It’s the end of an era in New York. After almost 15 years, Eli Manning’s run as the starting quarterback of the New York Giants has come to an end. Rookie Daniel Jones is the new starter, beginning this Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Head coach Pat Shurmur made the announcement on Tuesday morning via a team release.
“Eli and I spoke this morning,” Shurmur said. “I told him that we are making a change and going with Daniel as the starter. I also talked to Daniel. Eli was obviously disappointed, as you would expect, but he said he would be what he has always been, a good teammate, and continue to prepare to help this team win games. Daniel understands the challenge at hand, and he will be ready to play on Sunday.”
Manning, 38, has been the pillar of consistency for Big Blue for well over a decade. Since replacing Kurt Warner in the middle of the 2004 season, Manning had made a franchise-record 210 regular-season starts before being benched for one game in December of 2017. He took over the starting duties again after just one game on the bench.
In addition to being top 10 all-time in completions, passing yards, and touchdowns, Manning’s career is defined by his two Super Bowl victories and MVPs, one of just five players to win multiple Super Bowl MVPs in a career.
However, the glory days passed by a long time ago. With Manning under center, New York has missed the playoffs in six of the last seven seasons. During that span, he has more losses, interceptions, and turnovers than any other starting quarterback.
Due to this long losing streak, even Manning’s career record in the regular season has fallen to a pedestrian 116-116. Finally, after yet another 0-2 start to this season, Shurmur decided now was the time to make the change.
Rookie In The Spotlight
With Manning now serving as the primary backup, the spotlight will shift to Jones. The sixth overall pick from this year’s draft was met with much disdain from the media and fans alike. However, Jones had an exceptional preseason, completing 85.3 percent of his passes with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. Jones did get a small taste of action in New York’s Week 1 loss to the Cowboys. On the team’s final drive in garbage time, the rookie went 3-for-4 for 17 yards and ran for a five-yard gain before fumbling.
This, of course, isn’t the first time that a new quarterback has replaced Manning. In 2017, former head coach Ben McAdoo made the controversial decision to bench their future Hall of Fame QB in favor of journeyman Geno Smith ahead of their Week 13 game against the Raiders.
McAdoo originally asked Manning to start before being replaced by Smith to keep his starting streak intact, but Manning declined. As a result of the botched substitution, both McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese were fired days later.
However, this move to Jones does have more finality attached to it. Manning is in the final year of his contract, making around $20 million this season. Meanwhile, Jones was a high draft pick, taken by Shurmur and general manager Dave Gettleman with the intention of him becoming the next franchise quarterback.
Now Jones will have 14 games to show his team, front office, and fans why he is the right man to replace a legend.
Jones and the rest of the Giants will travel to Tampa Bay this Sunday to play the Buccaneers. The two teams will kick off at 4:05 pm EST.
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