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.
He's my favorite active player, and is my overall favorite except for Barry.. but I feel like Stafford is another one of these guys. And it really isn't his fault. The Lions were fucking awful. Just a trash organization for the entire time he was there, and he's still by far the greatest Lions QB in the super bowl Era.
But I don't think he quite gets in. The super bowl may get him there though, and I personally think he should make it. Guys like Rivers, Ben and Ryan had extremely talented teams and orgs around them for many years out of their careers.
Stafford had like...4 in Detroit. And then the super bowl year with the Rams.
Imo Ben makes it, the other 3 don't.