Say what you want about the lousy quarterback play from the New York Giants over the last couple of seasons—there was still nobody quite like Eli Manning over his nearly two decades as the signal-caller for Big Blue.
Despite finishing his legendary NFL career with a .500 record and only making the playoffs once over his final eight seasons, Manning will still forever be known for winning two Super Bowls over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, as well as holding numerous franchise records for the Giants at the quarterback position.
While many critics will look at the bad play from Manning throughout his career—leading the league in interceptions in a season twice being the most obvious one—this latest ranking still proves the Giants got it right when they pulled off that infamous trade with another young quarterback in the 2004 NFL Draft.
Bleacher Report's ranking of the best No. 1 draft pick's prove Manning was a franchise-altering player
In a recent article for Bleacher Report, Kristopher Knox ranked the No. 1 draft picks over the last 25 years. His top choice might surprise some people—Knox had Manning at the top of that list, proving what Giants fans already knew about Manning.
Again, Manning's stats might make it seem like this ranking is way too high for him. But Knox still highlighted many of his other notable accomplishments that should be talked about more. The obvious ones are his durability and his clutchness in the postseason. Once Manning took over as New York's quarterback during the 2004 season, he didn't miss a single start—starting in 210 consecutive games—until Ben McAdoo decided to bench the Iron Man of football for Geno Smith during the disastrous 2017 season, which had Giants fans outraged.
And of course, there’s his unbelievable playoff clutchness, which all started during the 2007 season when Manning and the Giants won three straight playoff games on the road—with perhaps the biggest one being the win over Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship in frigid weather. That was all capped off when Manning led the G-MEN to perhaps the biggest upset in sports history in Super Bowl XLII, which saw them knock off the undefeated Patriots.
Manning's incredible run for the Giants makes it feel very fair that he belongs at the top of this list. You can make the argument about his overall record and not being a first-ballot Hall of Famer (even though he was snubbed) as reasons why he shouldn't be No. 1, but Manning was still nothing short of durable and a legend when it came to clutch performances for the Giants. He belongs at the top of this list of other historic and legendary draft picks.