https://sports.yahoo.com/your-call-is-eli-manning-a-hall-of-famer-192950429.html
The NFL gods have pretty much settled the Tom Brady-vs.-Joe Montana question, and we’re still another couple years from a legitimate Tom Brady-vs.-Patrick Mahomes discussion, so that leaves us with one remaining Burning Football Debate: Is Eli Manning a Hall of Famer?
We’ll learn whether he’s part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2025 class Thursday night. But let’s debate the question one more time, right here. We’ll lay out the case, and then you can have your say in the comments and on social media.
The five-word Hall of Fame case for Eli Manning
For many, Eli’s Hall of Fame candidacy comes down to just five words: He. Beat. Tom. Brady. Twice.
Oh, you need more than that? Fine, let’s dig in.
The tangibles: Super Bowl trophies and other numbers
The full justification, in case you need more than five words, is “Eli Manning beat Tom Brady and the mighty Patriots in two Super Bowls, including the undefeated-until-that-point 2007 juggernaut, and Eli won MVP in both games.” That is the heart and soul of Eli Manning’s Hall of Fame candidacy, and it’s a really good one.
And it’s really good that Manning had those spectacular games — or, to be more accurate, moments of perfectly-timed helmet-catch greatness — because without those, Eli would be somewhere between “Peyton’s brother” and “Let’s remember some Giants.”
Quarterback Wins isn’t a real stat, but if we’re going to give Eli credit for “winning” two Super Bowls, we need to present the counterargument. Manning’s career record as a starter is the literal definition of mediocre: 117-117.
Let’s go further. Manning ranks 11th all-time in career passing yardage, but that comes with a visible-from-space asterisk, given that nine of the 10 ahead of him also played in this offensively-minded era. Seven of those 10 are either already in the Hall of Fame or certain to be enshrined. (Philip Rivers, Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford, Nos. 6, 8 and 10 overall, will be following Manning’s candidacy with great interest.) Manning also ranks 11th in career passing touchdowns, behind pretty much the exact same cast of characters — Brady, Brees, Peyton, etc. — as on the career yardage list.
Ah, but those are statistics of longevity. Stick around long enough, and even you could end up on the career passing yardage list. What about stats that prize skill before longevity? That’s where things get more interesting.
In terms of career passer rating, Manning ranks 66th, just above Mark Brunell and just below — this is awkward — Daniel Jones.
Manning’s 60.3 percent career completion percentage is the same as Jason Campbell and John Kitna. (Ahead of HoF’ers Jim Kelly, Ken Stabler and Dan Marino, for what that’s worth.)
Manning also posted a career average of 241.6 yards per game, good for 22nd overall and right between Tua Tagovailoa and Josh Allen, and ahead of Canton’s own Brett Favre and Dan Fouts.
Perhaps most damning: Eli never received a single AP MVP vote, per Pro Football Reference. The only postseason award vote he ever received from the AP came in his best year, 2011, when he received one (1) vote for Comeback Player of the Year. (He didn’t win.)
Manning was named to four Pro Bowl teams, but zero All-Pro teams. He was the 2016 Walter Payton Man of the Year, but he was never anybody’s best player of the year. Yes, it was Manning’s bad luck to be playing in the greatest era of quarterback play in human history, but even then, he never played anywhere close to a level where he’d be considered among the best in the game at his position.
So … what else is there to support Manning’s candidacy? Plenty, as it turns out.
The intangibles: Vibes, quarter-zips and the Tom Brady factor
Here’s the wild thing about Eli’s candidacy: “He beat Tom Brady twice” works just as well as an intangible!
NFL fans like dynasties in theory. In practice, we get tired of them very, very fast. (See: the 2022-24 Kansas City Chiefs.) Manning is the embodiment of resistance against the Belichick-Brady Patriots behemoth, the one man able to stand against them more than once and live to tell the tale.
Because of those victories — and because of his amiable-doofus persona, and his last name — Manning is one of the few NFL players who’s managed to equal, or even surpass, the fame of his playing days in retirement. Joining with brother Peyton to create the Manningcast alternative broadcast was a stroke of genius, allowing fans to see just how sharp Eli is without the Giants offensive line collapsing backward on top of him. He’s the star of commercials — the true measure of fame in America — and one-half of a burgeoning quarter-zip-wearing content empire.
Now, all of the Manning Brothers tomfoolery is a fun way to watch a prime-time ballgame, but does it have any impact on Eli’s Hall of Fame chances? In theory, no. Unlike baseball, which considers an entire range of qualifications, the Pro Football Hall of Fame explicitly focuses on what happens on the field. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the product of voters, and voters are human and susceptible to external influences, biases, perceptions and preferences.
Want proof? The fact that Manning has gotten this far is already an indicator that his candidacy isn’t based purely on numbers. Consider: Ken Anderson, the Cincinnati Bengals legend, has a career that’s statistically nearly identical to Manning’s, with higher in-season honors (1981 MVP) and numbers. Manning and Anderson are right next to one another in Pro Football Focus’s Weighted Career Value leaderboard. But Manning — with those two Lombardis — is in the mix for enshrinement, while voters this season again declined to advance Anderson to the finalist level for the Hall’s Senior class.
Our verdict …
Weighing all the criteria, categories, evidence and gut feelings, we come to this verdict: Yes, Eli Manning is a Hall of Famer.
Big players come up big in big games, and it doesn’t get any bigger than kneecapping the ferocious Belichick-Brady Patriots. Put another way, the old adage is Hall of Famers are players you can’t write the history of the sport without, and you can’t write the story of one of the league’s greatest dynasties without mentioning Eli Manning.
He played forever in the league’s largest market, and he stepped up when the spotlight was brightest. He had the biological misfortune to be born into an era where the greatest NFL quarterbacks in history strode the earth, but given that he was already born into a house where that was the case, he acquitted himself pretty well.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame honors the NFL’s most remarkable careers. And whatever else you can say about his stats or his on-field play, Eli Manning crafted himself one hell of a career.
https://sports.yahoo.com/your-call-is-eli-manning-a-hall-of-famer-192950429.html
