Thanks to Ei Manning deciding to retire from the Giants after 16 seasons as an NFL quarterback, there's a much better New York Hall of Fame debate this week than whether Derek Jeter should have been unanimously selected. For Manning, it's only about whether he deserves to get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, period.
Like Jeter, the Yankess' beloved former captain, the Giants' longtime on-field leader has been a lauded as a peak pressure playoff performer multiple times. Manning has two Super Bowl rings to show for it, putting him in exclusive all-time company as a starting QB.
But where it gets complicated is the fact Manning, totally unlike Jeter, wsn't a decorated regular-season performer. Heck, while Jeter was a perennial postseason presence during his prime, Manning got there only six times in 16 years.
Manning, as documented well here, is remembered most for two simliarly amazing four-game runs after the 2007 and 2011 seasons, both culminating in Super Bowl victories over the biggest bad of them all in his era, the Patriots of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
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Even though he needed two crazy catches by David Tyree and Mario Manningham, and even though those victories were more based on the defense the Giants played against Brady, it was Manning front and center lifting the Lombardi Trophy as Super Bowl MVP each time.
In a sport where stats don't mean nearly as much, hitting the ceiling of championships gets a lot more respect than whatever fantasy football numbers Manning didn't put up in most of his seasons.
Manning was only a four-time Pro Bowler, and he threw for 30 or more TD passes only twice, including 35 in his career-best 2015 season. He never came close to reating a stellar 100.0 in passing efficiency, never hit 70 in QBR and led the league in interceptions 3 times. For those who like to consider QB wins, he was 117-117 when starting games in the regular season.
If his Super Bowl spikes were an anomaly to mostly medicore play, akin to what Joe Flacco did with the Ravens, then it would be case closed and the Hall of Fame would never open its door to Manning. But that's the thing: Manning has a lot more on his side to get him in.
Back in the summer, when Sporting News estimated current players' Hall of Fame chances for every team, Manning was given a 40 percent shot. Thanks to the sentiment related to him gracefully passing the torch to successor Daniel Jones — along with the Hall of Fame suddenly becoming more welcoming than usual — Manning's chances feel more like 60 or 70 percent today.
On top of the two Super Bowl rings, he was one of the most durable players in the most physical game. His ironman streak of 222 consecutive games played, including playoffs, is fourth behind only Brett Favre, Philip Rivers and his Hall of Fame older brother Peyton Manning.
Speaking of Peyton, that means pedigree and personality are also on Eli's side. He's revered as one of the best guys in the NFL with his incredibly relentless charity work, which was recognized with the prestigious Walter Payton Man of the Year award in 2016.
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Eli Manning was always classy. Although he got mocked for his stoic, sometimes boring nature, he was unflappable in the face of the unrelenting New York media and carried some of that on to the field. Eli, despite some the wacky faces he made, was even keel about the way he handled himself on and off the field.
The bottom line is everyone who meets Eli, loves Eli. They really, really love him.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame, as part of the 'NFL 100' push, got a little more liberal in adding players for 2020. The case can be made given their short spikes of ultimate success in the NFL that recent electees JImmy Johnson and Bill Cowher weren't no-brainers. But then again, it would be wrong to have neither represented in Canton because their professional accomplishments have been only raised by their personable appeal.
When you start playing the comparison game, with the help of Pro Football Reference, you see there are elements of Bob Griese, Terry Bradshaw and Warren Moon in Eli Manning. Those three QBs are all in the Hall of Fame.
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When it comes to Manning's contemporaries, look no further than the two QBs taken in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft after him. Rivers and the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger are 100-percenters for Canton. Manning has tapped into Rivers' ironman status and, like Roehtlisberger, has two Super Bowl rings.
If this were baseball, Manning would face an uphill battle and likely miss out. If there were only pure analytics voters in football, Manning would stand little chance.
But we know there's a major human element involved in the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection process, when being a good guy who everyone wants to reward becomes a factor with a smaller group of media-heavy selectors.
When you put together the for and against arguments for Manning, there's a lot of inconsistency, much like his career. Manning shouldn't be a first-ballot guy, but it looks like the pros will outweigh the cons and lead to his eventual Hall call.
