Hall of Fame selections by Years of Eligibility.

[Rain Man]

What this tells me is that DT has two more years - if not, it's probably going to be a wait until a particularly slow year.

http://www.profootballhof.com/history/Eligibility.jsp

Election by year of eligibilty & year as finalist

Since 1970 * Senior Candidate

– In those cases when a player’s career ended prior to 1963, the year of eligibility is based on the amount of years since the Hall opened in 1963 rather than the years from when the player last played.
– Prior to 1970, the procedure of naming 15 finalists was not defined. In 2007 Hall of Fame bylaws increased the number of finalists to 17.

(Year of Eligibility in Parentheses)

Elected First Year of Eligibility (60 people)
Hugh McElhenny 1970
Jim Brown 1971
Gino Marchetti 1972
Ollie Matson 1972
Raymond Berry 1973
Jim Parker 1973
Forrest Gregg 1977
Gale Sayers 1977
Bart Starr 1977
Lance Alworth 1978
Ray Nitschke 1978
Larry Wilson 1978
Dick Butkus 1979
Johnny Unitas 1979
David "Deacon" Jones 1980
Bob Lilly 1980
Jim Otto 1980
George Blanda 1981
Merlin Olsen 1982
Paul Warfield 1983
Willie Brown 1984
O.J. Simpson 1985
Roger Staubach 1985
Ken Houston 1986
Joe Greene 1987
Jim Langer 1987
Gene Upshaw 1987
Jack Ham 1988
Mel Blount 1989
Terry Bradshaw 1989
Franco Harris 1990
Jack Lambert 1990
Tom Landry 1990
Earl Campbell 1991
John Hannah 1991
Jan Stenerud 1991
Dan Fouts 1993
Chuck Noll 1993
Walter Payton 1993
Tony Dorsett 1994
Randy White 1994
Steve Largent 1995
Don Shula 1997
Anthony Muñoz 1998
Mike Singletary 1998
Eric Dickerson 1999
Lawrence Taylor 1999
Ronnie Lott 2000
Joe Montana 2000
Jackie Slater 2001
Jim Kelly 2002
Marcus Allen 2003
John Elway 2004
Barry Sanders 2004
Dan Marino 2005
Steve Young 2005
Troy Aikman 2006
Warren Moon 2006
Reggie White 2006
Bruce Matthews 2007

Selected First Year as Finalist But Not First Year of Eligibility (31 people)
Jack Christiansen (7) 1970
Tom Fears (8) 1970
Pete Pihos (8) 1970
Vince Lombardi (3) 1971
Lamar Hunt (–) 1972
Clarence "Ace" Parker* (10) 1972
Ray Flaherty* (14) 1976
Bill Willis* (15) 1977
Alphonse "Tuffy" Leemans (16) 1978
Ron Mix (3) 1979
Morris "Red" Badgro* (19) 1981
George Musso* (20) 1982
Bobby Bell (3) 1983
Bobby Mitchell (10) 1983
Arnie Weinmeister* (22) 1984
Bob St. Clair* (24) 1990
Stan Jones* (19) 1991
Tex Schramm (–) 1991
Jimmy Johnson (13) 1994
Lee Roy Selmon (6) 1995
Jim Finks (–) 1995
Joe Gibbs (4) 1996
Billy Shaw* (25) 1999
Dave Wilcox* (21) 2000
Nick Buoniconti* (20) 2001
Elvin Bethea (15) 2003
Joe DeLamielleure (13) 2003
Hank Stram (20) 2003
Benny Friedman* (43) 2005
Fritz Pollard* (43) 2005
Charlie Sanders (25) 2007

Elected Second Year as Finalist (32 people)
Bill Hewitt (9) 1971
Frank "Bruiser" Kinard (2) 1971
Andy Robustelli (2) 1971
Norm Van Brocklin (6) 1971
Y.A. Tittle (2) 1971
Bill George (3) 1974
Lou Groza (2) 1974
Lenny Moore (3) 1975
George Connor (13) 1975
Sid Gillman (2) 1983
Charlie Taylor (2) 1984
Frank Gatski * (23) 1985
Larry Csonka (3) 1987
Mike Ditka (12) 1988
Allen Page (2) 1988
Art Shell (2) 1989
Ted Hendricks (2) 1990
Lem Barney (10) 1992
John Riggins (2) 1992
Bill Walsh (4) 1993
Jackie Smith (12) 1994
Lou Creekmur* (32) 1996
Mike Webster (2) 1997
Wellington Mara (—) 1997
Tommy McDonald (25) 1998
Howie Long (2) 2000
Mike Munchak (3) 2001
Dan Hampton (7) 2002
John Madden (27) 2006
Rayfield Wright (22) 2006
Thurman Thomas (2) 2007
Roger Wehrli (20) 2007

Elected Third Year as Finalist (18 people)
Joe Schmidt (3) 1973
Weeb Ewbank (5) 1978
Herb Adderley (3) 1980
Sam Huff (8) 1982
Sonny Jurgensen (4) 1983
Joe Namath (3) 1985
Willie Lanier (4) 1986
Fran Tarkenton (3) 1986
Len Dawson (7) 1987
Kellen Winslow (3) 1995
Mike Haynes (3) 1997
Paul Krause (14) 1998
Ozzie Newsome (4) 1999
Dan Rooney (–) 2000
Marv Levy (3) 2001
Dave Casper (13) 2002
James Lofton (5) 2003
Michael Irvin (3) 2007

Elected Fourth Year as Finalist (11 people)
Dick "Night Train" Lane (4) 1974
Tony Canadeo* (12) 1974
Jim Taylor (4) 1976
Mike McCormack (17) 1984
Larry Little (8) 1993
Bud Grant (7) 1994
Leroy Kelly* (16) 1996
Henry Jordan* (21) 1995
Mel Renfro (14) 1996
George Allen (24) 2002
Gene Hickerson (29) 2007

Elected Fifth Year as Finalist (11 people)
Roosevelt Brown (9) 1975
Len Ford (13) 1976
Doak Walker* (24) 1986
Fred Biletnikoff (5) 1988
Buck Buchanan (10) 1990
Bob Griese (5) 1990
John Mackey (15) 1992
Dan Dierdorf (8) 1996
Charlie Joiner (5) 1996
Dwight Stephenson (6) 1998
Bob Brown (26) 2004

Elected Sixth Year as Finalist (6 people)
Dante Lavelli (13) 1975
Frank Gifford (8) 1977
Yale Lary (10) 1979
Willie Davis (7) 1981
Doug Atkins (8) 1982
Ron Yary (14) 2001

Elected Seventh Year as Finalist (3 people)
Jim Ringo (9) 1981
Al Davis (–) 1992
Harry Carson (13) 2006

Elected Eighth Year as Finalist (4 people)
Pete Rozelle (–) 1985
Don Maynard (9) 1987
Jack Youngblood (12) 2001
John Stallworth (10) 2002

Elected Ninth Year as Finalist
John Henry Johnson* (16) 1987

Elected Tenth Year as Finalist
Willie Wood (13) 1989

Elected Eleventh Year as Finalist
Tom Mack (16) 1999

Elected Twelfth Year as Finalist
Paul Hornung (15) 1986

Elected Thirteenth Year as Finalist
Carl Eller (20) 2004

Elected Fourteenth Year as Finalist
Lynn Swann (14) 2001