Cornerback Eric Allen and guard Steve Wisniewski have a total of 27 seasons, 14 Pro Bowl selections and three First-Team All-Pro selections between them.

They also played with each other as Raiders from 1998-2001, where in those four seasons as teammates, they won 38 games and two AFC West titles.

And now, they have become one step closer to football immortality together as well.

The two former players were recently named semifinalists for the modern-era in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025. This is Allen's fifth time making the semifinal round and Wisniewski's second. Considering what the two have accomplished in their NFL careers, there's no doubt that their résumés stack up as being Hall of Fame worthy.

"I feel much better this year than I have in previous years," Allen said of the potential to be inducted into the Hall. "I think last year was the first year I kind of was like, 'Hold up, my numbers are this and I'm not in there?' So, it was more of an effort last year and I think this year along with the Raiders and everyone here on the staff ... we're making more of an effort to get that story out early. But I get nervous and I still have a lot of respect for where I am right now and the rest of the guys on the list, but hopefully this is the year."

"It was just be a culmination of a career's effort," Wisniewski said. "From the first time I stepped into the Raiders locker room, I was surrounded by Marcus Allen and Bo Jackson and Howie Long, and I can go down the list. The great players I played with, I idolized them. ... I tried to emulate what they put on the field and for me to receive this honor, I wouldn't point inward – I'd be pointing outward and be fulfilled for that Raiders legacy. ... I'd be thrilled, I'd be honored and I feel like it be an exclamation [point] and a job well done."

For Allen, his legacy resounds with his ability to produce turnovers. He recorded 54 interceptions in his career and returned eight of them for touchdowns. He's also one of 39 players in NFL history with at least 50 career interceptions – 25 of those players have already been enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

"We can all be great and real good cover guys, but unless you take the ball away it really doesn't matter," Allen said. "That's the point, I think, of being a cover guy is having the ability to take the ball away and give your offense another possession. ... Just the consistency of being able to take the ball away and I think that was the trait that I always put the most emphasis on, is finding a way to be that ballhawk."

As for Wisniewski, who spent the entirety of his NFL career in the Silver and Black, he only missed two games in 13 seasons played. And even though he only missed those two games, he said he regrets not being able to play with a knee sprain. He's one of four offensive players on the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team, chosen by voters of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, that's yet to be inducted.

"I played a lot of games beat up and banged up, but I just felt that I owed it to my teammates. I wasn't going to let them down," he said. "I owed it to the fans and I just hated not being in a uniform. I think there's something to be said for that mindset and also the fact that I believe, I truly do, as an offensive guard I played the guard position with as much tenacity as any other guard in the National Football League. And in that era of the 90s and the 2000s, early 2000s, I'd put my tenacity up with anybody."

The Modern-Era Players category will be a cut to 15 finalists in late December, with the Class of 2025 to be announced at NFL Honors in New Orleans, Louisiana, in February.