Getty Image / Sarah Stier
It certainly felt like the Eli Manning farewell tour this NFL season. While it’s unknown whether or not he’ll hang it up or look to play another season, he’s made it pretty clear that he doesn’t have any interest in being a backup.
New York is very clearly Daniel Jones’ team and with Manning now officially an unrestricted free-agent the writing is on the wall that Manning’s time as a Giant is likely over.
During the team’s exit interviews on Monday, the two-time Super Bowl MVP was asked if he’d return to the Giants as Jones’ backup next season if the team elected to give him a new contract and he gave a very candid answer of ‘I doubt it.’
"I doubt it…backing up's not real fun" – Eli Manning on whether he'd return to the Giants as a backup pic.twitter.com/Q0NmefxnX4
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) December 30, 2019
You can’t blame the man for not wanting to be a backup quarterback. Regardless of the fact that he’ll be 39-years-old at the start of next season, no quarterback wants to be the No. 2 on the depth chart.
There is no denying that Manning’s abilities have dropped over the past few seasons. With that being said, this is the NFL we’re talking about where the quarterback carousel is never-ending and perhaps an opportunity does open up where Manning can at the very least find himself in a legitimate quarterback battle during camp.
One thing is for sure, not seeing Manning in a Giants uniform come next fall is going to be extremely strange. As a massive Eli supporter, I’m not so sure I’ll be able to handle seeing those oversized sleeves wisp in the wind in anything other than Giants blue.