What’s it take to get an NFL QB into the Hall of Fame?
- col-dave-mast
- December 22, 2023
- 855
What makes a complete NFL quarterback worthy of induction into the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio?
That is a question for the ages, and one sports writers get the duty of selecting.
So included here is a list of NFL quarterbacks past and present and their stats. Can you guess whether or not each one is in the NFL Hall of Fame or not?
This feels difficult to judge, and there are so many other things that go into sending a guy to the Hall aside from sheer stats, intangibles like leadership, grace under pressure and clutch play.
So what do you think? Which guys are HoF material and which guys were just really good football players?
Here’s the answers to who they are: A) Dave Krieg, B) Joe Namath, C) Bernie Kosar, D) Phil Simms, E) Randall Cunningham, F) Boomer Esiason, G) Eli Manning, H) Terry Bradshaw, I) Bob Griese and J) Ken Anderson.
Among that group, only Namath, Bradshaw and Griese are in, and it feels like Manning is simply waiting his turn.
So why not the other guys, who posted much stronger numbers than that trio without Manning?
What makes a HoF quarterback? Well, let’s just say there is a massive bias toward quarterbacks who win Super Bowls.
Bradshaw was a mainstay at the Super Bowl table, armed with a terrific defense, a stable of talented running backs and receivers, and an offensive line that was incredible.
However, does a quarterback who completes a meager 51% of his passes and who throws as many interceptions as touchdowns belong with the greatest of greats?
Namath is just as puzzling. He won only one Super Bowl, albeit one where he predicted a massive upset over a highly superior Colts team. But here is a quarterback who connected on exactly half of his passes. The guy posted a 62-63-4 lifetime record. He threw almost 50 more interceptions than touchdowns and led his team to all of four winning seasons.
Griese was what is termed today as a game manager quarterback, most of whom won’t sniff the NFL’s highest mountain unless they too win a couple of the big games. His skills were fairly nondescript, and his Dolphins teams were insanely good, and even in the Dolphins’ perfect season in 1972, he broke his ankle in game five and watched Earl Morrell lead the team to the Super Bowl, only to take over in the Super Bowl victory. It feels as though HoF voters put a great deal of stock into quarterbacks who won Super Bowls.
Seattle great Dave Krieg’s numbers are riveting, but no Super Bowls to his name means no. Phil Simms has some gaudy numbers, but he played forever and, in my eyes, his stats aren’t worthy of the honor.
Either way, I believe personal preferences and preferential treatment to the guys voters truly liked plays a key role, which is human nature. That and the love affair with Super Bowl titles are the dividing line between in or not.
How about some guys still playing?
I feel like Matt Stafford is a shoo-in for the Dan Marino honor, having thrown for 55,000 yards.
It’s almost easy and ludicrous to overlook what Russ Wilson has done in his career. That ridiculous 332 touchdown number is more than enough, but the rest of his numbers gleam.
The reason I included Lamar Jackson in this list is for this reason: In addition to his sparkling passing stats, he has rushed for 5,178 yards in six seasons. That alone is nearly as many yards rushing as Steve VanBuren’s 5,860 yards, and he is in the Hall of Fame as a running back!
I don’t think Jackson gets the credit he deserves because people like to call him an inaccurate passer. Well, Joe Montana, considered to be perhaps one of the most precise quarterbacks ever to play the game, had a completion rate of 63.2%, less than Jackson’s 64%.
Kirk Cousins is another anomaly. Here is a much-maligned quarterback who people continually say chokes in big situations. That has some merit, and it may well keep him out of the Hall, but the guy has a whopping 67% completion rate and has thrown for nearly 40,000 yards with strong TD/INT rates.
He is perhaps the most closely related player statistically to Eli Manning, but Manning has two Super Bowls to his name, almost assuring him of a berth in the HoF. It’s amazing what one ridiculous helmet catch and one perfectly placed sideline pass can do for a guy’s image.
Although, don’t get me wrong, I really like Manning a lot. I’m just wondering if he should be enshrined among the all-time greats.
But then again, looking at the stats from some of the all-time greats, it seems as though simply winning a Super Bowl or two (or four in Bradshaw’s case) merits enough reason to shove someone through for a bronze bust.
“But Dave,” I hear you saying, “Winning is the name of the game.”
Maybe so, but so much more goes into winning games than strictly quarterback play, and for several of these guys, the team is what truly got them into the Hall when they probably didn’t deserve to go on sheer talent alone (see Bradshaw and Griese).
In Namath’s case, it was absolute bravado and charm, almost a type of sex appeal that mesmerized voting members who fell in love with a persona rather than a talent.