New York Giants: Eli Manning Praised By His Receiving Targets

New York Giants, Evan Engram
Sep 9, 2018; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants tight end Evan Engram (88) gains yards after catch during the second half against the Jacksonville Jaguars at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

In the NFL, everyone tends to have an opinion about the quarterback, the most important position on the team – but one of the more important groups to have an opinion about the quarterback on any given team is the wide receivers, the players that will be catching passes from the QB. Good chemistry between the quarterback and receivers can elevate both of them while poor chemistry can result in both playing worse and in the team making changes to one side or the other.

Which is why it’s a good thing for the New York Giants that Eli Manning and his group of receivers are getting along greatly so far at this point in training camp. It’s not the group that anyone expected – Russell Shepard and Cody Latimer will likely be elevated to starting due to Golden Tate’s impending suspension and Corey Coleman’s ACL tear, but it doesn’t look like this revised group of players will have much problem connecting with starting quarterback Eli Manning.

“Eli looks really good. He’s been slinging the ball around a lot, and there’s a lot of velocity, and he still has his touch. He’s Eli, he’s been making great throws for years, but definitely you can see his confidence, and you can see his confidence really growing this camp,” tight end Evan Engram, who will likely see increased usage with Golden Tate out for the first four games and Odell Beckham in Cleveland, said about Manning.

He’s not the only one to praise the experienced quarterback – Russell Shepard doesn’t seem to think that Manning’s age is going to be much of a problem this season.

It’s important to differentiate between legitimate praise and offseason hype, after all, no players are going to come out and flat out call their starting quarterback bad, but training camp performances so far seem to back up the idea that Manning is still sharp this season, which is something that both Giants and outside sources seem to have bought into during this offseason.

We’ll have to wait and see for the regular season to see how things actually turn out, but out of all the areas on the team, quarterback might not be the position that Giants fans have to worry about the most despite offseason fear’s about Manning’s age.