We have so much to discuss today on NFL Thursday, regarding the impending Hall of Fame class for 2025, and the first thing we’re going to point out is this: a ridiculous 167 players will appear on the ballot. Come on! This is a Hall of Fame, not just some “put anyone who ever donned a uniform” evaluation process here. Looking at some of the names on the list just makes anyone who knows anything about football just hurl.

Just look at the 10 quarterbacks nominated: Marc Bulger, Randall Cunningham, Jake Delhomme, Doug Flutie, Rich Gannon, Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb, Eli Manning, Steve McNair, and Tony Romo. Come on … Bulger?! He did make two Pro Bowls, but he also posted a 41-54 record as a starting QB and managed just an 84.4 QB rating in his short career (only 96 games). Why is he even on the ballot? Silly.

Same for someone like Garcia: his 58-58 record with an 87.5 QB rating isn’t much better, despite his laughable four Pro Bowl appearances. Remember, they have given away the PB designations so readily in this century, since the top guys almost always opted out of the exhibition game once the salaries shot through the roof. Why risk an injury? And one of Garcia’s PB seasons came with a mere 85.6 QB rating.

[We could go on, but we won’t. But there are 15 punters and/or kickers on this nominee list. Enough said.]

Moving on to the hyperbolic headline: it will be all about Manning, and he has no business sniffing Canton without buying an admission ticket. We discussed this years ago, and we will not go over it again. Yet his 84.1 QB rating, his mere four PBs over a 16-year career when those slots were given away like candy, and his 117-117 record as a starter should be automatically disqualifying as mediocre—except for his name. Terrible.

Oh, and in 14 seasons as a starting QB, he got his team to the expanded postseason just six times, with four one-and-done appearances. Everyone will point to his two Super Bowls—both of which were extremely fluky and suspect—as “proof” of something, but then why weren’t the two NFL titles for Jim Plunkett enough for him to reach the Hall of Fame? He had a .500 record, too, as an NFL starter. Interesting … no?

His QB rating was much lower due to the era he played in, and he also didn’t make any Pro Bowls, but there are many reasons for that, contextually. Yet if the SB wins are the only reason people can point to for Manning to get into Canton, then the Hall needs to do the right thing and bring Plunkett into the fold. That is long overdue, and Plunkett’s story is much more incredible than that of Nepo Baby Eli—any day, all day.

[Oh, and the NFL marketing and officiating departments didn’t hand Plunkett his SB wins, either. Snap!]