The NFL announced Wednesday that the 2023 Hall of Fame game, the first of this year’s preseason, will be played by the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets on August 3.
The match will be held at the Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, located in Canton, Ohio, prior to the Aug. 5 ceremony in which the new Hall of Famers announced last February will be inducted.
Since 1963 the Pro Football Hall of Fame recognizes the most outstanding elements of the NFL, this time both Browns and Jets contribute players to the venue.
For Cleveland will be honored left tackle Joe Thomas, a 10-time Pro Bowl selection who played his entire career (2007-2017) with the Browns.
The Jets will bring to the Hall of Fame the names of Joe Klecko, a four-time Pro Bowl lineman who was on the team from 1977 to 1987 and retired with the Colts in 1988, and Darrelle Revis, a former cornerback who played eight of the 11 years he was in the NFL with the Big Apple team.
The other seven inductees who will enter the Hall of Fame in 2023 are Zach Thomas, who with the Miami Dolphins got more than 100 tackles in at least 10 of the 12 seasons on that team. He ended his career with the Dallas Cowboys in 2008.
Ronde Barber, former star of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with whom he won Super Bowl XXXVII; in 16 years with the Bucs he accumulated 47 interceptions.
Former Cowboys and Broncos linebacker DeMarcus Ware, ranked ninth in NFL history with the most quarterback sacks, had 138.5 in 12 seasons in the league.
Chuck Howley, who played with the Bears from 1958 to 1959 and the Cowboys from 1961 to 1973 and is now 86 years old, distinguishes himself among the new members by being the only one in history to earn an MVP designation in a Super Bowl even though he was part of the losing team.
Also inducted into the Hall of Fame are Ken Riley, a former Bengals cornerback who died in 2020, and former coach Don Coryell, who died in 2010.
