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Eli Manning made the

right decision in 2003

January 30, 2020

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Way back in 2003 before the NFL Draft, all

the buzz surrounded Eli Manning and the

ultimatum he gave to the San Diego

Chargers, I won't play for you, pulling a John

Elway trying to avoid being selected by a

disfuncional franchise and despite being

officially picked by San Diego it didn't take

very long until they shipped him off to the

Giants for Phillip Rivers and a bunch of picks.

Now here we are almost two decades later,

Eli Making recently announced his retirement

and the future surrounding Phillip Rivers is

completely unknown, he recently moved his

family to Florida.

The scenario each one of them is facing right

now illustrates why Manning made the right

decision by opting not to play for the

Chargers.

It's easy to look at the two Superbowls and

say everything worked out for him, but

playing in San Diego hasn't been the worst

thing in the world over the last 15 years,

they probably had more talent than the

Giants over that period, definitely more

offensive talent. Eli never had a running

back like Ladainian Tomlinson he never had a

Tight end like Antonio Gates and even

without winning the Super Bowl then

Chargers bave been consistently present in

the playoffs.

A completely illogical hypothetical is that if Eli

doesn't demand a trade and plays to the

same level he did in his career both in the

regular season and in the playoffs, the

Chargers have at least one Super Bowl. The

truth is nobody knows what would really

happen but it's not that risky of a lot.

My point is that it's not like Eli Manning

avoided playing for the Browns, but looking

beyond the gridiron you see even more

clearly why he made the right decision.

The last years for Eli with New York weren't

exactly moments to remember, a lot of

disappointing campaigns and subpar play

from the former number one overall pick,

being benched for Geno Smith even if for

only a game, losing his starting spot in 2019

to Daniel Jones after just a couple of games,

despite all of that the ending for the two time

Super Bowl MVP came with class, dignity and

all the respect he deserves. John Mara made

sure he was honoured properly and his

jersey was retired basically on the spot.

Phillip Rivers is also facing an ending in San

Diego whether it happens this year or in the

next remains unclear the important fact to

take notice is that for a variety of reasons

there is no proper send-off, for a player that

can still contribute and probably wants to

keep playing there is no signal that they'd

like to resign him, like you are seeing in New

Orleans for instance, there is no signal that

they will be moving on from Rivers just to

get it out of the way and pay tribute to his

career. The front office and ownership for

the Chargers seem to be frustrated with

their Quarterback and dragging this situation

for a long time. The horrible move to

relocate killed the fanbase which also really

diminished the support and recognition for

the NC State product.

The bottom line is the level of appreciation

both players are receiving right now is very

different, too different when you look at

what they both did. Eli won the two Super

Bowls but Rivers was better in the regular

season, played the most consecutive games

other than Brett Favre, think about how

much you heard about that streak when it

came to Eli but nobody remembers Rivers

actually surpassed him, a lot of that has to

do with how they are treated by both

franchises.

As always feel free to comment and

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See you guys later

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