The New York Giants reportedly “won’t hesitate” to offer Eli Manning a new contract after his current one expires at the end of 2019.
Will Big Blue fans ever see the end of the Eli Manning era for the New York Giants? Some thought it would be at the end of the three-win 2017 season. When Manning was then retained, many thought it would without a doubt be after this past five-win 2018 season.
Now it looks like the end may not be so soon.
After head coach Pat Shurmur confirmed Manning would be back for 2019, reports are coming out that 2020 may not be the first season without Manning either.
Ralph Vacchiano of SNY writes “The key people in the organization don’t think he’s done, and they feel they saw a ton of positive signs in the second half last year. Ideally, they’ll have his successor ready to go next season. But if not, barring a disaster of a season, they won’t hesitate to extend Manning’s contract by a year. They really do want him around to rub off on the next Giants franchise quarterback, if they can make it work.”
The Giants have numerous options for Manning’s eventual successor, including Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins, Duke’s Daniel Jones and possibly Arizona Cardinals impending sophomore Josh Rosen via the trade market. The go-to method may be for Big Blue to follow the “Kansas City” model. This would mean the successor sitting and learning behind Manning for a year.
But what if the Giants decided to wait a year for their eventual successor? What if they don’t truly love any of the quarterbacks in this year’s draft class? Maybe they’ll wait until the 2020 draft class? Next year’s class will include talented individuals such as Oregon’s Justin Herbert and Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa.
The Giants could then imply the “Kansas City” model in 2020. However, that would mean Manning remaining on the team for that year.
“I would like to come out of this draft with a quarterback, but here’s the thing: Show me what the grades are. What’s the value?” Giants Co-Owner John Mara said at the NFL owners meeting in late March. “If the top quarterbacks are graded towards the bottom of the first round or even the second round, I’m not going to insist that we take one at No. 6 or even No. 17. Show me what the value is. That’s always been our philosophy on that.
“The worst thing you can do is try to force the issue and then you end up with a quarterback that isn’t worth taking at the particular spot. Would we love to have a quarterback coming out of this draft? Yes, but only if we have a conviction about him. And we’re not there yet. We’re a long ways from making that determination.”
If Manning were to be the Giants QB in 2019 and then in 2020, it would be his 16th and 17th years with the organization.
