Manning says fond farewell to Giants
Quarterback Eli Manning ended his 16year NFL career on his own terms. He was classy, wellprepared and walked away as a New York Giant.
In a roughly sevenminute speech touched with a little humor and almost no emotion, Manning, 39, ended his career Friday at a packed news conference surrounded by his family, friends and former teammates and coaches and the two Super Bowls he delivered to the storied franchise.
“From the very first moment I did it my way,” said the lowkey Manning, who followed in steps of Archie, his father, and Peyton, his brother, as NFL quarterbacks. “I could not be someone other than who I am. Undoubtedly, I would have made the fans, the media, even the front office more comfortable being a rahrah guy.
“But that’s not me. Ultimately I choose to believe that my teammates and the fans learned to appreciate that. What they got was pure unadulterated Eli.”
The one person who was emotional was Giants coowner John Mara, who said Manning would be inducted into the team’s ring of honor at MetLife Stadium next season and that the quarterback’s No. 10 jersey was being retired.
Mara’s eyes welled, recalling the final game of Manning’s rookie season in 2004. The kid from Ole Miss rallied the Giants to a win over Dallas. It was the last game the late coowner Wellington Mara watched.
“I can remember walking to the locker room with him afterward and him saying to me, ‘I think we found our guy.’ And how right he was,” John Mara said of his father.
Manning was the No. 1 overall pick by the Chargers in 2004 but he was traded to the Giants on draft day. He became the Giants’ quarterback after nine games and started the next 222 games overall in a streak that ended in December 2017.
Manning led the Giants to titles after the 2007 and ’11 seasons, beating the Patriots both times.
Brown released: NFL free agent Antonio Brown was released on bail after a night in a Florida jail, where he turned himself in to face charges that he and his trainer attacked the driver of a moving truck that carried some of his possessions from the Bay Area.
Broward County Judge Corey Amanda Cawthon set a $110,000 bond and imposed conditions including surrendering his passport, wearing a GPS monitor, possessing no weapons or ammunition, and agreeing to a mental health evaluation and random drug testing.
Brown was one of the NFL’s top wide receivers during his nine seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was traded to the Raiders last year but released before ever playing a regular season game following several offthefield incidents. He was then signed by the Patriots, who released Brown in September after a second accusation of sexual misconduct in 10 days.
Hunt cited: Browns running back Kareem Hunt was cited for a traffic violation in Ohio, where police say they found marijuana in his car.
He was pulled over Tuesday afternoon near Cleveland while driving on Interstate 90.
Hunt, who was suspended for eight games by the NFL last season for two physical altercations, was cited for speeding. There was no drug charge and no indication of how fast he was driving.