Eli Manning: “I Plan On Playing Next Year”

Update:

Giants QB Eli Manning told reporters that he plans on playing football next year, despite his father, Archie Manning, leaving the door open to him possibly retiring.

“I plan on playing next year,” Manning said, per Jordan Raanan.

Manning added that he doesn’t want to see HC Ben McAdoo fired over the decision to bench him.

“I don’t want that. I don’t want anybody to get fired,” Manning said. “When a coach gets fired, it’s usually because the team, the players and myself haven’t performed up to our duties. I don’t want to see that. So I hope there is no truth to it.”

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Archie Manning tells Ian Rapoport of NFL Media that it’s possible Eli Manning could walk away after this season, depending on what happens next year.

“Eli might say, ‘I’ve had enough. I’m feeling good. I’ve got a beautiful wife, three little girls, I’m healthy. And that’s it.’ So there’s no sense speculating.”

Archie admitted that the Giants’ somewhat surprising decision to bench Manning and play their younger quarterbacks is “not a great situation” but he wasn’t going to criticize the team’s ownership or HC Ben McAdoo.

“We had our team, we loved our team,” Archie said. “But for Eli… it’s always kind of been like this: Eli’s passion for the Giants goes deeper than most and I’ve mentioned it through the years. Eli loves playing for the New York Giants. He just does. He just loves it, I think more than most. So therefore, it broke his heart.”

Archie added that it’s best to allow the situation to play out.

“Let’s let it play out,” Archie said. “There will be some changes, some things will happen, there will be some options. No sense in declaring anything when we just don’t know.”

New York plans to play Geno Smith against the Raiders in Week 13, but they could turn to rookie Davis Webb as soon as Week 14.

There has been speculation for months now that the Jaguars could make sense as a potential landing spot for Manning, considering his ties to Tom Coughlin and the fact that he would likely be an upgrade to Blake Bortles.

Manning, 36, is a former first-round pick of the Chargers back in 2004. He was traded to the Giants during the draft and has spent all 14 years of his career in New York.

Manning is currently in the third year of his five-year, $101.5 million contract that included $65 million guaranteed and stands to make base salaries of $10.5 million and $11.5 million over the final two years of the agreement.

In 2017, Manning has appeared in 11 games for the Giants and thrown for 2,411 yards while completing 62.5 percent of his passes to go along with 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 18 quarterback out of 39 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding Manning’s future with the Giants as the news is available.