On Friday, four NFL legends were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Antonio Gates, Jared Allen, Sterling Sharpe, and Eric Allen all had their names immortalized forever for their contributions to the game. Despite the greatness represented in the 2025 class, the committee made one glaring mistake.
Eli Manning was not on the ballot.
Drafted in 2003, Manning was a member of one of the best quarterback draft classes of all time, alongside Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger. He was drafted No. 1 overall before being traded to the New York Giants.
Manning stood at the helm of the Giants for 16 seasons. He made four Pro Bowl appearances, amassing 57,023 passing yards and 366 passing touchdowns over his career. He ranks 11th all-time in both of those categories. To put those numbers in perspective, every eligible player in the top 14 of those statistics is a member of the Hall of Fame.
Manning was the true definition of an iron man. He didn’t miss a single game in his career due to injury. He started in 234 of his 236 career games, ranking third all-time for consecutive starts with 210 in a row. He likely would have caught Brett Favre’s record for most all-time, if not for a ridiculous benching by the short-lived head coach Ben McAdoo during the 2017 season.
With the game on the line, there are not many quarterbacks in history you’d take over Manning. He has 41 career game-winning drives, ranking ninth all-time among quarterbacks. That’s more than Joe Montana and Warren Moon.
It’s not just his résumé and statistics that make Manning an unforgettable figure in football—it’s the moments. His incredible performances on the biggest stage are what truly define his legacy.
In 2007, the New England Patriots were on a conquest of the NFL. They are widely regarded as one of the greatest teams in history. Led by Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time, they set records at an unprecedented pace. Brady set the single-season record for most passing touchdowns, while his top target, Randy Moss, broke the single-season receiving touchdown record. The Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season before breezing to the Super Bowl. Waiting for them was the 10-6 wild card team out of the NFC East, looking to pull off a miracle.
With 2:45 left to play in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 42, the Patriots were lined up for third and goal down by three. Brady found Moss wide-open in the end zone, giving New England a 14-10 lead.
The Patriots’ defense had been suffocating the Giants’ offense all night and was just one stop away from cementing the greatest season in NFL history. But Manning had other plans.
After making some headway down the field, the Giants faced third and five from the 42-yard line. The Patriots almost immediately penetrated the New York offensive line, and Manning was swarmed. Miraculously, he escaped the sack attempt and fired a pass downfield to David Tyree, who managed to reel in the ball by pinning it against his helmet for the completion.
It was an impossible play—one that should never have worked. But it did. The Giants’ drive stayed alive. A few plays later, with 35 seconds left, Manning delivered a perfectly placed pass to Plaxico Burress in the corner of the end zone, giving New York a 17-14 lead and the win.
The Giants had done the unthinkable. It was the ultimate David and Goliath story. Thanks to Manning, the 2007 Patriots would become the greatest team that never was.
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning holds up the Vince Lombardi Trophy while celebrating his team’s 21-17 win over the New England Patriots in the NFL Super Bowl XLVI football game, Feb. 5, 2012, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
Four years later, the Patriots had a shot at revenge. Manning and Brady faced off for the second time on the sport’s biggest stage, and once again, the Giants found themselves relying on Manning to save the day.
Down 17-15 with 3:46 left to go, the Giants had the ball on their own 12-yard line. On the very first play of the drive, Manning stepped up in the pocket and launched a perfect pass downfield to Mario Manningham, who made a breathtaking catch just short of the 50-yard line. The throw is still considered one of the best in Super Bowl history, dropping perfectly into Manningham’s hands while falling out of bounds, just out of reach of the defense.
Riding the play’s momentum, the Giants continued to march down the field. Ahmad Bradshaw found the end zone with less than a minute remaining, sealing the victory for the Giants.
Manning was awarded Super Bowl MVP in both games. He is one of just six players to ever achieve this feat, joining Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, Bart Starr and Patrick Mahomes.
Bradshaw, Starr and Montana were all first-ballot Hall of Famers, and Mahomes and Brady will undoubtedly be as well. Manning is now the only player from that list to be denied first-ballot status.
Manning dueled the greatest quarterback of all time in the Super Bowl—not once, but twice. Not only did he defeat Brady both times, but he outplayed him. No other player in NFL history can say that.
By no means was Manning a perfect quarterback, but you cannot tell the story of football without him. Leaving Manning off the ballot was a horrible injustice.