Former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is one of 25 players eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025. While Manning’s two Super Bowl victories under center for the Giants figure to be enough for him to get a bust in Canton, does his entire career merit the honor?
On Wednesday’s edition of “First Things First,” cohost Nick Wright made the case against Manning getting into the Hall of Fame.
“Is he going in? Probably. Should he? In my eyes, he is not a Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback, period,” Wright said about Manning. “I think he’s going to get the New York bump and the quarterback bump, and a lot of bumps that I think are unfair. He was never, not one year in his career, a top-three quarterback in the league [and] hard to find the year he was definitively top five … there’s 10 guys on this list [who are eligible for the Hall of Fame] who are better football players than Eli. Some of them are never getting in, and if you put him in, someone else doesn’t get it.
“To me, he is not better than Philip Rivers, and Philip Rivers was the exact same year, and Philip Rivers’ not getting in, and so I don’t think he’s a Hall of Famer.”
As for knocks on Manning’s resume, the career-long Giants signal-caller led the league in interceptions three times (20 in 2007, 25 in 2010 and 27 in 2013), finished his career with a combined 84.1 passer rating and completed just 60.3% of his passes. Meanwhile, he never threw for 4,000 yards in a single season until 2009, his fifth full season as a starter.
After the Giants won Super Bowl XLVI, they had just two winning seasons with Manning as their primary starter from 2012-18 and didn’t win a playoff game.
On the other hand, Manning is 11th in NFL history in passing yards (57,023) and never missed a start due to injury in his 14 full seasons as New York’s starting quarterback and 16 seasons altogether. In 2011, the second season that the Giants won the Super Bowl with Manning, he threw for 4,933 yards in the regular season and posted 1,219 passing yards, nine passing touchdowns and a 103.3 passer rating in the postseason. He later threw for 4,400-plus yards and 30-plus touchdowns in both 2014 and 2015, while throwing for 4,000-plus yards in seven seasons and 30-plus touchdowns in three seasons.
The Giants’ two Super Bowl victories with Manning saw them beat Tom Brady and the New England Patriots (2007 and 2011 seasons), the first time ending a perfect season for the Patriots.
Manning is a two-time Super Bowl MVP, four-time Pro Bowler and co-winner of the 2016 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. He’s the Giants’ all-time leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns (366).
Manning finished his career with a 117-117 regular-season record and an 8-4 postseason record.
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