Eli Manning was powerless when it came to preventing Ben McAdoo and the Giants hierarchy from wresting from him the franchise-quarterback mantle he has worn so professionally for 14 seasons. But Manning now has the upper hand with what comes next, as far as the Giants trading him away.
Manning has a full no-trade clause in his contract, meaning the Giants cannot ship him anywhere he does not want to go. There is a chance he returns as the starter in 2018, but, given the way this dreary season has gone and the way the Giants on Tuesday shabbily handled the end of Manning’s starting streak of 210 consecutive games, it does not seem tenable that this rift is mendable. The Giants likely will have a top-three pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, and they undoubtedly will use it on a quarterback, unless rookie Davis Webb shows them something down the stretch to warrant consideration as Manning’s successor.
Whatever happens, the decision will not take long. The Giants must pay Manning a $5 million bonus if he is on the roster on the third day (March 17) of the NFL league year, so if he is not in the plans, he will be gone before then.
Manning signed a four-year, $84 million contract extension before the 2015 season and the $67 million in guaranteed money already has been paid to him. He is on the books for base salaries of $10.5 million in 2018 and $11.5 million in 2019. It looks as if he will not be with the Giants to earn that money.
There is no way the Giants simply will release Manning, but if they did, they would save about $10 million on their 2018 salary cap and have a dead cap expenditure of $12.4 million. There will be teams willing to trade for his services. Manning is not ready to retire, even though he turns 37 on Jan. 3. His body remains healthy and his arm is sound. The Jaguars (with Tom Coughlin running the show and Blake Bortles at quarterback) make too much sense as an option. The Broncos and Cardinals also are solid teams in need of a quality quarterback. If Manning goes to Denver, he would follow in the footsteps of older brother Peyton, who once thought he would never leave the Colts, just as Eli once thought he would be with the Giants forever.