Is Ben Roethlisberger a first ballot HOF?

Probably. 2 Super Bowl wins, top ten all time in passing yards. Unless there are 5 others who can't be ignored the first year he's eligible, I would expect it to happen.

He's a hall of fame but I'm not certain he will be first ballot. The only lock for that class is Gronk. Peterson should be a lock but the whole child abuse thing might keep him away for a while.

Back to Roethlisberger, no All Pro's, No Super Bowl MVPs. It can be argued that his first Super Bowl is the worst performance by a Super Bowl winning QB. Then you have the whole sexual assault allegations.

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Brett Favre was first ballot in spite of his off field antics.

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You're comparing Vicodin and a dick pic to multiple SA allegations. I mean, if Roethlisberger was a 3x league MVP and a 6x All Pro he would be a shoe in. But, he's not.

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Back to Roethlisberger, no All Pro's, 

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Dude played his entire career in an AFC with Brady and Manning.

You can't hold that against him. He is a first ballot HOF lock by any objective measure. The Steelers also crumbled into mediocre shite once he declined and retired

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hate giving importance to Super Bowls.

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You mention Rivers but he got deep in the playoffs a few times… And had an all world RB for those runs

Yes Super Bowls are how you differentiate between similar guys. It’s what teams look for at QB1

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Dude played his entire career in an AFC with Brady and Manning.

You can't hold that against him

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First ballot Hall of Famers should be the "cream of the crop". Sure, he won two Super Bowls. Wasn't MVP of either and he has six Pro Bowls on his resume. That doesn't stand out to me.

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More so than Eli.

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Big Ben was a stalwart in the game...Eli not so much. Eli spent half of his career with the NY media trying to run him out of town.

Ben has a compelling 1st ballot Resume unless you're Cam Jordan who said he'd put Eli in over Ben.

Fun fact: Ben went 13-0 as a rookie starter, the most by a rookie quarterback in the history of the National Football League,

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Dude played his entire career in an AFC with Brady and Manning.

You can't hold that against him

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As opposed to the NFC with Rodgers and Brees?

The best argument that can be made against his inclusion (certainly 1st ballot) is the one you made - to put him in a Tier below the best of his contemporaries

Tier 1
Brady
Manning
Rodgers
Brees

Tier 2 (un-ordered)
Rivers
Ryan
Roethlisberger
Wilson
Stafford

When at absolute best you’re a distant 5th among your peers, consideration should be anything but assumed. At least in a just world

Below is the list of seasons in which Roethlisberger received an MVP vote:





Below is the list of seasons in which Roethlisberger received an Offensive Player of the Year vote:





Super Bowls:

SEA (W) - grotesque, nothing else to be said
9/21 (42.9%)
123 yards (5.9 YPA)
0 TD
2 INT
7 points in final 5 drives

AZ (W) - protected ball better but couldn’t close out a mediocre pass D
21/30 (70%)
256 yards (8.5 YPA)
1 TD
1 INT
Witness to miraculous James Harrison pick-6
5 net points in final 4 drives (TD less Safety)

GB (L) - 21-3 hole after his pick-6, chased the rest of the game
25/40 (62.5%)
263 yards (6.6 YPA)
2 TD
2 INT (1 pick-6)
7 points in final 5 drives

Postseason averages
21.7/34.7 (63.2%)
259.7 (7.6 YPA)
1.6 TD
1.2 INT

Yardage volume and the 2 rings the Steeler defense primarily carried them to (1 egregiously) is really the beginning and end of his resume. It’s a hell of a lot better than Eli’s, but there’s a distinct lack of putting the team on his back when it mattered most

If the Steelers defense was just average over most of his tenure this thread doesn’t even exist

TLDR he’ll get in but I don’t have to like it

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Dude played his entire career in an AFC with Brady and Manning.

You can't hold that against him


First ballot Hall of Famers should be the "cream of the crop".

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If tennis hall of fame worked in a similar way, would Andy Murray be first ballot?

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no All Pro's

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I do tend to look at those alot when thinking about someone as first ballot, and also if they were name to the all-decade team when considering first ballot.

But for point of reference, Warren Moon was a first ballot Hall of Famer. No since it's the "Pro Football HoF" and not NFL HoF, his time in Canadian League was likely considered. But from an NFL standpoint, no All-Pro selections, and no Super Bowl appearances.

Aikman was never All-Pro, though he was SB MVP one game.
Brees was All-Pro only once, has one less SB ring and two less appearances than Roethlisberger, though a SB MVP.

Overall, when looking at some of the other first balloters, I think he measures out to it. The All-Pro designation was tough during Roethlisberger's career. He put up some numbers that normally would have gotten a QB on there at least once, but he was in the era with Brady, Manning, Rodgers and Brees. Then Mahomes and Allen came along. His second to last season, 33 TDs vs 10 INTs, leading PIT to a 12-3 record, but look at the stats Rodgers, Mahomes and Allen put up. No way he was going to be All-Pro. 2014 was another spectacular season, but he had Rodgers and Brady ahead of him.