One of the most polarizing quarterbacks in NFL history is New York’s own Eli Manning. Whereas his older brother Peyton was a lock for first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Fame status after building a resume that includes five MVP awards, two Super Bowl rings, and ten All-Pro selections, Eli’s case for Canton is a bit murkier. Yes, his Hall of Fame case is strong, stronger than most players. He won two Super Bowls and was the Super Bowl MVP each time, but his career extends beyond those two games.
Eli ended his NFL career with an exact .500 winning percentage, going 117-117 in regular season games, and that pretty much sums up the kind of quarterback he was. Eli was never great, nor was he terrible, he was just ‘okay’. One could say he was the ‘okay-est’ quarterback of all time.
His Hall of Fame case gets even slimmer when you set his Lombardi trophies aside and poke around his trophy case for other accolades. Eli never won an MVP award nor was he ever particularly close. No Offensive Player of the Year awards, either. Through sixteen seasons he never once earned a first-team or second-team All-Pro nod, and he finished as a Pro Bowler just four times.
To make matters worse, the 2026 class looks to have two players who are likely to get in on their first year of eligibility: quarterback Drew Brees and receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Adam Rank, a writer for NFL.com, recently put out his predictions for the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class and Eli was not part of it, due in large part to Brees and Fitzgerald. The remaining three spots went to Luke Kuechly, Willie Anderson, and Jahri Evans, and it’s hard to argue that any one of those three should be bumped in favor of Eli Manning.
At the end of the day, there’s a good shot that Eli will get in eventually. It just probably won’t happen anytime soon.
