Listen to Doug Gottlieb play a game called Hall of Fame ‘Lock’, or Hall of Fame ‘Knock, Knock’ as Gottlieb determines what current or recently retired NFL stars will make the Hall of Fame, and which ones will simply be left at the entrance gates of Canton, Ohio.
Gottlieb looks at the careers of fringe Hall of Famers the likes of Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Jason Witten, Frank Gore, Antonio Gates, Larry Fitzgerald, Julian Edelman, Terrell Suggs, and Aqib Talib, and determines which ones will ultimately get the nod for a golden jacket.
Probably the two most notable candidates are 2004 NFL Draft class trade partners Manning and Rivers, who both led very successful, yet decently flawed careers that never really had them among the elites of the league.
Manning, of course, has two Super Bowl victories, but he's also just 117-117 in 16 seasons with a career passer rating of only 84.1. Manning finished with double-digit victories in just five of his 16 seasons as well.
Rivers has the stats on Eli, throwing for more touchdowns and yards with a much higher rating (95.1) and much better winning percentage (123-101), but never appeared in a single Super Bowl, despite playing on loaded Chargers teams with All-Pros the likes of LaDainian Tomlinson, Antonio Gates, Keenan Allen, Shawne Merriman, Antonio Cromartie, Darren Sproles, Vincent Jackson, and Eric Weddle.
Check out the video above as Gottlieb chooses which players he thinks will eventually reach Canton.