MANN ON THE MOVE?
If Eli wants a chance to keep winning (or starting), he needs to do it elsewhere
If Sunday isn’t the end for Eli Manning as a Giant, it is the official beginning of the end.
And if Sunday’s home game against division-leading Washington isn’t Manning’s final game as a Giant, it may be his final start as their quarterback.
And if it isn’t his final start for the franchise, it is at the very least the first game of Manning’s now-publicly-acknowledged Giants farewell tour (it took some people a while) that surely will end at the absolute latest with his release or retirement this offseason.
The time of Manning routinely waking up on Sunday morning to win a football game for the Giants has passed. It was a good run. It was a long, 15-year run. It is over.
GM Dave Gettleman signaled that belatedly this week with his trades of corner Eli Apple (Saints) and defensive tackle Damon Harrison (Lions) for fourth-, fifth- and seventh-round picks in the next two years’ drafts. And the firesale is not over.
Gettleman has avoided speaking publicly on either trade. Reports have linked corner Janoris Jenkins to trade dis- cussions. And co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch and Gettleman wouldn’t answer a Daily News inquiry on whether Odell Beckham Jr. is untouchable prior to Tuesday’s 4 p.m. NFL trade deadline.
That doesn’t mean they’re trading Beckham, which would be difficult to do financially. But it reinforces that the Giants seem to be withholding commentary until they are finished settling all their debts.
Now Manning, 37, who holds a no-trade clause, is watching all of this. And he is aware the Giants intend to play rookie QB Kyle Lauletta at some point after their Week 9 bye (and who knows? Would they dress Lauletta as the backup on Sunday, to give him the sideline experience before playing in a game?).
And Manning has to decide if he wants to be a part of this tear down that inevitably will result in him going to the bench this season, and whether he’d accept that indignity (again) in order to be able to retire having been a career Giant – or if he wants to be traded because he thinks he can still win.
Manning’s Tuesday comment on WFAN was the most telling on how he’s thinking. Asked if he expects to finish his career as a Giant, Manning answered hesitantly: “Uh, yeah. Right now, that’s the mindset.”
He was careful to include the words “right now.” And on Wednesday of course Manning said “I haven’t brought myself to think about another scenario” than playing in New York, because he is trying to lift the lowly Giants (1-6) to an unlikely win over Washington (4-2).
But let’s be real: Manning’s older brother, Peyton, left an Indianapolis franchise where he’d played for 13 seasons and won one Super Bowl to go to Denver just before his 36th birthday and eventually won a second ring. Eli Manning refused to play in San Diego coming out of college, forcing a 2004 draft-day trade to New York, and refused to play in the first half in Oakland last season when Ben McAdoo told him he could start to keep his consecutive games streak alive.
And you don’t think it’s possible that Manning, if the right situation and suitor arose these next couple days, might waive his no-trade clause or even possibly force a trade elsewhere to try and win Super Bowl No. 3? His track record says he would.
A major impediment, though, is that Manning has played so poorly in recent years that it’s unlikely any NFL team would surrender significant assets to acquire him.
Earlier this week, in fact, NFL Network reported that the most likely potential suitor, Tom Coughlin’s QB controversy-rattled Jacksonville Jaguars, “believe that on their roster are better quarterback options than anything that is out there, and that includes Eli Manning and Tyrod Taylor.”
The Jaguars, in other words, just benched Blake Bortles in favor of backup Cody Kessler, and yet they do not believe Manning is a better option at quarterback that would warrant a trade. Talk about a fall from grace. Sunday’s outcomes could change the landscape, though, and build pressure for a team to take action, or bring Manning to more seriously entertain the scenario of playing elsewhere.
Whatever he says publicly, though, this is something he most certainly has entertained in his mind already, because the end is near, and Manning has proven in his career to be a player who always forces matters into his control and on his terms.
He can’t control all the variables now, but if he wants to be guaranteed continued playing time and a chance at winning, New York is no longer the place for him – although it’s an open question, too, if anyone else will have him.