For many New York Giants fans, Eli Manning is the only quarterback, they’ve ever known.
That statement alone is quite a testament to Manning, and also speaks volumes about why the New York Giants decision to move on from him won’t be (isn’t) easy. First and foremost, people hate change. We’d rather wear a pair of tattered socks or a faded t-shirt, instead of acknowledging its time for a new wardrobe.
Yet all good things must come to an end.
Of all the bad decisions that Jerry Reese made as New York Giants general manager, he wasn’t wrong about Eli Manning being on the “back nine” of his career when he uttered those words a few years back. Perhaps, Reese encountered resistance when discussing this subject with team ownership.
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Whatever the case, an obvious lack of definitive action has brought us to the current state of affairs. And please, don’t count drafting two project quarterbacks as definitive action.
State of the NFL
Of all the great quarterbacks in the NFL right now, Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints has become the poster child in defying logic.
With all due respect to Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, Brees is playing as well as he ever has. His completion percentage (76.3) is the highest in his career. The same cannot be said for Brady and Rodgers.
He actually, in some respects, has turned back the clock. But even as great as Brees has been recently, the Saints remain skeptical, as evidenced by their recent contract negotiations with the future Hall of Famer.
Per Spotrac:
"“Drew Brees signed a 2 year, $50,000,000 contract with the New Orleans Saints, including a $13,500,000 signing bonus, $27,000,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $25,000,000. In 2018, Brees will earn a base salary of $10,200,000, a signing bonus of $13,500,000 and a roster bonus of $3,300,000, while carrying a cap hit of $24,000,000 and a dead cap value of $45,000,000.”"
Previous to the two-year deal was a one-year contract worth $24.25 million for the former Purdue Boilermaker. Clearly, you see that New Orleans wasn’t making a long-term investment in a guy who, according to NFL.com, leads the league this season in quarterback rating (120.6).
For the record, Eli Manning’s QB rating stands at 90.9, which ranks in the bottom third of the NFL.
If at any other position, your team was rated in the bottom third of the league, wouldn’t you try to upgrade that position?
Pull off the band-aid
Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is the butt of many NFL jokes. Reid, however, has pulled off the franchise quarterback switcheroo a couple times in his distinguished career. Moving on from an effective Alex Smith to the dynamic Patrick Mahomes has made the Chiefs the envy of the NFL. The path of least resistance would have been to stick with Smith, who according to Pro Football Reference, is 93-65-1 as a starter in the NFL.
Remember, Reid also effectuated the transition from Donovan McNabb to Michael Vick, starting in 2009.
At that time, McNabb was only 33-years old, and the Eagle drafted Kevin Kolb to be the heir apparent. When the Birds signed Vick, he initially was a novelty to run the short yardage wild cat offense. But when Kolb faltered, Vick became the starter, and Reid kept moving forward.
No doubt that Vick never became the team’s final answer, as the team later moved onto to Nick Foles, Matt Barkley and even Vince Young. But the fact remains that Reid knew that McNabb’s days were numbered and began a succession. Surely it wasn’t popular in Philadelphia, but it happened.
If Reid were running the New York Giants, you could bet your bottom dollar that a Manning challenger would have been brought in. Not a rookie like Kyle Lauletta, not a second-year guy like Davis Webb, or a journeyman like Geno Smith. The team would have drafted Sam Darnold, or brought in a guy like Teddy Bridgewater.
Instead team brass pressed the repeat button on Manning. The net result is that there is no heir apparent, and there is no succession plan.
Some of the great ones have the retirement decision thrust upon them due to injury. Guys like Terry Bradshaw, Tony Romo and Troy Aikman come to mind. Others make the team do the dirty work by telling them they are no longer wanted.
All-time greats like Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Joe Montana and Brett Favre squeezed a few more seasons out of their careers in another uniform. But remember the team had the guts to tell these guys to move along because a succession plan was in place. The New York Giants have no succession plan, so Manning continues to be the only option. At 1-7, does that seem like the correct decision?