We might be looking at one of the most impressive lists of names leaving the game this offseason. Brett Favre. Michael Strahan. Warren Sapp. Jonathan Ogden. Steve McNair. Maybe Larry Allen. Is this the greatest outgoing group of players in a single offseason?

First, we must add one more critical name — Bryant Young.

I believe you have to add Young to the list above. He’s a Hall of Famer in my mind. But last time I checked, I do not have a vote, and I doubt I will get one by 2013, when these guys — assuming Allen retires now — are eligible. We’ll see if the voters agree with me.

Quietly, unassumedly, Young retired from the NFL this offseason, finishing off a brilliant career. He played on some very good defenses and some very bad ones. But he often was his unit’s best player, and he finished his career third on the 49ers’ all-time sack list with 89½.

Young spent his entire career in San Francisco, and there wasn’t much drop-off from his first season to his last. He left the game a very good player, and at his peak he was one of the two or three best defensive tackles in the game for a long stretch of time.

From 1995, following his first season, to 2003, before his 10th season, Young never ranked lower than sixth amongst defensive tackles in Pro Football Weekly’s position rankings in the annual preview magazine, and for three straight years — from ’97 to ’99 — he was Joel Buchsbaum’s No. 1-ranked defensive tackle in the league. That’s good enough for me.

But as for the voters, it might be a tough sell. At least right away.

In the past 10 years, seven defensive linemen have gone into the Hall of Fame. But almost all of them were ends, not tackles.

Fred Dean, another former Niner, is going in this summer. But he was an end and more of a pure pass-rush guy. Reggie White played a little tackle but was mostly known as an end. Carl Eller was an end. Elvin Bethea, another end. Jack Youngblood. Howie Long.

The last defensive tackle to go in was Dan Hampton in 2002. Before that, it was Henry Jordan in 1995.

Bryant Young

Young was a leader right out of the gate as a rookie, and he continued to be a teacher, mentor and example of daily excellence. Some felt he meant more to the 49ers’ defense back in the day than Deion Sanders. Young was a brilliant run defender who also could get after the quarterback. He missed only 16 games in his career at the most taxing position in football, and only three of those came in the past seven seasons. Young continued to play at a high level after the aging stars of the late ’90s 49ers defenses moved on, and he handled a position switch from tackle to end when the 49ers moved to a 3-4 defense. He could play in any scheme and be dominant.

How many guys can you say that about in this generation? Sapp had his down years toward the end. Richard Seymour? Talk to me in five or six years. Kevin Williams might be in that discussion one day, but to play 14 years as Young has done, and at such a high level, is rare.

Let’s face it, the 49ers have been bad defensively for the most part the past few seasons. Sure, they have had the odd season or two with good rankings, but the fact that the team as a whole has had little success doesn’t help his cause. There’s also the West Coast factor. Playing out there hasn’t helped recently, and the 49ers almost never are on prime-time TV.

Even though Sapp retired far more quietly than he spent the other 99 percent of his career — and he earns kudos for his classy exit — there has been a lot more talk about him being deserving for Canton than Young. It’s hard to put the two players side by side and choose who is better, but at some point that probably will happen.

Most likely it will be in 2013, when this all-star cast of players goes up for nomination. The educated guess is that Young will have to wait past the first ballot, maybe longer. I don’t think he’ll have to sit and wait years for the veterans committee to vote him in. Eventually, I believe, people will see the light.

It doesn’t hurt that he’s an incredibly classy individual who has done more for charities himself than some teams have. Young likely will continue to be an upstanding member of the Bay Area, and though he likely would never campaign for the Hall, his presence hopefully will remind fans how great a player he was.

Bryant Young’s candidacy goes beyond the numbers, and it goes past his position. He was an outstanding football player whose leadership was immense. And no matter how long it takes, he deserves his bust in Canton.