I've been a team-hopping fan of football my entire life. I've made short stops with teams like the Broncos, Eagles, Jaguars, and a few others, but for much of my early adult life, I rooted for the San Diego Chargers. The team was still a decade away from their abrupt and unapologetic move to Los Angeles, and they featured LaDainian Tomlinson, one of the greatest running backs in the history of the NFL. Tomlinson was the main draw that lead me to the Chargers (there was also a formative family vacation to San Diego that lead me there as well), but along the way, a gawky man with a slight southern drawl and a side-arm delivery also paved his way into my heart as a football fan.
Phillip Rivers was one of the most captivating quarterbacks of his time. He was a trash-talker to the highest degree, a degree not typically seen in quarterbacks, and he did so without cursing. He sits in the top 10 of almost every relevant passing statistic in the NFL, and his delivery made it seem, at times, like he was struggling for every yard the ball traveled through the air. He always seemed to produce great numbers, but his teams always seemed to teeter on the brink of disaster. The phrase "Rivers getting the ball back, needing a touchdown" may be one of the most common phrases ever uttered by sports broadcasters. To the very end, he kept you glued to the screen you were watching the game on, week in and week out, season after season.
Rivers's time in the NFL has come to an end, as he announced on January 20, a key date in his religious experience, and the anniversary of when he played in the AFC Championship Game with a torn ACL. His career is marked with so many incredible moments, a few low ones, and even a few that'll live on in GIFs forever. Naturally, discussions of his legacy have flooded social media and sports talk shows. While there have been some interesting spins made, and some cool angles taken, eventually, the conversation has boiled down to a simple question: is Phillip Rivers worthy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame? It's a shame that the discussion has already veered down this path, turning what could have been a celebration into another divisive stance to take, no matter which side. Personally, I don't care if Rivers ever gets in-- he's etched himself in my memory forever, for a great many reasons. However, just because it's ill-timed doesn't mean this debate isn't worth having.
To truly understand why the "Is Phillip Rivers a Hall of Famer" debate is important is to understand that it actually has very little to do with Rivers himself. Obviously, the debate about Rivers's candidacy was going to pop up whenever he retired, but had things broken a little differently, we may be looking at things a little differently.
While it's easy to compare QBs who are already in the Hall that have numbers far inferior (Joe Namath's inclusion is almost always brought up in situations like these), I'm not sure that's the way we should be analyzing whether someone is worthy. Football's passing statistics have risen astronomically since the dawn of the 21st century, and even the last decade has seen a drastic emphasis based on the quarterback position, one we've never seen before. Rivers is certainly a beneficiary of this trend, as his Chargers teams were largely built around his ability to spread the ball all over the field (particularly after Tomlinson's departure from the team). It's not a stretch to say that Rivers was asked to shoulder more of the offensive responsibility than more than 50% of quarterbacks currently enshrined in Canton, Ohio. That's why in order to fully understand his impact on the game, it's far more productive to look at his performance when compared to his peers.
For many NFL fans, the first two "peers" that come to mind when Rivers is mentioned are Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger, the other two QBs drafted in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft with Rivers. This starts things off poorly for Phil, as Manning and Roethlisberger each have two Super Bowl Rings on their resume, and Big Ben played in a third (more on that in a little bit). Those two rings will likely get both of them in, even if Eli's career statistics leave a little to be desired when compared to Rivers and Roethlisberger. A Super Bowl win would have likely clinched a gold jacket for Rivers, which is really the only reason we're having this conversation.
Rivers also has the detriment of playing at the same time as four other no-doubt, first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers. Despite Rivers's numbers in the regular season hanging around this crowd each year, the rings on the fingers of the other four would have assured them a spot in Canton, especially since their numbers are also among the all-time greats. Adding in the aforementioned Eli Manning and Roethlisberger, and you've got 6 QBs who played roughly around the same time as Rivers who will all get into the Hall ahead of him.
Rivers isn't the only member of this "one-step-below" territory, and that's what makes his case so compelling. If Rivers gets into the Hall of Fame, it likely keeps the door open for other QBs who were able to pad their statistics over a long period of time, but never achieved the NFL's ultimate prize. Put simply, if Phillip Rivers is inducted into the Hall of Fame, it all but guarantees a spot for two other players: Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford. While neither player has been dominant for as long as Rivers was, they both have statistics that will end up being similar to his. Ryan also has the step up of having played in a Super Bowl and winning league MVP. In that same thinking, Rivers getting into Canton will also keep the door open for Cam Newton, who also has an MVP and a loss in the Super Bowl to his name, and won the NFL's Rookie of the Year as well. Joe Flacco's Super Bowl win could have earned him a spot among this group as well, but a string of lackluster performances afterward have all but ended his bid.
This is what makes the speculation about Rivers so interesting to me. Had Stafford retired this year instead to protect himself from further injury, we'd be having the same discussion about him instead. Same goes for Ryan. Newton likely needs another few years of improved numbers to re-enter the conversation after a few injury-riddled seasons, but the fact remains: the Pro Football Hall of Fame has now entered a pivotal moment in its existence, and the next few years will be defined by which of these quarterbacks in the new, pass-happy NFL they admit to their ranks. It's possible none of them get in outside of the 6 locks I've identified, which almost feels irrelevant in this moment. What's important to remember is that Rivers had an outstanding and memorable career, one that doesn't need a Hall of Fame induction for validation.
However, it's in that sense that Rivers actually stands a great chance of getting in. Most Hall of Fame voters are journalists who cover the game, and it's quite often that a player's relationship with the media affects their chances. This is most readily seen with the egregious fact that Terrell Owens and Randy Moss, widely regarded as the 2nd- or 3rd- best wide receivers to ever play the game, were not first-ballot Hall of Famers because of their "diva" personalities. Despite his ornery behavior on the field, Rivers was never labeled with such a title, as he was often warm to the media, providing sound bytes seemingly whenever he was asked. Rivers's relationship with the media was so good, in fact, that it's long been speculated that he'll wind up in the broadcast booth himself one day. While I must admit that I don't think he should get into the Hall of Fame because he was nice to the right people, it would be ignorant to not acknowledge the fact that his demeanor with the media is working in his favor.
In the end, Phillip Rivers may end up becoming the greatest quarterback to never make the Hall of Fame, or perhaps one of its most controversial inclusions. Either way, it doesn't really matter, as you won't be able to tell the story of the NFL in the 21st century without uttering his name at some point. The NFL is a cruel workplace, where the turnover is absurd, and Rivers was able to wade the treacherous waters for 17 seasons. Still, there will be detractors that will argue that point as well, citing that the Hall shouldn't be a reward for sticking around the game for longer than most. It's what makes this such a great subject for debate: for any reason you can come up with to tell whether Rivers should or shouldn't get in, there's an equal counter-point to consider.
Somehow, it seems quite unlikely that Rivers himself will ever consider his legacy in such detail. In watching him for the better part of the past two decades, one thing always remained abundantly clear: the guy loved playing football. So argue all you want, it's likely Rivers doesn't care either way. The side-armed slinger made the most of his time in the NFL, and he'll likely do the same as he moves on to coach at the high school level in Alabama. In the end, perhaps Phillip Rivers's career being mostly played for the Chargers will prove quite fitting, as he's going to be a lightning-rod conversation starter about one's merits to be a Hall of Famer for years to come.
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