The New York Giants' season ended Sunday with a 38-13 loss to the Packers in the wild-card round of the playoffs. The 2016 season was the 13th of quarterback Eli Manning's career. The stalwart passer and two-time Super Bowl champion turned 36 years old last week, and his performance dipped this season after two years of uptick in Ben McAdoo's offense.
Manning's age finally has the Giants thinking about the future of the quarterback position, according to general manager Jerry Reese.
"We always think about every position," Reese said. "But Eli is 36, and we have started to think about who is the next quarterback, and who is in line, so we will look into that as we move into the offseason."
Manning has had several backups through his career with the Giants -- Kurt Warner, Tim Hasselbeck, Jared Lorenzen, Anthony Wright, David Carr, Sage Rosenfels, Curtis Painter and Ryan Nassib -- but none of them has made a single start since Manning took over for Warner back in 2004. The most passes any of them has thrown since Manning became the starter is Carr's 48. The others threw 41 passes combined.
The Giants simply haven't had to worry about the position since drafting Manning. He was a No. 1 pick they knew would be their starter for a long time, and he has never missed a game since being inserted into the lineup.
Age makes anyone consider the future, though, so it wouldn't be surprising to see the Giants channel their division rivals (the Cowboys) and draft a developmental prospect who can apprentice behind Manning over the final three years of his contract, which ends after the 2019 season. The Cowboys had to thrust their prospect, Dak Prescott, into the lineup sooner than they thought they would and it worked out for them; but Manning is far less prone to injury than Tony Romo, which can give the Giants more certainty that any passer they draft really would have the time to sit and learn.
If Manning bounces back to the level of performance he showed in 2014 and '15, the Giants can always channel the Patriots and ship their backup out of town for more draft picks. There's not much downside to exploring the market for a player that can study under Manning and eventually take over.
