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.
If we exclude off the field controversy, then Ben is a first ballot HOFer.
I don't think Rivers or Ryan deserve it. We have a league now that caters to the passing game, they are not anywhere near what Dan Fouts or Marino or Moon or even Ken Anderson had to go through to put up big statistical years.
I'm not to fall on my sword for the guy...I'm not going to blow a gasket if he never gets in...but Eli absolutely should go in over Rivers or Ryan. If Eli only won one, only has one conference championship road win, sure. Exclude. But the biggest moments trump the juicy QB friendly stats of the modern era.
Matthew Stafford, undecided, not wrapped up in him, but he should get in over Rivers and Ryan.