New York Giants: Eli Manning making his case to remain with team

Quarterback Eli Manning is making his case to remain with the New York Giants up through the start of the 2017 NFL regular season.

Keep Eli Manning. Start Eli Manning. It’s the obvious option staring the New York Giants directly in the face this holiday season. Granted, the individuals who will make this decision are currently not employed by the club. The Giants will install a new front office and hire a new coaching staff once January rolls around, and those people will ultimately decide who, among the to-be rookie quarterbacks, will be the hopeful future franchise signal-caller.

Whether it be Josh Rosen, Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield or somebody else, it really doesn’t matter. Manning is showing, with his play and poise during the closing portions of this disaster of a season, that he can still go in the league and wants to be the starting quarterback for the Giants beyond the final day of December 2017. The two-time Super Bowl MVP has been far from perfect since being reintroduced to the starting lineup, but it’s clear to all observers he wouldn’t be out of work for long if the Giants parted ways with him next March.

Manning threw the ball 57 times during Sunday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium. That’s more than any quarterback should work during a game that comes down to his team’s final offensive play. Not only is Manning dragging teammates toward the finish line of a pitiful campaign. He’s doing so as part of what is an NFL unit in name only.

New England Patriots starter Tom Brady is often credited with improving those around him. There’s going to come a time, probably only after he retires because so many take him for granted, when analysts offer similar praise for Manning. Second-year wide receiver Sterling Shepard performed like an All-Pro against Philadelphia. Rookie tight end Evan Engram looks like the real deal. Roger Lewis and Tavarres King are showing promise. Manning should be credited for their improvements.

Manning deserved better than what he received beginning last August when Shepard was first sidelined because of an injury. He lost both Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall before the halfway point of the campaign. Former general manager Jerry Reese did nothing to bolster the team’s lackluster offensive line. Ben McAdoo, the head coach who was canned before Christmas, tossed Manning under the bus multiple times in 2017 before benching him in the season’s most illogical move.

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What’s done is done. Neither co-owner John Mara nor anybody else associated with the Giants can undo the wrong and keep Manning’s consecutive starts streak intact. Missing a single start because McAdoo wanted to see Geno Smith in the starting lineup shouldn’t eliminate the relationship Manning has with the club. The plan as of five months ago was that Manning would retire a Giant. That should remain the case.

Manning understands what it means to be a veteran forced to sit behind a rookie QB. He played the role of the latter back in 2004 when Kurt Warner appeared to be leading the Giants to a playoff berth. Warner handled that situation with class and grace, and there’s no reason to believe Manning wouldn’t do the same when the time arrived.

Whether or not rookie Davis Webb will be the guy moving forward is anybody’s guess, but it’s worrisome, at the least, Webb didn’t receive an opportunity to rise to second on the depth chart between summer training camp sessions and Week 15 of the season. Even if Webb surprisingly starts and plays well over the next two weeks, all indications are the Giants will use a top-two pick on a quarterback.

Who better to work with that person than Manning, a champion who has experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows during his career? Who better to mentor that quarterback on what it means to be the starter for a team that plays in front of New York media members? Who better to teach him the “Giants Way?” Manning can serve as both a player and an unnamed offensive coordinator. He did so when he continued to tutor Webb even after being benched.

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Starting a young quarterback before he’s ready ruins a player more often than not. Ask fans of the Cleveland Browns or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, Aaron Rodgers about that. Keep Eli Manning, and start Eli Manning in an actual NFL offense ahead of a rookie in 2018. It’s the first step toward fixing the Giants.

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