Eli would like to stay, but with no assurances

By Bob Glauber

So for all the good feelings over Manning being reinstated as the starter by interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo, there are no assurances of any longer-term commitment. Manning almost certainly will want some sort of commitment, because he still believes he is good enough to start.

If not here, then somewhere else.

“I understand that may be the case,” he said of the possibility of playing for another team. “After the season, I’m sure I’ll sit down with team president John Mara or whoever the new general manager is or whoever the new head coach is and see if I’m in their plan. If I’m not, then I think I got a lot of good football in me. I don’t want to leave the Giants. I appreciate and love the New York Giants. I love my job. I love playing quarterback for the Giants. I don’t wish to go anywhere else, but we’ll see. I want to play.”

How many years does he have left?

“I don’t know. Three more years, two more years,” he said. “I don’t know. I feel very real possibility that they will select a quarterback. Manning doesn’t sound as if he’d stick around with the Giants beyond this season unless he believes he will continue to be the starter.

When asked if he’d be open to the idea of serving as a mentor for a highly drafted rookie, Manning sounded reluctant.

“I want to play,” he said. “I want to play quarterback. I want to be a starting quarterback. I want to be the starting quarterback next year.”

Would he agree to a plan in which he’d be the starter next year while helping develop a younger quarterback? “I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”

Manning chose his words very carefully, because he understands he is at a major crossroads in his career. Even though coach Ben McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese were fired on Monday, a day after Manning’s streak was broken and following a huge public outcry against the move, Manning clearly understands that the Giants are looking to a future without the two-time Super Bowl MVP.

Eli Manning consistently has said he wants to finish his career with the Giants, which hasn’t changed, even after he didn’t play for the first time since the 2004 season.

“That’s always the goal, and this past week doesn’t change my love for the New York Giants and everything we’ve been able to accomplish and what we want to continue to accomplish here,” Manning said Wednesday. “That’s always the goal, and we’ll see what happens after the season.”

But make no mistake. Manning has been rocked by the events of the past week, and having his 210-game consecutive starts streak ended because of the Giants’ ill-fated plan to get a look at Geno Smith and eventually rookie Davis Webb may have a lingering effect.

In fact, it could mean the difference in whether Manning is back next season, or whether he will finish out his career somewhere else.

With the Giants in line to have a high draft pick — possibly No. 2 overall — there is the