Eli Manning is looking ahead. Who wouldn’t after the year he just had?
Manning comes off the worst season of his professional career that dates back to being the top overall selection in the 2004 draft. His Giants went from likely contender after making the 2016 playoffs to one of the NFL’s worst.
They were ravaged by injuries Donte Moncrief Jersey , dissension in the locker room, and then-coach Ben McAdoo even benched his quarterback in Week 13, ending Manning’s 210-game starting string.
McAdoo was fired the next week, the usually well-run franchise was embarrassed as badly as for any of the 13 defeats in 2017, and though Manning immediately got his job back, the Giants ended the year as one of the NFL’s biggest flops.
”It was a great reminder that nothing is guaranteed,” Manning said Friday. ”No matter what you did the year before – win your division, make the playoffs, whatever – it has no effect on the next year.
”So there’s no reason we can’t win 11 or more games this year. We made a lot of changes and will make more, and if we stay healthy and win some of those close games you always get in, who knows?”
Besides, that lost season serves as an impetus for the future.
”When you have a tough year William Jackson Jersey , you use it as motivation,” he said. ”Get back in there and do whatever you need to do to make changes. Make a commitment again to playing at a higher level. It challenges you and makes you hungrier.”
The two-time Super Bowl MVP has a new coach in Pat Shurmur, who like McAdoo has a background as a QB guru. Unlike the rough-edged McAdoo, though, Shurmur has a smoother style and also is more open in his thinking and planning for running an offense.
To Manning, 37, an opportunity to expand the attack is much welcomed.
”We’ve talked a bit, getting to know each other, but there’s a limit how much you can meet and talk,” Manning said.
”I am excited to start learning the offense and the playbook and how Pat will use our skillsets. He’s got a combination of Norv Turner, Andy Reid and Chip Kelly in there from the places he’s been.
”There’s definitely an adjustment, but if you’ve played the game long enough Adam Shaheen Jersey , there are only so many new plays you can put in.”
Manning smiled when he said that, knowing Shurmur isn’t about to design a Russell Wilson/Cam Newton type of offense for him.
There’s been much speculation that Manning could be traded and the Giants would use the second overall pick in April on one of the highly rated quarterbacks in this draft. The choice of Shurmur and ownership’s devotion to Manning seems to have made Manning’s departure unlikely.
Asked if he’d encourage new general manager Dave Gettleman to take an offensive lineman to offer the kind of protection he doesn’t get often enough, Manning laughed and replied, ”I won’t complain.”
He certainly won’t complain about getting back his prime target, Odell Beckham Jr. The spectacular receiver was lost in early October to a broken ankle. Beckham is enough of a difference maker that New York might have had a few more victories had he been available all season.
”He’s a tremendous player, and when he gets back and is healthy, he impacts games,” Manning said. ”It’s tough when guys you work with all spring and summer and you lose them and have all new guys. Odell, Brandon (Marshall), Sterling (Shepard).”
Manning spent part of the day welcoming visitors to a Courtyard by Marriott experience whose contest winners will spend Saturday night sleeping in a luxury suite at U.S. Bank Stadium.
He joked that he can’t ever remember sleeping in a stadium, but that waking up the morning of the Super Bowl at the venue would be ”pretty neat to do.”
Then he wondered just how quiet the stadium would be on Super Bowl eve.
”You’re right there in the dome and get to see all the behind-the-scenes stuff,” he said. ”Then you wake up on Super Bowl Sunday right there. Has to be a wonderful experience.”
Considering he is 2-0 in the big game Quandre Diggs Jersey , Manning knows about wonderful Super Bowl experiences.
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Rick Spielman came to this year’s annual NFL scouting combine with a quarterback quandary.
He has two first-round draft picks trying to recover from injuries and a third-stringer, who led the Minnesota Vikings to the NFC championship game.
Now, instead of reaping the benefits of his smart moves and abundant riches, Spielman faces one of the most challenging decisions a general manager can with all three set to become free agents in less than two weeks.
”I believe in Case Keenum,” Spielman said Wednesday, the first full day of activity in Indianapolis. ”He did a phenomenal job and he has a knack for making big plays. We’re very excited about what he was able to accomplish.”
The more telling question might be how eager others around the league to sign Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford?
Spielman is running short on time as the carousel spins. He says he won’t make any decisions until he returns to Minneapolis next week.
Meanwhile, the offseason has started with a bang.
Alex Smith was traded from Kansas City to Washington, essentially assuring Kirk Cousins becomes a free agent. Blake Bortles and Jimmy Garoppolo each signed contract extensions with Garoppolo getting a reported five-year, $137.5 million deal. Garoppolo won his first five starts in San Francisco after a midseason trade from New England and is now 7-0 as a starter.
The new deals have Green Bay contemplating a new deal for Aaron Rodgers. New general manager Brian Gutekunst acknowledged ”it’s not going to be inexpensive.”
But this could be just the start to a wild and wooly offseason.
The free agent market opens March 14 and Keenum, Bridgewater and Bradford could all be attractive options for quarterback-needy teams.
Keenum seemed to find a home last year after spending two-plus seasons in Houston and two-plus seasons with the Rams.
Bridgewater was considered the Vikings’ next big star until he tore the ACL and dislocated his knee in August 2016. He made it back briefly late last season and now the Vikings await a ruling that could force Bridgewater to stick around one more season before hitting free agency.
Spielman doesn’t sound hopeful about Minnesota’s chances.
”I don’t personally believe, with what I know today Rigoberto Sanchez Jersey , that his contract will toll,” he said.
One big advantage the Vikings have: They know Bridgewater’s prognosis and exactly where he stands in the rehab process.
Bradford, the 2010 NFL offensive rookie of the year, missed all but two games last season with a knee injury and there are long-term questions about the stability of his left knee. The 30-year-old has a long history of injuries but a needy team might be willing to take a calculated risk on the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner and top pick in the 2010 draft.
Other prominent names could be on the move, too.
Cousins and Mike Glennon are expected to be available after the Bears announced Wednesday they would release Glennon, and 39-year-old Drew Brees will be a free agent if he doesn’t re-sign with the Saints in the next two weeks. The conventional wisdom suggests Brees will remain in New Orleans.
Then there’s the trade market.
Coach Sean McDermott said Buffalo does not intend to cut Tyrod Taylor but could trade him. And if the New York Giants decide to rebuild with a young quarterback, 37-year-old Eli Manning could hear his name bandied about.
One team that seemed to take itself out of the discussion is reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia.
Executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman appears to be in no hurry to change anything with starter Carson Wentz recovering from a torn ACL in his left knee, especially after backup Nick Foles led the Eagles to their first NFL title since 1960.
”We’re trying to keep as many good players as we can,” Roseman said. ”That room is exactly what we want it to be. We have a franchise quarterback, a Super Bowl MVP and we have a young quarterback (Nate Sudfeld) who we like.”
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06.09.2018 08:32
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