ATLANTA — Champ Bailey doesn’t feel like he’s at home. His high school is about 290 miles away, his college about 72 miles and the city he lived and breathed just below his feet. Yet Bailey somehow feels like a stranger here, surrounded by dozens of Pro Football Hall of Famers in a luxury Atlanta hotel.



“This is all new to me,” he said looking around at all the gold jackets. “I’m just trying to soak it up.”



It was Friday morning, in what was essentially a party before the party. He and his fellow Hall of Fame finalists joined those already enshrined in Canton for a taste of what could be.



What was foreign to Bailey quickly became his reality Saturday evening as he was voted into the Hall of Fame alongside Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, becoming not only a first-ballot selection but also the franchise’s first defensive player to be elected.



In 15 NFL seasons, including 10 with the Broncos, Bailey...