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John Lynch, two former 49ers among 25 Hall of Fame semifinalists

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© Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports


Two former 49ers and the team’s current general manager are a step closer to the Hall of Fame. As the Hall announced on Tuesday morning, Lynch, Patrick Willis and Bryant Young are among 25 Modern-Era semifinalists to enter the Hall with the Class of 2021.

The next step in the process is winnowing the list down to 15 names… then to 10… then to five.

In order to earn induction, those remaining five players need to receive 80 percent “yes” votes from Hall of Fame voters.

This is Lynch’s ninth-straight year as a semifinalist since 2013, and both Young and Willis’ second-straight year as semifinalists. This year’s group will be announced in during the week before Super Bowl LV, and between four and eight new members are selected each year.

In his 15 seasons (11 with Tampa Bay, 4 with Denver), Lynch won two Super Bowls, one with each team, was a two-time first team All-Pro and nine-time Pro Bowler. He had 26 career interceptions, 16 forced fumbles and 13.0 sacks along with an outrageous 1,059 tackles.

In his 14 seasons with San Francisco, Young was a dominant force on the interior, winning one Super Bowl, becoming the franchise’s all-time sack leader with 89.5 regular season sacks and making four Pro Bowls along with one first-team All-Pro nod.

In his 8 seasons with San Francisco, Willis was the best middle linebacker in football for most of his tenure. He was a first-team All-Pro five times, and made the Pro Bowl in every season but his last. He finished with 950 career tackles, and led the league in both combined and solo tackles in his rookie year, in 2007 and his third year, 2009.