Eli Manning, the NY Giants’ two-time Super Bowl MVP, deserves a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as soon as he becomes eligible.
Eli Manning will go down as the greatest quarterback in NY Giants franchise history.
He is a New York sports icon that brought the city two remarkable championships. When it is time for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 48-person Selection Committee to vote for the HOF class of 2025, Eli should be one of the players selected.
According to the new Hall of Fame selection rules, there is no set number of new enshrinees, but between four and eight new members will be selected each year. Notable players that become eligible the same year as Eli include Luke Kuechly, Marshal Yanda, and Eric Weddle.
Eli Manning should receive more than the 80% positive vote threshold that is required to be inducted. Eli will get that special moment with the Hall of Fame president and CEO David Baker when it is his time. Hopefully, it will be recorded. Those moments are the best:
This is the moment Jimmy Johnson has waited years for. At halftime of Fox's Packers-Seahawks telecast, David Baker of the Hall of Fame tells Jimmy he'll be enshrined in Canton. pic.twitter.com/QAVU3knnlv
— Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) January 13, 2020
Here’s a look at 10 reasons why NY Giants legend Eli Manning belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Reason #1: Eli Manning’s 117-117 career record is not indicative of his overall performance:
Some will say that Eli Manning’s .500 record is “perfectly Eli.”
There is a multitude of reasons why this statement is unfair. Despite having a mediocre career regular-season record, Eli’s career was anything but average.
Manning’s career playoff record should count in the final tally. Manning went 8-4 in the playoffs, outplaying some of the greatest QBs and teams of all time (we will get to that more later). His 2-0 Super Bowl record should count for more too.
The Giants have had one winning season since 2012 and did not surround Eli with nearly enough talent during that time period. From 2012 to 2017, the NY Giants drafted David Wilson, Justin Pugh, OBJ, Ereck Flowers, Eli Apple, and Evan Engram in the first round.
Beckham turned out to be spectacular, but every other first-rounder underperformed with the NY Giants for different reasons.
During the latter half of Eli’s career, Manning was cursed with some of the worst offensive lines in football. From 2013 to 2018, his offensive lines were ranked by PFF like this:
2013: 28th
2014: 20th
2015: 20th
2016: 20th
2017: 26th
2018: 21st
The NY Giants’ leading rushers during that time period were Andre Brown, Andre Williams, Rashad Jennings, Rashad Jennings, and Orleans Darkwa. The only elite player on offense that Eli had at his disposal from 2013 to 2017 was Odell Beckham Jr.
With Prime OBJ and little else, Manning was able to lead top 10 offenses in 2014 and 2015. Why didn’t Eli have winning records during those seasons? The defense was atrocious. The defense ranked 22nd in 2014 and 30th in 2015.
Finally, when Manning was surrounded by good enough talent (from 2005 to 2012), Eli’s record was 77-51. His offenses’ rankings during those seasons:
2005: 3rd
2006: 11th
2007: 14th
2008: 3rd
2009: 8th
2010:7th
2011: 9th
2012: 6th
Manning shouldn’t be thought of as a .500 quarterback.
Besides, Joe Namath (62-63-4) and Sonny Jurgenson (69-73-7) have worse regular-season records than Eli, and they are in the Hall. A .500 record should be looked at much more kindly when you consider the talent Manning played with during the 2nd half of his career.