Getty Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots greets Eli Manning #10 of the New York Giants after a preseason game
Is Eli Manning a first ballot Hall of Famer?
“Yeah,” ex-New York Giants running back David Wilson tells Scoop B Radio.
“He’s a legend in my eyes.”
Manning was Big Blue’s first pick in the 2004 NFL Draft out of Ole Miss.
During his entire 16-year NFL playing career, Manning has thrown 57,023 passing yards which translates into 366 touchdowns and a 60.3% completion rating.
The now retired New York Giants quarterback is a two-time Super Bowl champion, two-time Super Bowl MVP, a four time Pro Bowler and the NFL’s Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year in 2016. “That’s the only quarterback that I ever had,” David Wilson tells Scoop B Radio.
“And I’m glad that I played with a legend.”
David Wilson was the Giants’ first round pick out of Virginia Tech in 2012.
While Wilson also holds the Hokie record for the most 100-plus yeard performances, he was just as lethal on the football field in the NFL.
In his rookie season, Wilson became the first player in NFL history with 200 kick return yards and 100 rushing yards and the second player since 1970 with a kick return touchdown and two rushing touchdowns, in the same game.
Wilson was forced to retire from football after only two NFL seasons because of a career-ending neck injury.
Before retirement, Wilson set the New York Giants team record for all-purpose yards in a single game in 2012 and accumulated 327 all-purpose yards in a 52-27 win over the New Orleans Saints.
Wilson isn’t the only former Giant who has publicly stated that Eli Manning deserves to be a first ballot Hall of Famer.
Back in May, Tiki Barber shared similar sentiment. “He is a Hall of Famer,” Barber told Scoop B Radio.
A member of the Giants’ Ring of Honor, Big Blue’s all-time leader in rushing yards and the NFL’s top yardage gainer from the line of scrimmage in 2005, Barber wants to see Manning enter the wings of greats in Canton, Ohio. “No doubt about it,” he told me.
“The question about First Ballot is timing because, think about the peers that he’s going in around and I think he maybe has an advantage because he’s not going to align with his brother Peyton, who retired a couple years before. He’s not going to align with Drew Brees who is still playing or Tom Brady. And so, he might get fortunate because he is a Hall of Famer and coming into a class that doesn’t have a quarterback waiting, you know what I mean? Like, he doesn’t have a guy that is a guaranteed Hall of Famer waiting.”