Seven landing spots for Eli Manning next season if he leaves the Giants for good
There are several potential destinations for Eli that make sense, and others that definitively don't
By
Jared Dubin
•
5 min read
The Eli Manning era in New York could be coming to an end this weekend. Manning's streak of 210 consecutive starts will end when Geno Smith takes the first snap of Sunday's Giants game against the Oakland Raiders.
With the Giants so publicly moving on from Manning this season, it would make sense that they would cut ties for good this offseason. They can save $9.8 million against the salary cap by cutting Manning this offseason, and $16 million by making him a post-June 1 release. If the Giants had any plans of bringing him back beyond this season, it doesn't seem all that likely that they would have benched him now, so it's worth wondering where he might land if he and the team do indeed part ways by the start of free agency.
Strangely, many NFL teams have their quarterback situations for next season looking pretty settled. There are, however, a few teams that don't. One of them (you'll see below) seems like a non-starter as far as Manning's future home goes, but there are several other potential landing spots for the two-time Super Bowl winner.
Jacksonville Jaguars
This one is obvious.
Manning's longtime coach, Tom Coughlin, is the executive vice president of football operations for the Jags. Jacksonville has been starting Blake Bortles for far too long, and he just doesn't cut it for a team that has a defense good enough to make it a legitimate Super Bowl contender with merely competent quarterback play.
The Jaguars picked up Bortles' fifth-year option for $19 million last offseason, but that option is only guaranteed for injury. They can easily cut ties with him after the season and not carry any dead money on next year's cap. That would free them up to go quarterback shopping elsewhere.
Knowing his team is in a win-now situation and knowing his fondness for Manning, it would be the least shocking move of the offseason if Coughlin chased Manning rather than dipping into the draft pool for a quarterback of the future in the first round.
Denver Broncos
The Broncos' quarterback situation can best be described as a mess. Trevor Siemian has not distinguished himself in any way. Brock Osweiler is nowhere close to the answer. And Paxton Lynch sure looks like a wasted first-round pick.
John Elway has shown in the past that he will chase after the aging veteran leaving the only team he has ever known -- especially if his last name is Manning. Elway snagged Peyton Manning off the free-agent market after the Colts moved on to Andrew Luck, and things worked out pretty well for all involved there. The Colts got their quarterback of the future, the Broncos got elite QB play for a few years (and a Super Bowl), and Manning got to play out the twilight of his career and set some records along the way.
Eli Manning has never been quite as good as his brother and he's not playing at as high a level this year as Peyton was before his neck injury, but he would surely be an upgrade over what the Broncos have thrown out there this season. He wouldn't solve their long-term issues at the position, but with the core of the Denver defense and skill position groups in the latter part of the prime of their respective careers, it sure seems like Elway would be interested in stable veteran play at QB rather than another dice-roll in the draft.
Arizona Cardinals
If Carson Palmer calls it a career this offseason, Bruce Arians and company might decide Larry Fitzgerald deserves a veteran QB for what should be his final season, and look in Manning's direction. Arians has stated that he would be comfortable with Blaine Gabbert starting for him in the future, but we've all seen how that goes -- it's not pretty. Gabbert is 10-32 with a 56.2 percent completion rate, 6 yards per attempt and a near-negative touchdown-to-interception ratio (43 to 40) in his career.
Manning has experience playing in a system that requires him to throw down the field often (Kevin Gilbride's offense often called for him to do so), so even though he has played in Ben McAdoo's short pass-oriented offense over the past few seasons, the transition to working at the controls for Arians presumably would not be too difficult for him.
Cincinnati Bengals
This one doesn't seem all that likely on the surface, but remember that the Bengals can get out of Andy Dalton's contract this offseason with only $2.4 million in dead money on their books for next season. Would they rather have that than a $16.3 million cap charge? Who knows. But if they decide to move on from Dalton and backup AJ McCarron spurns their advances and flies the coop for greener pastures, there are worse things the Bengals can do than get Manning in there and have him fire the ball to A.J. Green at about the same rate as he has to Odell Beckham over the past few seasons.
Cleveland Browns
The Browns always need a QB, but this one doesn't seem all that likely. Cleveland drafted DeShone Kizer and has two first-round picks in next year's draft with which to go after a QB of the future if it decides Kizer isn't that guy. The Browns aren't in a position to win now and thus, Manning seems unlikely to choose them if he has his pick of teams this offseason. But if the team undergoes a regime change and shifts its priorities, maybe they go on a spending spree in an effort to become an actual respectable football team, and make Manning their veteran/tutor quarterback in the process.
Washington Redskins
Washington will have to pay Kirk Cousins a whole lot of money in order to keep him this offseason. Both sides maintain that they're interested in keeping the relationship going, but if Cousins eventually goes back on that and signs elsewhere, the team will be left in the lurch without a viable option moving forward. The draft is a crapshoot when it comes to getting a Year 1 starter, and with Washington not picking at the top of the draft anyway, it seems unlikely to secure a player ready to start right away. It could bring Manning down I-95 and have him work as a stopgap for a couple years and mentor whoever comes in to be the QB of the future.
New York Jets
How much fun would this be? Too bad there's a less than zero percent chance of it actually happening.
