GIANT BURDEN ON ELI
There is pressure on Davis Webb to fend off new draft pick Kyle Lauletta for the Giants backup quarterback job, sure. And the conversation will steer even heavier in that direction in a week when the Giants’ rookie minicamp gets underway at Quest Diagnostics Training Center May 11-13.
But let’s all stop pretending that Webb is the Giants quarterback with the heavy burden on his shoulders this offseason. Regardless of what happens in the Webb-Lauletta Stakes, the Giants QB who most needs to prove something in 2018, who faces the most pressure this summer and fall, is Eli Manning. And it’s not close. Manning, 37, is the lynchpin to Dave Gettleman’s short-term (win now) and long-term (no QB drafted in the first round) plan. Manning now has the greatest skill position group of his career, assuming the GM re-signs Odell Beckham Jr.
Manning is the one whose skills deteriorated last season, who threw for 113 yards on Thanksgiving in Washington (with some dropped passes, yes, but still), who got benched the following week in Oakland for Geno Smith.
Manning is the one set to go on trial on May 14 over that long-standing memorabilia fraud case that a New Jersey Superior Court Judge refused to throw away.
Listen: Manning has spent 14 years proudly and impressively representing this franchise. He is friendly, accommodating, charitable, consistent and durable. And he is clutch and has two Super Bowl rings and MVPs to prove it.
However, there is more pressure riding on Manning now than ever before.
Gettleman made every move this offseason with the belief that his veteran quarterback still has at least two years of good football left in him. The GM and other Manning supporters constantly reference a performance against the Eagles as the reason why, as if the Giants didn’t play 15 other games. They’d better hope they’re right.
With confidence in Manning as their foundation, Gettleman then went about making almost every single decision with the priority of winning now, headlined by paying big for veteran LT Nate Solder, trading for Rams veteran LB Alec Ogletree and spending the No. 2 overall pick of the NFL Draft on Penn State RB Saquon Barkley.
Meanwhile, look at what is happening around the Giants in the NFC East.
Given Big Blue’s additions and win-now priority, and other teams’ personnel losses and changes, it is reasonable to assert that the Giants have to consider themselves frontrunners to contend with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles ahead of the Dallas Cowboys and Washington. That is, if Manning plays well. Look at Dallas: Jason Witten is retiring, Dez Bryant is gone. The Cowboys have a great offensive line and a stud back in Ezekiel Elliott, but it won’t be hard for the Giants and other teams to stack the box and make Dak Prescott beat them. And to say nothing bad of Prescott, with Dallas’ wide receiver position group, it’s hard to think that’ll happen.
Washington’s trade for Chiefs QB Alex Smith to replace the departed free agent Kirk Cousins (Minnesota) was a huge and exciting splash, and LSU RB Derrius Guice’s addition in the second round was intriguing. I’ll believe in a dominant 2018 Washington team when I see it, though. Right now they project to me as typically mediocre at best.
The Giants, on the other hand, have loaded up for Manning’s third Super Bowl ring, and the Eagles, funny enough, are the team that Manning scored enough points against last season to convince the Giants to stick with him. So there will be no excuses for Eli in 2018. As for Webb, don’t count him out to win this backup job: When he transferred from Texas Tech to Cal for his final college season, he was quickly named team captain for how voraciously he set an example and gathered teammates for offseason throwing and studying.
Lauletta may be this new regime’s “guy” compared to Webb, drafted by previous GM Jerry Reese, but he’s handled plenty of adversity and this is nothing new. Pat Shurmur likes Webb, too; Webb’s lack of NFL snaps simply hurt his ability to prove to them that he was 100% the right man for the No. 2 job.
But the backup battle is a footnote for now. The main event is Manning’s ability to navigate what is about to be both an offseason and a full NFL season under intense scrutiny on and off the field. How he handles it and performs only affects this franchise’s entire success or failure.
No pressure.