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.
Roethlisberger, character issues aside, is probably in. It's pretty clear that the NFL doesn't worry about sexual assault, so barring a sea change on that, he'll go first ballot. 2 rings, prolific rookie career, 6 Pro Bowls, AP Rookie of the Year, etc, etc, multiple 500 yard games, near the top of the all time list in yardage. Yeah. He's in.
Matty Ice may have ha a solid career, but doesn't have a Super Bowl so the only mention of him in the HoF will be about the Falcons losing to New England after being up 28-3.
If there's a wing added to the HoF for ultra productive sperm and G-rated trash talk, Phil Rivers is a lock. If there's not, he won't be in either.