contributor inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame:
1991 - John Hannah
1992 - Nick Buoniconti
1992 - Gino Cappelletti
1993 - Bob Dee
1993 - Jim Lee Hunt
1993 - Steve Nelson
1993 - Vito “Babe” Parilli
1994 - Mike Haynes
1995 - Steve Grogan
1999 - Andre Tippett
2001 - Bruce Armstrong
2007 - Stanley Morgan
2008 - Ben Coates
2009 - Jim Nance
2009 - William H. “Billy” Sullivan, Jr.
2010 - Sam Cunningham
2011 - Drew Bledsoe
2011 - Jon Morris
2012 - Troy Brown
2013 - Tedy Bruschi
2013 - Gil Santos
2014 - Ty Law
2015 - Houston Antwine
2015 - Willie McGinest
2016 - Kevin Faulk
2017 - Raymond Clayborn
2018 - Matt Light
2019 - Leon Gray
2019 - Rodney Harrison
2020 - Richard Seymour
2021 - Tracy Sormanti
2022 - Vince Wilfork
2023 - Dante Scarnecchia
2023 - Mike Vrabel
2024 - Tom Brady
2025 - Bill Parcells