The Pro Football Hall of Fame started with 122 candidates for the Class of 2020 and that list has officially been trimmed down to 25 semifinalists.

The Hall of Fame announced the list of semifinalists on Tuesday and it's loaded with players who are eligible for the first time, including former Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, former Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne and former 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis.

The list also includes four other first-time semifinalists, who had all been previously nominated, but had not survived the initial cutdown. Those four players are Carl Banks, Fred Taylor, Ricky Watters and Bryant Young.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Steve Atwater and John Lynch will be hoping to get in after years of coming close. Atwater has been a semifinalist nine times without getting inducted, while Lynch has been named a semifinalist eight times.

The announcement of the HOF semifinalists is the second step in the process to select the next inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. On Jan. 2, the Hall of Fame selection committee will be asked to trim the semifinalists list down to 15 finalists. Once the list of finalists is set, five of those players will eventually be voted in to the class of 2020. To be inducted, a finalist needs to receive at least 80 percent support from the 48-person selection committee.

Those five inductees will actually be joined by 15 other players who will also be inducted in 2020. In honor of the NFL's 100th season, the Hall of Fame decided to induct a total of 20 players in 2020. Besides the five modern-era players, the Hall will also induct 10 seniors (a player who has been retired for more than 25 seasons), three Contributors (an individual other than a player or coach) and two coaches.

The induction of the 15 seniors, contributors and coaches will be determined by a special 25-person blue-ribbon panel that the Hall of Fame has put together to help decide who's worthy of induction. The panel will included legendary football minds like Bill Belichick and John Madden.

The 2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame class will be announced during a Fox television special that will air Feb. 1 from Miami, one day before Super Bowl LIV.

Here's the complete list of semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020