Who is this year’s Eli Manning?

This is a well known story by now, but prior to the 2011 season Eli Manning responded to a question about his ranking among his peers from Michael Kay by saying he was elite. Eli Manning was called delusional, laughed off, or simply ignored. He quietly went about his business putting together one of the finest seasons in N.F.L. history with more fourth quarter touchdown passes than any quarterback in one season ever, nearly 5,000 passing yards, and of course a Superbowl M.V.P. His season was M.V.P. worthy if he hadn’t been completely overshadowed by Brees, Rodgers, and Brady during the regular season.

That was last year. Heading into this season Eli is considered consistently to be one of the top five quarterbacks in the league. Who is the quarterback who is going to push to join the elite status this year?

Is this the year of Philip Rivers? Rivers is almost the forgotten man of the 2004 quarterback class, despite putting up big numbers year after year. He just is not winning as much as his classmates Big Ben and Little Manning.  Rivers quietly had the sixth most passing yards last season with 4,624 while throwing 27 touchdowns (and 20 interceptions which was his big knock). Rivers has never been so turnover prone before, and after a disappointing season and the loss of his favorite reciever, Rivers is almost an after-thought. And potentially a leading candidate to be this year’s Eli Manning. A breakout for Rivers, to me, would be a deep playoff run and possibly a Superbowl appearance.

Is it the young Matt Ryan. Ryan’s continued development and gelling with Roddy White and Julio Jones could potentially potentially form the league’s best passing attack. Throw in a good running game and Tony Gonzalez and Ryan looks pretty nifty. Ryan threw for over 4000 yards last season with 29 touchdowns to 12 interceptions. Pretty impressive numbers for his fourth N.F.L. season.

Perhaps the best breakout candidate is Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, who like Eli has flashed brilliance early in his career, which has been marred by inconsistency. Flacco, also like Eli has proclaimed himself among the league’s best quarterbacks. Will he walk the walk. If he plays the whole season like he did in the A.F.C. championship game the Ravens are in store for big things.

I’m going to leave Cam Newton off this list because I think a lot of people already think he’s right in that class.

Is it possible that the competition between Sanchez and Tebow will bring out the best in Sanchez and he will have a career year and show that he’s one of the league’s best quarterbacks?

Perhaps we’re looking at this the wrong way and the breakout quarterback is a grizzled veteran like Michael Vick who has all the talent in the world, but has never put it all together.

I personally think Matt Ryan is in for a big season this year.