Aug 28, 2020; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants quarterback Alex Tanney (3) signals in front of running back Javon Leake (38) during the second half of the Blue-White Scrimmage at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
The backup quarterbacks don’t make many headlines in the NFL, but former New York Giants backup Alex Tanney is in the news right now for a different reason than usual – retirement. He announced his retirement on Tuesday following a nine year NFL career where he will be most known to Giants fans as being the backup to Eli Manning for a period.
Tanney only managed to get 15 pass attempts across a couple of games during his career. But one of those games saw him fill in during Eli Manning’s final appearance. He also finishes with one touchdown pass during that career.
The backup QB would also add depth to the position for the Giants behind Daniel Jones once the Giants drafted Jones at number four overall. But he would lose out on the backup job after Eli Manning had moved on and the Giants brought in Colt McCoy to compete for the backup job.
Tanney was released from the Giants in September but made it back to the team on the practice squad the following December. As the Giants finished up their season in January, Tanney was one of the players that signed a reserve/future contract with the team – but apparently has decided that retirement is a better option than coming back and going through the grind of competing another year.
While it might seem like Tanney didn’t do much in the NFL, his nine years is impressive enough considering where he came from. The quarterback started off at Monmouth College, a Division III school, and ended up playing in the NFL and backing up a Hall of Fame quarterback. Not the worst outcome to a career by far.
This post was published on 2021-02-09 23:57
