Eli Manning calls his draft-day experience 'stressful,' 'confusing'
It's been 11 years since the Chargers used the first-overall pick on Eli Manning.
By
Ryan Wilson
•
3 min read
It's been 11 years since the Chargers used the first-overall pick on Eli Manning. The development that led to nearly an hour's worth of awkward stares and forced smiles from the Manning clan, until the Giants sent Philip Rivers -- whom they selected fourth overall -- and future draft picks to San Diego in exchange for Peyton's younger brother.
Manning, who has won two Super Bowls with the Giants, recently talked about his draft-day experience.
"I guess it was maybe a little bit more stressful than the average draft just because of some of the circumstances," Manning told Newsday on Sunday. "The days leading up to it were stressful ... There was a little 40-minute stretch after being drafted that was a little confusing, but I got traded to the Giants and was able to stay right here [in New York City] and go out to Giants Stadium at the time and see the crowds and meet the Tisch family, the Mara family, Coach [Tom] Coughlin and everybody and had a great time with my family and friends in New York City for a couple of days."
Added Manning, who is entering the final year of his contract: "I don't have any regrets about how it all worked out. I thought draft day ended up being very happy."
In the weeks leading up to the 2004 draft, Chargers then-general manager A.J. Smith made no secret that Manning was his guy -- except that days before the first round was to get underway Manning, through his agent, said he had no plans to play for the Chargers.
"He told me that Archie [Manning, Eli's father] wishes that we do not select Eli and that they think he would be a good fit in New York [with the Giants]," Smith told the San Diego Union-Tribune on April 22, 2004. "We understand his position and certainly understand his interest in New York, but we will do what we think is the best for the franchise, without a doubt. ...
"We had a good visit with Archie," Smith continued, "and expressed our vision for the future of this team and that there was a strong possibility that Eli might be picked by us with the first pick."
According to wire reports, when then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced that the Chargers had taken Manning, the crowd at the Theater at Madison Square Garden booed loudly. And when Tagliabue announced a short time later that the Chargers had traded Manning to the Giants, the crowd booed again.
In the early years, the trade favored the Chargers, who drafted Shawne Merriman and Nate Kaeding with the additional picks they received in the Manning trade. San Diego won 12 games in 2004, nine games in '05 and 14 games in '06 (Rivers' first as the starter). New York, meanwhile, managed six, 11 and eight wins in Manning's first three years (he didn't become the starter until late in '04).
But the balance shifted in '07 when Manning and the upstart Giants upset the previously undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl. Manning then joined the conversation as one of the league's elite quarterbacks after winning his second championship following the 2011 season.
The Giants won just six games in 2014 and haven't been to the playoffs since that 2011 Super Bowl run. And while the Chargers were a playoff team in 2013, and went 9-7 last season, there are reports that Rivers isn't interested in relocating to Los Angeles (the team is a possible candidate to move north in the next year). There's even speculation that he could be reunited with former offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, who is now the Titans' head coach, though the Tribune reports that the Chargers have initiated contract talks with Rivers.
As for Manning, he seems content to play out his contract with the hopes of remaining in New York for 2016 and beyond.
"I've known a lot of people who have gone into their last year, my brother went into the last year of his contract twice, and that's just part of it," Manning said, via Newsday. "I look at it as, hey, I signed a six-year contract and I never once mentioned the contract to them or anything, or tried to get extended. I'm going to play out those six years and hopefully my play and the success of the team will dictate the future of me being in New York."
