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Many thought New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning would be a first-ballot entry into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but once the 2025 class announcement concluded at the NFL Honors show on Thursday night, Manning was left out in his first year of eligibility. 

Tight end Antonio Gates, defensive end Jared Allen, wide receiver Sterling Sharpe and cornerback Eric Allen comprised the four-man class for 2025, and Manning went out of his way to express his excitement for them. He also made it clear he is “at peace” with the decision to leave him out in the cold in his first year eligible. 

“I’m excited for those guys that got in. All of them are so deserving. … Happy for them. Texted a few of them, the guys that I knew and just congratulated them,” Manning told NFL Media’s Jamie Erdahl on Friday. “I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be my night, and I understand that. I’m totally at peace. It’s not gonna change my outlook on my career and how I feel about it.” 

The highs of Manning’s 16-season career are about as high as can be. He won two Super Bowl MVP’s against the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick New England Patriots dynasty, thwarting them from achieving a perfect 19-0 season in 2007 and from snatching another Super Bowl in 2011. Both of those performances included absurd, high-level plays like his ability to break out of sack to hit wide receiver David Tyree for a helmet catch in his first Super Bowl appearance, and his drop-in-the-bucket throw down the left sideline to wide receiver Mario Manningham in his second Super Bowl appearance.

However, those two moments were unable to overshadow the rest of his body work throughout his long career. Quarterback record stats aren’t everything, but Manning didn’t have a winning record in his 234 career games started, going 117 and 117. Manning earned four Pro Bowl nods in 16 seasons, but he was never considered one of the best of his era, as indicated by zero first-team or second-team All-Pro selections. The only standard regular-season statistic Manning ever led the NFL in was interceptions, something he did in three different seasons: 2007 (20), 2010 (25) and 2013 (27). 

Manning’s postseason career was also a massive rollercoaster. He and the Giants reached the playoffs in just six of his 16 NFL seasons, and four of those playoff runs resulted in zero playoff victories. Yes, Manning won Super Bowl MVPs against the Patriots in a third of his playoff trips, but the other two-thirds of his postseason runs combined involved four losses and zero wins. 

Given his longevity, which resulted in Manning ranking 11th all-time in passing yards (57,023) and 11th all-time in passing touchdowns (366), and his two Super Bowl runs, Manning has a good shot to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day. He just won’t join his big brother Peyton as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.