Eli Manning moved one step closer to football immortality Saturday, as he was named one of 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025.
Manning, the former No. 1 overall pick in 2004 who spent his entire 16-year career with the Giants and guided them to two Super Bowl wins, will find out on Feb. 6 if he’ll be inducted as a first-time nominee.
Terrell Suggs, Luke Kuechly, Marshal Yanda, Steve Smith, Eric Allen, Antonio Gates, Jahri Evans, Jared Allen, Reggie Wayne, Torry Holt, Willie Anderson, Adam Vinatieri, Darren Woodson and Fred Taylor were the other finalists, with Suggs, Kuechly, Yanda and Vinatieri in a similar position as Manning as finalists in their first year of eligibility.
Manning retired after the 2019 season — a season when he was benched for Daniel Jones as the Giants pivoted toward the future — and finished his career with 57,023 passing yards, 366 passing touchdowns and 244 interceptions during regular-season games.
He also helped the Giants win the Super Bowls in February 2008 and 2012 and was named the MVP for the game following each victory, but he never led the NFL in one of the league’s major stats categories outside of interceptions — in 2007, 2010 and 2013 — and failed to earn an All-Pro selection.
Manning was selected to the Pro Bowl four times, though.
And if Manning, who was named a first-time nominee in September, eventually gets inducted into the Hall of Fame, he’ll join his brother and former Colts and Broncos quarterback, Peyton, who earned a spot in the Class of 2021.
“It’s one of those deals that you can’t control, you can’t worry about,” Manning told noti.group’s Ryan Dunleavy about his Hall of Fame chances in 2022. “Everything has been done. All the passes have already happened. I’m just enjoying retirement and the new things that I’m doing, my family and coaching my kids in their sports. I’m probably more worried about whether they are going to make the All-Star team than I am about whether I’m going to make the Hall of Fame.”
For the past four seasons, Manning and his brother have hosted the “ManningCast” alongside ESPN’s traditional “Monday Night Football” broadcasts.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
