On Thursday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the list of candidates for the Class of 2013, and two Broncos are among the first-year eligible modern-era candidates.

Center Tom Nalen and safety John Lynch are nominees in their first year of eligibility.

Lynch, a nine-time Pro Bowler, spent the first 11 years of his NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before joining the Broncos as a free agent in 2004. He spent four seasons with Denver, capping off a career that featured 1,277 tackles, 13 sacks, 26 interceptions, 100 passes defensed, 16 forced fumbles and eight fumble recoveries.

Nalen started 188 of 194 games played in his career, and never committed more than six penalties in a season. He earned five Pro Bowl nominations — the most by an offensive lineman in Broncos history, and won back-to-back Super Bowls with the team.

The two first-year candidates join five fellow former Broncos — running back Terrell Davis, wide receiver Rod Smith, linebacker Karl Mecklenburg and safeties Steve Atwater and Dennis Smith — and a former Broncos coach, Dan Reeves, as nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2013.