With QBs that have retired in the last 5 years, there are some interesting HOF debates that I see coming up. Right now the sure-fire HOF guys are Brady, Brees, and Rodgers when he retires. The next tier, however, is a lot more interesting. You have Matt Ryan, Big Ben, and Rivers who are all very close. What's interesting is that according to Pro Football Reference's HOF Monitor, they all have fairly similar scores even though they have different resumes. Ryan has the MVP/All-Pro 1 season which is pretty much required unless you have 2 Super Bowls. Ben doesn't have a crazy MVP season, but he does have those 2 Super Bowls and 17 good years. Then Rivers has some crazy counting stats. I think that Ryan and Roethlisberger have a slight edge over Rivers but it is very hard to separate the 3. So my question is do we think any of them make it? If they do it opens up the debate for a lot of players in the future. Also, how do we think the HOF committee weighs Rings/MVPS/All-Pro teams? The media is always so focused on the rings but looking at the resumes of HOF QBs there are a lot more without rings than there are without All-Pro seasons.
Edit: Here is the PFR Monitor. The average HOF QB has a score of 108. Ryan has a score of 106, Ben has a score of 100, and Rivers is at 98.
Big Ben will likely make it because of the two Super Bowls. But it won't be first-ballot
Matt Ryan has the next best chance out of those three, but MVP and Super Bowl appearance doesn't guarantee Hall of Fame - see Rich Gannon, Boomer Esiason, and Ken Anderson. Now granted, it seems Ken Anderson is on a path to get in as per Senior Committee so Matt Ryan could possibly do the same.
Philip Rivers, who I think was great, is probably last in the list. The lack of any Super Bowl appearance is likely his biggest obstacle. Other QBs who didn't make the Super Bowl still had other major achievements to their name, such as Dan Fouts (OPOTY, All-Pros) or Warren Moon (OPOTY, 2nd team All-Pro),
Ben is so severely underrated here. You all should be ashamed.
Ben is 5th all time in passing yards. 8th all time in passing TDs 9th highest QB rating among retired QBs 5th most wins for a QB. 2 SB wins. 3 SB appearances.
Ben is a lock. 1st ballot HOF.
Ben will definitely be first ballot. There is no one else eligible right now that would be voted him ahead of him.