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.
We don't think they should get in, but I think they both do eventually.
Rivers is 6th all time in yards and TDs.
Ryan is 7th in yards and 9th in TDs with an MVP and SB appearance.
The stats alone may get them in. I think about Curtis Martin. He was a really good RB, but he wasn't at the level of other HoF running backs. He only got in because he was the 4th all time leading rusher, and has since dropped to 6th.
I think it also helps that we see how good that generation of QBs actually was. We assumed the game had changed to make easier to pass (and it honestly has) but this new generation is struggling. Those guys were all special.