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| Photo by Bleacher Report |
Eli Manning officially announced his retirement from the National Football League on Friday, January 24, 2020.
This announcement by Manning brought out many more conversations about whether or not he should be enshrined into the NFL Hall of Fame, once he's eligible. Many fans and professionals in the sports industry would say that he had a Hall of Fame career and some say that he didn't. I'm here to tell you why I believe he isn't HoF worthy.
Manning came into the league during the 2004 NFL Draft. From the jump, he didn't sit well with one particular fan base. Before the draft, Manning made it known to everyone that he would refuse to play if the San Diego Chargers, now the Los Angeles Chargers, were to draft him. he threatened to sit out the season and re-enter during the 2005 draft. From that moment, the Chargers worked with the New York Giants to get a trade during the draft. The Chargers ended up drafting Eli with the #1 overall pick and traded him to the Giants for their #4 overall pick, Philip Rivers.
Manning took over as a full-time starter in the 2005 season, his second year in the league. Through the first 5 seasons as a starter, Manning didn't have a losing year. He won 61% (49-31) of his starts from the 2005 to 2009 seasons. Within those five seasons, Eli took the Giants to the playoffs four times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008), with a Super Bowl win during the 2007 season.
After the 2009 season, Eli's career starts to take a dive. From the 2010 season, until when he retired following the 2019 season, Manning only had four winning seasons and two playoff appearances. One of these playoff appearances came with a Super Bowl win (2011 season). He only won 44% (68-86) of his games during the final nine years of his career.
Compared to the other big named quarterbacks taken in the 2004 draft (Roethlisberger and Rivers), Eli will end up having a statistically worse career, outside of Super Bowl wins. Rivers currently leads all three QBs in passing yards (Roethlisberger is only 500yds behind Manning) and touchdowns thrown (Big Ben is only three behind Manning). Along with Manning, Roethlisberger also has two rings of his own, having defeated the Seattle Seahawks in 2005 and the Arizona Cardinals in 2008. Roethlisberger added another Super Bowl trip in the 2010 season, but came up short against the Green Bay Packers.
Having said those stats, my biggest argument for Eli Manning to not be in the Hall of Fame is his win/loss record. Manning has a career .500 record in the regular season, at 117-117. He does, however, have a winning record during the playoffs. He is 8-4, with all eight of his wins coming in the two seasons he won the Super Bowl (four wins each season).
I'm a big believer in championships not being a go-to for classifying an athlete (just like my argument that LeBron has passed MJ as the GOAT for NBA).Winning is key, followed by stats, then championships. Many HoFers, especially in the NFL, don't have Super Bowl wins. Two of the biggest names that come to mind are Dan Marino and Jim Kelly, both of which are arguably the best QBs for the franchises they played with.
If players are being looked at by their win/loss record, they should definitely have more wins than losses, and by a pretty healthy margin. With Eli Manning having an exactly .500 record in the regular season (117-117), he will have one of the lowest win percentages of any HoF quarterback. The only QBs with lower win percentages than Manning are Sonny Jurgensen (69-71-7) and Joe Namath (62-63-4).
There's no denying that Eli Manning has left his mark on the NFL, having beaten the New England Patriots twice in the Super Bowl (once when New England was undefeated) and being top-10 in multiple QB stat categories. However, I don't believe that he had enough individually impressive seasons to be considered a Hall of Famer. I do believe that Manning will one day be in the Hall of Fame, and most likely on his first attempt, but I think a lot of that will be due to his family (brother Peyton won two Super Bowls and is arguably one of the greatest QBs of all time, dad Archie was an NFL QB for 13 years) and him winning two Super Bowls.
All stats taken from: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/
After the 2009 season, Eli's career starts to take a dive. From the 2010 season, until when he retired following the 2019 season, Manning only had four winning seasons and two playoff appearances. One of these playoff appearances came with a Super Bowl win (2011 season). He only won 44% (68-86) of his games during the final nine years of his career.
Compared to the other big named quarterbacks taken in the 2004 draft (Roethlisberger and Rivers), Eli will end up having a statistically worse career, outside of Super Bowl wins. Rivers currently leads all three QBs in passing yards (Roethlisberger is only 500yds behind Manning) and touchdowns thrown (Big Ben is only three behind Manning). Along with Manning, Roethlisberger also has two rings of his own, having defeated the Seattle Seahawks in 2005 and the Arizona Cardinals in 2008. Roethlisberger added another Super Bowl trip in the 2010 season, but came up short against the Green Bay Packers.
Having said those stats, my biggest argument for Eli Manning to not be in the Hall of Fame is his win/loss record. Manning has a career .500 record in the regular season, at 117-117. He does, however, have a winning record during the playoffs. He is 8-4, with all eight of his wins coming in the two seasons he won the Super Bowl (four wins each season).
I'm a big believer in championships not being a go-to for classifying an athlete (just like my argument that LeBron has passed MJ as the GOAT for NBA).Winning is key, followed by stats, then championships. Many HoFers, especially in the NFL, don't have Super Bowl wins. Two of the biggest names that come to mind are Dan Marino and Jim Kelly, both of which are arguably the best QBs for the franchises they played with.
If players are being looked at by their win/loss record, they should definitely have more wins than losses, and by a pretty healthy margin. With Eli Manning having an exactly .500 record in the regular season (117-117), he will have one of the lowest win percentages of any HoF quarterback. The only QBs with lower win percentages than Manning are Sonny Jurgensen (69-71-7) and Joe Namath (62-63-4).
There's no denying that Eli Manning has left his mark on the NFL, having beaten the New England Patriots twice in the Super Bowl (once when New England was undefeated) and being top-10 in multiple QB stat categories. However, I don't believe that he had enough individually impressive seasons to be considered a Hall of Famer. I do believe that Manning will one day be in the Hall of Fame, and most likely on his first attempt, but I think a lot of that will be due to his family (brother Peyton won two Super Bowls and is arguably one of the greatest QBs of all time, dad Archie was an NFL QB for 13 years) and him winning two Super Bowls.
All stats taken from: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/
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