With the retirement of former NC State QB Phillip Rivers Wednesday, the debate has begun – Is Phillip Rivers a NFL Hall of Famer?
The strike against Rivers is that he never won or even appeared in a Super Bowl. It’s a valid point. Rivers will never be held with the same regard as his contemporaries Tom Brady, Drew Brees, or Peyton Manning.
All were Super Bowl winners. Tom Brady is considered the greatest quarterback of all-time, and Brees and Manning are not far behind. For the majority of his AFC career, Rivers drew the unfortunate luck of playing in the same conference as Brady and Manning.
With that said, the last time I looked a championship was not a pre-requisite of Hall of Fame inclusion. This is where the discussion should begin and end. Charles Barkley never won an NBA championship and played in the Michael Jordan era. Patrick Ewing was the same. Both are in the NBA Hall of Fame as perennial All-Stars.
If you need NFL examples, Dan Marino comes to mind. He never won a Super Bowl, and had just one appearance. Even further back is an even closer comparison to Rivers – a fellow Charger QB, the great Dan Fouts.
Fouts is an NFL Hall of Famer, who never appeared in the Super Bowl. He was a 6-time Pro-Bowler, 3-Time All-Pro, and the NFL’s offensive player of the year in 1982.
Rivers stacks up well with the accomplishments of Fouts. Rivers was an 8-Time Pro Bowler, the NFL Comeback player of the year in 2013, and broke many of the Charger passing records formerly held by Fouts.
He ranks in the top 5 of all-time in a number of passing statistics including, yards, TDS, and completions.
That’s a testament to Rivers longevity and productivity, and he led teams he quarterbacked to 7 playoff appearances.
For me the question is not whether he is Hall of Famer or not, it’s only a question if he is a first ballot Hall of Famer. He is 100% headed to Canton.
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