It wouldn’t be too far out of the question to say that 2019 is the last year for Eli Manning, at least with the New York Giants, the team that Manning is going into his 16th season with. It’s hard to imagine Manning playing for anyone else at this point and it seems like if Manning wanted to play for another organization it would have happened already, but this season is different because for better or worse – and many people definitely think the decision was for the worst – the Giants drafted the heir apparent to Manning this offseason.
The Giants are taking their time with Daniel Jones as they’ve shown with their strategy so far, not rushing Jones into a starting competition despite spending a top ten draft pick on the Duke quarterback, but there will come a point when the team can’t put it off for any longer and fans and the press will want to see the player that the Giants passed up on so much to draft in action.
That’s why it looks like the Giants might make things easy on themselves and move on from Manning in 2020, but as of now, that’s not a certainty and it might not even be the direction that the organization is leading.
According to SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano, Manning coming back next year is still an option.
It doesn’t seem like the Giants are a real playoff contender this year, with a roster that could be considered in rebuilding – even if they aren’t as far removed from contention as some of the other teams that finished near the bottom of the league last year. However, Eli Manning has surprised people before, and while the current Giants roster is largely unproven, that also leaves room for better than expected performances.
We’ll see how Manning plays this season. With training camp having started this week, the preseason and then the regular season are rapidly approaching, as is the answer to the question of whether Manning can still do it.