Eli Manning Opines on What Giants Should Do at Quarterback

The former Giants quarterback thinks drafting the team's rookie successor is a must, but not before they make this very important move.

Feb 1, 2025; Orlando, FL, USA; NFC coach Eli Manning throws the ball during Pro Bowl Games practice at Camping World Stadium. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning knows the organization is going through a rough patch. As a retired and beloved great who spent a long career with the franchise, including 16 seasons and two illustrious Super Bowl championships with MVP recognition, he has seen how quickly fates around a team can change. 

When the former No. 1 overall pick out of Ole Miss arrived in New York ahead of the 2004 season, he didn’t always earn the brightest welcome. His first year under center, in which he played nine games when the team started turning away from Kurt Warner, saw him throw a 6-9 touchdown to interception ratio that capped the Giants at a 6-10 record. 

In the next two seasons, the Giants started to gain some traction with 11 and 8-win campaigns, respectively, which unfortunately ended in defeats in the Wild Card round. 

It wouldn’t be until his fourth season in 2007 that the Giants would surround their legendary gunslinger with the pieces to finally make that first run to Super Bowl XLII, defeating the nearly perfect New England Patriots 17-14 before doing it again four seasons later. 

Since that second title capped off the 2011 season, the Giants have not been able to replicate much success. They have finished 10 of the last 13 seasons with a losing record behind both Manning in his final years and his former successor, Daniel Jones. 

Even with that long drought in East Rutherford, Manning knows the silver lining at the NFL every season when some teams turn it around instantly after being in the doldrums. He believes the Giants can be the next ones to write that story if they follow the same steps as they did nearly two decades ago, starting at the biggest position on the roster.

“The great thing about the NFL is each year you can go from not being very good to being pretty good and being a playoff contending team just by adding a few pieces,” Manning said in an interview with Pro Football Talk during last week’s run-up to the Super Bowl. 

“Just look at Washington [Commanders] this year, as you get the right quarterback, and all of a sudden, you’re winning playoff games and are playing in the NFC championship game.”

“So I would say the [Giants] have to figure out the quarterback position, whether that’s the draft or free agency with one of these quarterbacks that’s coming out. They’re looking at it hard and have to make the right decision because if you miss it, it can set you back a long way.”

The New York Giants were partly to blame for the failed Daniel Jones era after failing to provide him with stability. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

As John Mara famously said, the Giants did everything possible to yield a complete miss on the Jones commitment. They reached on the Duke product at the No. 6 pick, and the results haven’t panned out as Jones looked flustered and made poor decisions with the football in many of his snaps from the pocket. 

It all came to a head after 10 games this season, during which Jones threw for just over 2,000 passing yards while recording only one more touchdown than his seven interceptions, producing a 2-8 record. 

Jones finally had a few pieces around him, including a revamped offensive line and an elite receiver in rookie Malik Nabers, but it still wasn’t enough to navigate the New York landscape. 

That may have been the bigger problem all along for Jones. Unlike his predecessor, Manning, Jones struggled to meet the immediate expectations of a top-10 pick placed on his shoulders to compete and lead the Giants' offense to productive football that would win games in a tough division. 

Once Manning was gone, the young man didn’t have that veteran in his circle to guide him through the noise and challenges of the market and the league. Without a proven teammate who’s been there and can show him the ropes to success, Jones often had to force it himself, leading to the fanbase writing him off after six seasons. 

Thus, while the Giants might land that flashy quarterback prospect in the first round of the draft who is capable of accepting and answering the spotlight, Manning believes a more important move needs to be made—bringing in a solid veteran to accompany the rookie.

“It’s a tough call, and I guess they are looking into it, but my first sense is getting a veteran to come in there,” Manning said. 

“It’s hard for a rookie to come into New York, be thrown into that spotlight, and succeed. You have to ease into it because if you go in there and don’t have immediate success, which is hard to do and most likely you’re not going to come in and win your first five games, you just get hounded and it takes a little while to get used to and get your nerves down.”

“You really want your guy, once he starts playing, to be comfortable, know the offense, and set him up for success instead of going through the learning curve of making every mistake, looking bad, and can they overcome that.” 

The Giants need to surround their potential rookie gunslinger with a positive mentor to show him how to excel at the professional level. They also need to practice the patience that comes with getting a fresh arm, be comfortable with him, and be confident in letting his collegiate intangibles translate to an NFL system. 

That might be a hard sell in a season where it feels like the pressure has mounted on Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll to provide a winning product in 2025, but Manning himself wasn’t a player who blossomed overnight. 

He benefited the most from consistent work in developing his game and from having a consistent system in place with then-head coach Tom Coughlin, which made gaining stability and success in the Giants' offense easier. 

More than anything, Manning sees that as his biggest warning to the organization, which might call upon his trained eye to further scout the upcoming prospects at the NFL combine this month. 

To Manning, patience and maintaining the system beyond the first sign of adversity bring most young quarterbacks into prominence. 

“For me, I was unfortunate to be in the same offense my first 10 years, and that doesn’t happen much,” Manning said.

“You have to come in with a young quarterback and know that the quarterbacks that have had success have been on the same offense three or four years in a row, and what that does. You can’t switch every two years and expect these guys to pick it up and have success.”

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