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.
Ben Roethlisberger shouldnt get in though he likely will eventually. The others are a no. For Ben only 5 get in per year and he eligible same year as Adrian Peterson and Gronk who are locks as 1sr ballot and easily over him. Then you have Richard Sherman and Eric Weddle who are HoFs though maybe not 1st ballot. Plus the interesting case of Antonio Brown who on paper is 1st ballot but all the other stuff with him may make him wait. This isn’t even considering all the players from prior years.
He probably gets in eventually but he won’t be 1st ballot. He isn’t even a top 5 QB of his era and all he really has to hang his hat on is two superbowl wins that were more defense than him. His rape allegation will also be factor. AP has his child abuse stuff but he has all time rushing stats which Ben does not.
Some will probably want to argue my top 5 thing: Peyton, Brady, Rodgers, and Brees overlap most his career. At the beginning there was still Favre and Warner. At the end there was Mahomes and Jackson. In the middle you besides Ryan, Rivers, and Eli you have Stafford all putting up similar stats. Then you have shorter duration QBs like Newton who for a few years were better. Ben is the epitome of a Hall of Very Good QB who will sneak in because a great team around him and a future HoF coach helped him to two superbow