New York Giants: Eli Manning benching both right and wrong
By Randy Gurzi
The New York Giants made the right move in benching quarterback Eli Manning, but they also made the wrong move in naming Geno Smith the starter
A lot has been made of the recent move to bench New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning in favor of Geno Smith. Players like Philip Rivers of the Los Angeles Chargers called it “pathetic” and former teammates like Michael Strahan have also voiced their displeasure in the team benching the man who won two Super Bowls and started 210 consecutive games since 2004.
As passionate as the supporters of Manning are, they’re misguided. Manning isn’t the same player he was during the two Super Bowl wins for the Giants. Back then he was a player that delivered in the clutch, but now he’s a guy marred by bad passes and inconsistent play. He’s also one month shy of turning 37-years old, meaning he’s not the future of this team.
What they have to decide now is whether or not they need to use their first round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft to secure that future. Currently New York is in line for a top-five pick, and this draft has a few good options to line up under center for them. Which brings up the fact that the Giants also got this move wrong.
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While benching Manning was the right move, inserting Geno Smith as the starter is not. Smith was a second-round pick of the New York Jets and had multiple chances to prove he could play, and failed every time.
He’s posted a 12-18 career record while completing just 57.7 percent of his passes for 28 touchdowns and 36 interceptions. This isn’t to say Smith shouldn’t have a job, as there are worse backups in the league. His ceiling however is a second-string job.
What they should have done
Instead of going with Smith, the Giants needed to play rookie Davis Webb. The third-round pick out of Cal is the prototypical quarterback at 6-5 and 230 pounds and threw a pretty deep ball while playing collegiately.
That doesn’t mean he has the whole package, but before spending a premium pick on a guy, they need to see what Webb has. While the counter to this argument is surely that head coach Ben McAdoo says Webb will play, that’s not enough. Every snap Smith takes is one less chance to evaluate the 22-year old rookie.
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If Webb turns out to be a viable option, they can add a splash player to help them get even better in the future. If not, they could at least say they turned all stones over before drafting a guy early int the 2018 NFL Draft. Maybe they’ll get it right eventually, but as it stands now they’re still starting the wrong guy.