Philip Rivers should be a first ballot Hall of Famer. There are plenty of other quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame who are much worse than him, and he does not get the love he deserves.
Philip Rivers played at North Carolina State for all four years of his collegiate career. He was very good in college, and his best year was his senior year, where he had 4500 yards and 34 touchdowns with a 72% completion percentage. Yet, he was only 7th in the Heisman runnings.
After a great college career, he was drafted by the New York Giants in 2004. However, he was a Giant for a very short time because he got traded on draft night to the San Diego Chargers for Eli Manning, who the Chargers selected with the first pick.
Rivers was not the starter in San Diego; he had to sit behind Drew Brees. In the 2006 season, the Chargers did not re-sign Drew Brees, so Philip had his first chance to start. His 2006 season was not the best, with only 3400 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions. But the team went 12-4. His next season was not much better, with 200 fewer yards, 1 fewer touchdown, and 6 more interceptions. They went 11-5 that season, showing that their success was not from Philip but from LaDainian Tomlinson.
His 2008 season had much better stats. 4000 yards, 34 touchdowns, which was a career high, and only had 11 interceptions. He also had a 105.5 passer rating. Yet in this better season, they only went 8-8. This is mostly because of LT’s down year, where he only had 1100 yards and 11 touchdowns. His 2009 season had two improvements: his yards and the team record. Philip threw for nearly 4300 yards, and the team went 13-3.
Then his 2010 season happened. This is arguably his best season. He threw for 4700 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. He also had a 101.8 passer rating. Even though he played very well, the Chargers only went 9-7. His receivers were not very good except for Antonio Gates, a Hall of Fame tight end.
Over the rest of his career, he threw on average around 4300 yards, with the most he threw 4792 yards in 2015, which was a career high. In the following year, he threw his career high of interceptions with 21. His last season was in Indianapolis with the Colts. He threw for 4200 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions.
Now his best seasons aren’t super crazy; the volume of great seasons is what makes him a Hall of Fame-caliber player. His career stats are 63440 yards and 421 touchdowns. Yet he does have some not very good stats, like only a 49% career completion percentage and a total of 209 interceptions. He is 6th all-time in yards and touchdown passes. He is 13th in average yards per game with 260. He is ahead of Dan Marino, John Elway, and even Joe Montana in career passing yards and career passing touchdowns.
Philip Rivers may not have any rings, but he has more than enough stats to make up for it. 6th in career touchdowns and passing yards is definitely enough to be in the Hall of Fame. The only reason that he could not get in is because of his Hall of Fame class. He shares it with Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Julian Edelman, LeSean McCoy, and Frank Gore. The Hall of Fame Class is full of amazing players, and Philip Rivers is one of them. He deserves to be inducted as soon as possible and no later.
