Earlier this month, the 2024 NFL Hall of Fame class was inducted in Canton, Ohio. Names on the list this year included Andre Johnson, Julius Peppers, Patrick Willis, and Devin Hester. Along with their induction came the index of names eligible for the class of 2025. Among the legendary names listed was New York Giants great Eli Manning.
Since his retirement in 2019, there has been plenty of speculation about whether or not Eli Manning’s career would be deemed Hall of Fame worthy. Many feel that he was never as talented as other QBs during his time like Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, or even his brother Peyton. They also knock him for his all-time win-loss record, which is exactly .500 at 118 wins and 118 losses.
Sure, Eli never had the arm talent of Aaron Rodgers or the stats of Drew Brees, but he had something that not a lot of those other QBs had. Heart.
Even when things got rough for Eli and the Giants late in his career, he never faltered. He took his beating like a man and even started 210 consecutive games which is the third most in NFL history. But he was not just a warrior, he was clutch.
Say what you want about Eli and interceptions, but when games came down to the wire there was nobody better. He had 37 game-winning drives in his career, which is part of the reason he was able to be the key contributor in two of the most miraculous Super Bowl runs of all time. I’ll leave you with this. Eli Manning is 10th in all-time pass yards, 10th in all-time pass touchdowns, a two-time Super Bowl winner, and is one of six NFL players in history to win multiple Super Bowl MVP awards. If that’s not a Hall of Famer, I don’t know what is.
