Not many players can have the luxury to reject a team in the NFL Draft, only to get to their desired destination. In fact, it basically never happens, and that’s why Eli Manning strong-arming the now-Los Angeles Chargers to not draft him so he could go to the New York Giants is a famous story.
However, the story was always kind of blurry. Was it his agent, his parents? What was going on that made Eli Manning end up with the Giants? Well, the two-time Super Bowl champion revealed it was him all along, to the dismay of his parents.
Appearing on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, Manning said, “San Diego [Chargers] had the first pick, I didn’t really want to go there. I just didn’t feel like they were the most committed team to winning at the time.” He then added, “My parents really weren’t supportive. My dad didn’t like the idea.”
The Chargers weren’t the only team rejected by Eli Manning
As Manning’s agent Tom Condon was telling the Chargers that if they drafted Manning, he would just go back to college, a possibility of a trade came up. However, the team interested in trading up was Cleveland, and Manning didn’t want to play for the Browns either.
The Patriots were on the brink of a perfect season.
— NFL Legacy (@NFLLegacy) January 29, 2019
Then… madness. (Super Bowl XLII: Feb. 3, 2008) @Giants pic.twitter.com/OI52AIzSTG
Then, the Giants looped in and made a deal with the Chargers, and they saw how Eli Manning won two Super Bowls for the G-Men against non other than Tom Brady’s Patriots.
Eli Manning’s career is a wild one
Winning two Super Bowls and being the MVP of both of them should basically mean you’re a Hall of Fame quarterback. In many cases, a first-ballot Hall of Famer. But that’s not Eli. He was as clutch as an NFL player can be, but his regular season outings were not nearly as good.
Manning has a 117-117 regular season record, with 57,023 yards, 366 touchdowns and 244 interceptions. Those are not eye-opening numbers, especially the record. Add the fact that he had double-digit interceptions in all but two seasons (which he didn’t play fully) and led the league in picks three times, and Manning’s Hall of Fame case is one of the weirdest in history.
