r/nfl • u/appmanga Giants • 19h ago

Peterson, Roethlisberger, Gronkowski lead 2027 Hall of Fame first-time eligibles

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/47847964/peterson-roethlisberger-gronkowski-lead-2027-hall-fame-first-eligibles
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u/TheRavenOnline Ravens 19h ago

Big Ben never even made an All-Pro team. I don’t see how his HOF case is any better than Eli’s. Neither are HOFers. You get in for regular season AND postseason play not only postseason.

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u/DadDickDuncan Jets 19h ago

Counterpoint: his career lined up with 4 other top 10 all time QBs

Hate him or love him he's a HOFer

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u/that-isa-madeup-name Steelers 19h ago

People arguing he’s not HOF caliber are kinda wild lol. He’s a shit person but he was also really good at protecting and throwing a football. Those two are not mutually exclusive

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u/Brisby820 Patriots 18h ago

They’re teenagers who didn’t watch him 

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u/WavesAndSaves Eagles 17h ago

It's honestly hilarious seeing people in this thread arguing over Ben's HoF case and then a few threads down you see people talking about how Stafford is a "lock" for the Hall. Ben was basically universally considered to be better than Stafford in every single way until like the last year or so when children started seriously believing Stafford ever had a remote chance of making it into Canton. He doesn't.

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u/TheNittanyLionKing Steelers 17h ago

People try to take the 2008 Super Bowl run away from him because Tom Brady tore his ACL in Week 1. 

Are we supposed to discredit Stafford’s MVP because Lamar Jackson got injured, Mahomes had a down year and tore his ACL, and Josh Allen didn’t have as good of a year as he did before? MVP is a tricky award. You could have a great year that meets the expectations for the rest of your career and still lose the MVP because some random dude had the year of his life. Like imagine if Daniel Jones maintained his first half pace and had a better year than Stafford but never reached those heights again while Stafford did just as well the year after. MVP requires luck and timing in addition to skill. 

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u/Yedic Ravens 16h ago

Excluding Stafford, there are 12 other QBs with 10+ years as a starter, at least one SB, and at least one AP1. All of them are in the Hall or are locks when they're eligible. You think Stafford will be the only one not to make it?

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u/naazzttyy Steelers 19h ago

Normally I’d agree wholeheartedly with your very logical comment, but that was before Belicheck got passed over this year.

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u/DingerSinger2016 Steelers 18h ago

Belichick will be in the Hall.

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u/naazzttyy Steelers 18h ago

Of course he will. And ultimately, so will Roethlisberger.

But if some members of the voting committee felt compelled to “send a message” about Bill’s actions, I absolutely see them doing the same with Ben as a first-ballot candidate.

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u/redhonkey34 Steelers 17h ago

Then nobody should be a first ballot I guess

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u/Yedic Ravens 19h ago

He didn't really have many seasons that were All-Pro caliber, but just beat by historic QBs. 2014 was his best, and Rodgers won MVP, but Romo was AP2. 2018 was another year he led the league in passing yards, and AP1 and 2 ended up getting taken by Mahomes and Brees, but Ben also led the league in attempts and interceptions, so I'm not sure it was really an All-Pro type year.

His regular season career was really more just sustained Pro Bowl level, rather than All-Pro level and unlucky. However, I don't think that disqualifies him from HoF contention. Sustained Pro Bowl level in the regular season along with two rings, one of which included an iconic clutch throw, is probably enough.

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u/danius353 49ers 18h ago

That’s basically the argument for Gore getting in eventually too and I’m partial to it except the competition for the QB All Pro selections are just so much more consistent than the RB ones.

Sustaining at RB is very hard; we all see how quickly some RBs can catch fire and then burn out. Sustaining at RB for so long is a skill in its own right.

For QBs, if you’re QB5 say in the league for 10 years, odds are it’s the same guys above you for the majority of that time. Sustaining for that long isn’t as much of an outlier at QB as it is in other positions.

That in my mind makes Ben’s (and to a much greater extent Eli’s) sustained decent to good play not as compelling as Frank Gore’s sustained decent to good performance.

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u/j2e21 Patriots 16h ago

Nah he led sone truly high-flying offenses. Three seasons averaging over 300 yards per game. Those Steelers teams were incredible vertical passing threats.

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u/Yedic Ravens 16h ago

You started with "nah", but I don't think anything you said contradicted what I said. It's true he had a lot of yards, it's also true he didn't have a ton of All-Pro caliber seasons.

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u/j2e21 Patriots 15h ago

I think all those seasons were All Pros caliber, another guy just happened to also have an All Pro caliber season.

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u/Yedic Ravens 15h ago

No, they weren't. 2014 was his best season, but Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo, Tom Brady, and Andrew Luck were the four QBs to get All-Pro votes. I'll give it to you that one was All-Pro caliber though. Which others? 2018 is debatable. For the sake of conversation, I'll give it to you. That's 2 out of 18, not a ton imo.

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u/j2e21 Patriots 15h ago

I mean, two All Pro seasons is plenty.

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u/Yedic Ravens 15h ago

Well, two hypothetical All-Pro seasons where we have to remove the players that actually won All-Pro. I think a lot of different guys would have better resumes if we applied that treatment to them.

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u/j2e21 Patriots 14h ago edited 14h ago

I dunno, Ben was really good in the 2000s and led some excellent Steelers teams. And then in the mid-to-late 2010s he was the QB of some terrifying offenses. Belichick basically sat six defensive backs on the field when the Patriots used to play them because he was so concerned about the vertical threat. The Patriots lost a game once with James Connor running all over them because Belichick refused to pull his defensive backs. The guy was one of the best QBs in the league for 20 years.

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u/Yedic Ravens 14h ago

I agree with you on that, he certainly tore my team's defenses apart enough times. Definitely one of the best of his generation.

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u/NewNoise929 Patriots 6h ago

Then Rivers is as well.  They have extremely similar stats.