Former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning has advanced to the semifinal round in the voting for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026, the second straight year he has reached that stage.
Let’s be honest, though. Manning is not going to be part of the Hall of Fame Class of 2026. Nor is he likely to be part of any Hall of Fame class in the near future.
That is because Pro Football Hall of Fame bylaws limit the selection to between four and eight new members each year. The competition for that limited number of gold jackets is even tougher than it was a year ago when Manning did not make it past the round of 15 semifinalists.
That is largely because two first-time eligible quarterbacks, Drew Brees and Philip Rivers, are likely to garner more support from Hall of Fame voters than Manning. Ben Roethlisberger is eligible for the first time in 2027. Tom Brady in 2028. Both of those quarterbacks will also get in before Manning.
Many Giants fans, of course, won’t want to hear that. It is, though, the truth. Manning likely doesn’t get real consideration until that logjam of quarterbacks breaks.
Here is what Hall of Fame voter and long-time NFL writer Gary Myers told Big Blue View last year after Manning was eliminated by the voting committee in last year’s cut from 15 to 10 semifinalists.
“To get selected in the future, the voters must get past that Manning was never All-Pro or regular season MVP and realize he played when those spots were not so available playing in an era with Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. Eli’s record was just .500, but Dan Fouts was only two games over .500 and Warren Moon was only one game over .500 — but neither made it to the Super Bowl. In fact, Moon never made it to a conference championship game. Fouts and Moon were each first ballot Hall of Famers.”
Among the 49 members of the selection committee, there are many who don’t believe Manning is a Hall of Famer at all. That’s hard to fathom for a quarterback who engineered two of the most incredible Super Bowl victories of all time, but it is true.
I have posted these quotes from Mike Tanier’s ‘Too Deep Zone’ Substack before, but they need to be repeated:
“Get back to me in five years,” one selector told me flatly. “Seriously, we got a lot of guys to get into the Hall of Fame. And he can wait.”
“Somebody’s gonna have to convince me that he belongs in the Hall of Fame at all,” another selector said.
Other selectors were less emphatic, though no less critical.
“I think he’s a Hall of Famer, eventually,” said one. “If we are talking seven or eight years from now, and we’re talking about putting Eli Manning in the Hall of Fame for two Super Bowl MVPs and creating some of the greatest moments in the history of the game, I’ll buy that. That’s cool.
“But don’t try to tell me that he is one of the greatest quarterbacks of his generation.”
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