NFL RB Index, Week 11: Eddie George, Fred Taylor among 7 running backs who belong in Hall of Fame

Back in September, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced its 173 modern-era nominees for the Class of 2024. That list will get whittled down to just 25 semifinalists later this month.

First and foremost, all of those men are clearly deserving of the nomination; their illustrious careers speak for themselves. But I wonder: What's a guy gotta do to get an invite to the party? Your boy was a league rushing champion (2011) and a top player at the running back position for a multi-year span. I have much more to tack on here, but I digress. It's not about me this time around.

Before the semifinalists are announced, I'm taking a closer look at the 33 nominated running backs. And for me, there are five benchmarks that I routinely use to decide whether a running back is worthy of a spot in Canton:

Below are the players who, in my opinion, are most deserving of a gold jacket this year -- and in the future. All 33 nominees were special players, obviously, but I limited my rundown to seven truly transcendent backs. These guys (listed in alphabetical order within each subsection) check a number -- if not all -- of my benchmark boxes. Let's get to it.

This guy has to get in this year. George has been HOF-eligible for more than a decade, inexplicably only achieving semifinalist status once. In a long list of great Oilers/Titans running backs -- a group that includes Earl Campbell, Chris Johnson and Derrick Henry -- George is arguably the best, with 10,441 career rushing yards. Much like those players, the 6-foot-3, 235-pounder made opponents game plan around him and used his size and physicality to wear down defenses throughout his nine-year career. He played a major role in Tennessee reaching the franchise's first and only Super Bowl,