Eli Manning: Hall of Famer?

I don't think one year should be the measuring stick for HoF QBs-to-teams ratio. Maybe it was just chance, maybe it was sportswriters thinking it was some magical era. If a QB can't crack the top fifth of players at his position during his career, he shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame.

The numbers for QBs are absurd right now. Yards are up. completion % is up, interception % is down. It is just so much easier to be a QB and put up big numbers. That fact should be reflected in who is considered a HoF QB.

 

It is. That's why Stafford isn't considered one. Or Palmer. Or Rivers.

 

I think it is reflected. Romo and Rivers are the fourth- and eighth-highest rated QBs of all time, and we are saying both are borderline but probably no. (Rivers is 12th in yards and eighth in TDs too.)

But it doesn't make sense to look back at prior decades as a gauge when the position is tremendously more important than it was then, and when there are twice as many teams. If you look at the guys whose eras really overlapped -- say, all of them together for three or more seasons -- my guess is you'd still have 25-30 percent of the league being guided by future HOF quarterbacks back then.

 

Here's something that absolutely blows my mind: Kirk Cousins, in his two full seasons as a starter, is unquestionably on a Hall of Fame trajectory.

 

I think he already owns the two best passing seasons in Redskins history.

 

By raw numbers, yes. But Sammy Baugh passed for, like, three times more yards than anyone else in the league some years. YPA+?

 

I know that. I'm very big into NFL history (note my Benny Friedman post earlier). I've even heard of Two-Bits Homan.

 

I just disagree that that the position becoming more important makes the QBs today historically 'better.' They are more important because of changes to how the game is played. something beyond the control of the individual QBs. Why reward a few guys for playing a much different game?

 

LC Greenwood and Donnie Shell deserve to be inducted. Plus, only one lineman (Mike Webster)? Come on, there should be more.

 

That's not true.

 

probably because his chosen play call is "Go deep and go get it." He's no worse than Eli though. He just has one fewer ring. I wouldn't bet against Flacco and the Ravens getting back to the SB a few more times in his career. If he wins one more SB, he'll go in just like Eli will.

 

OK. Baugh and Luckman.