When it comes to the Hall of Fame, I’d like to say I’m optimistic, but honestly … I’m not. Canton has made it clear: They hate the Denver Broncos.

Sure, I may sound like a sour homer, but it’s incredible how little respect the Orange and Blue have received from the NFL Hall of Fame.

This is a team that has been to eight Super Bowls (tied for most all time) and won three (tied for seventh all time) and yet they have just four Hall of Famers to show for it. And just this year, the Hall passed over Pat Bowlen for Jerry Jones, despite Bowlen guiding over the most-successful franchise in the NFL since he bought the team.

Will they atone for their mistakes this year?

They’ll certainly have the opportunity, with five Denver Broncos named to the list of 26 semifinalists.

Here’s a case for why each one should earn a gold jacket:

John Lynch / Brian Dawkins

I almost left these guys off the list, because it’s really hard for me to consider them Broncos when they played a combined 22 percent of their careers in Denver. But then I remembered that the Broncos are only a few weeks removed from having placed John Lynch into their Ring of Fame.

And if he’s in the Ring of Fame, then he must surely be a Bronco, and if John Lynch is a Bronco, then Brian Dawkins has to be a Bronco too.

Politics aside … both guys absolutely deserve a spot in Canton. Dawkins will likely have to wait a few years, as he only just became eligible this year, but Lynch could very easily earn his gold jacket in 2016.

During his 15-year career, No. 47 earned nine Pro Bowl appearances and four All-Pro nods (two first team and two second team). Dawkins topped that with nine Pro Bowl appearances but five All-Pro teams (four first team and one second team).

With these guys, fortunately, it’s not a matter of if, but when.

Steve Atwater

While we’re on the discussion of safeties, let’s talk about one of the biggest Hall of Fame snubs in NFL history: Steve Atwater.

Without Atwater, we likely wouldn’t have had the heavy-hitting safeties that followed, like Lynch, Dawkins. He revolutionized the position, and it’s absurd that he doesn’t already have a bust in Canton.

The guy was the best safety of his generation, earning a trip to eight Pro Bowls (including seven straight), being named to three All-Pro teams (two first team and one second team) and winning two Super Bowl.

For either Lynch or Dawkins to enter the Hall of Fame before Atwater would be a shame.

Karl Mecklenburg

Unfortunately, Mecklenburg is probably the least likely of this group to ever earn a Hall of Fame nod, but that doesn’t mean he’s undeserving.

According to Pro Football Reference, he’s only one of five players to finish his career with 1,000 tackles and 70 sacks (sacks didn’t become an official stat until 1982). Three of the other four (Rickey Jackson, Bruce Smith and Reggie White) are all Hall of Famers, and the other, Cornelius Bennett, probably deserves some consideration, too.

During his 12 years with the Broncos, Mecklenburg earned six trips to the Pro Bowl and three First-Team All-Pro nods. He was the face of the Orange Crush defense and played in three Super Bowls.

Terrell Davis

And here we go, the white whale.

Nearly everybody agrees that Terrell Davis was a Hall of Fame athlete, but at the end of the day, it always comes down to the same thing: duration of dominance.

Only nine players in NFL history have matched the 21 touchdowns Davis scored in 1998. Only four players in NFL history have matched his 2,008 yards. None did both.

Not only did Davis have the greatest rushing season in NFL history (winning NFL MVP and taking home a second straight Lombardi Trophy in the process), but he very likely had the best three-season stretch of any running back ever, averaging 1,765 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground.

And that’s without even bringing up his playoff success.

During the three-year stretch from 1996-1998, in which the Broncos took home two Super Bowl championships, Davis averaged 142.5 yards per game — Per game! That’s the highest playoff rushing average in league history, and that’s all you need to know about Davis’ impact.

He’s the only non-quarterback to win both the NFL and Super Bowl MVP.

Everybody knows that John Elway didn’t win those Super Bowls; it was Davis, and if he doesn’t earn a gold jacket, it’ll be one of the biggest shames in NFL history.