With both quarterbacks retiring, Ben retired this off-season after 16 years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Rivers in 2021 after 17 years with the Chargers, and both seeming like they are headed to Canton for the Hall of Fame. Now I look at both of their careers and determine who has the best chance to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Ben Roethlisberger
Since joining the league in 2005 out of the University of Miami of Ohio, Ben has been one of the most consistent quarterbacks in recent history with a career total of 64,088 passing yards, 418 touchdowns, and having 2 Super Bowl titles with them coming in 2006 and 2009, Ben has always been in the same conversation with Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning for one of the best quarterbacks in recent history. And now that the quarterback is no longer in the league, we look back on his career and while it didn’t end the way he wanted to with injuries plaguing him the last few years and the Steelers not able to find answers in the playoffs lately, the quarterback has the leadership abilities, stats, awards necessary to be able to be voted in Canton, Ohio the first year he is eligible.
Phillip Rivers
Selected in the 2004 NFL draft originally selected by the New York Giants with the 4th overall pick but was a part of the trade that sent Eli Manning to New York and Rivers to where the Chargers originally were in San Diego before they relocated to Los Angeles a few years ago. While Rivers doesn’t have the Super Bowl titles that Roethlisberger has, he has been just as consistent as the Steelers Quarterback. He has 8 pro bowl selections, a Comeback player of the year in 2018, he tallied up 63,330 passing yards, 421 touchdowns, and being able to be a part of one of the best generations of quarterbacks that the NFL has seen in a good time. And while he hasn’t had much postseason experience, his ability to lead a team and his unique way to trash talk opponents is unlike no one we’ve seen for a good while and it would be great to see the former NC State quarterback be called into the hall of fame for his first year of eligibility.
And while this has been a tough decision, I think that Ben Roethlisberger has a bigger chance of being a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but both are deserving of being enshrined in Canton whenever the time comes.
