Eli Manning did not get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first ballot, as he was a finalist but not one of the four players selected and announced Thursday night for enshrinement this summer.
He’ll likely get in at some point, it seems, but whether it’s in part a little bias for his former partner or not, Brandon Tierney had an interesting thought on Eli’s candidacy when reacting to the snub on Friday.
“I'm gonna say something that might blow your mind here, and I mean it: to Tiki's more of a Hall of Famer than Eli,” BT said bluntly. “Close your eyes and go back to when they were playing: Tiki was without a doubt, for five years, one of the three or four absolute best offensive players in football. I can think of a few running backs who were better than Tiki, but I can think of 30 quarterbacks that were better than Eli.”
Now, BT does agree Eli’s likely getting in and probably should, but he used the Tiki comparison to ‘contextualize how I view greatness.’ Then again…
“Not only does Eli not have an MVP, Eli Manning was never even in the DISCUSSION to win the MVP,” BT said. “Not once were we sitting there like, in November, saying Eli might win the MVP, or at a time like now, saying Eli got screwed, how did he not win? There was never even a doubt!”
Maybe not, but he’s got the numbers, and Sal thinks he has two very important pieces of jewelry that make a strong case.
“Let me ask you: in your mind, the two Super Bowl runs that he went on, two of the more incredible runs the sport has ever seen – is that enough?” Sal asked. “When you get down to it, those either are enough to overcome an otherwise clear non-Hall of Fame career, or they aren’t.”
Looks like we’ll be having this discussion every February until he does get in?