Eli Manning explains what really went down with the San Diego Chargers
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Eli Manning #10 of the New York Giants walks off the field dejected after losing to the Philadelphia Eagles 38-31 on December 19, 2010.
The 2004 NFL Draft is one of the most fascinating drafts in league history, considering the fact that future New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning was able to dictate where he would end up playing.
Unfortunately for the San Diego Chargers, Manning was set on playing in New York and was able to make it happen, joining the likes of John Elway, who refused to play for the team that drafted him.
Instead of Phillip Rivers, Manning would step into the role of hopeful franchise quarterback for the Giants, and boy, did he deliver.
Two Super Bowl MVPs and a 16-year career later, Manning was the quarterback New York hoped he could be, but what was it about San Diego that made him want to avoid them like the plague?
The New York Giants legend went on the Bussin’ With the Boys podcast and spoke candidly about what exactly it was about the San Diego Chargers that made him refuse to play for the organization.
“I just didn’t feel like they were the most committed team to winning at the time. Marty Schottenheimer was the head coach. He was awesome. I had great respect for him…They came to work me out in New Orleans, went to dinner, and like, there was just friction between you know, the head coach, general manager, like the owners. They’re all like yelling, kind of like fighting,” Manning told hosts Taylor Lewan and Will Compton.
“We were at a Marriott, like, restaurant, and you know, Schottenheimer’s mad. He’s like, ‘We’re in New Orleans, we’re eating at a Marriott?’ And you know, so he’s like pissed…And it just didn’t seem like there was a whole lot of agreement on things. And like they were kind of like committed to building a great winning franchise at that moment.”
Manning has a point when it comes to the questionable leadership at the helm of the Chargers organization.
Dean Spanos isn’t exactly known as the best owner in the NFL. That was true in 2004, and it’s still true to this day.
But where you can poke holes in Manning’s explanation of dodging San Diego is the fact that they went on to have some solid success after the 2004 NFL Draft, including four straight winning seasons and three playoff berths in four years.
In the wake of Eli forcing his way to the New York Giants, the patriarch of the Manning family, Archie, caught a lot of flak as the perceived orchestrator of the trade.
On Bussin’ With the Boys, Manning defended his father and revealed that it was his decision alone.
“My dad didn’t like the idea. He came to my defense and supported me after everything was going down. And…he took (a lot of the blame) for the criticism because he came to my defense. And you know, people were saying, ‘oh, you played in New Orleans, all those years you didn’t win,'” continued Manning.
Eli Manning explains what really went down with the San Diego Chargers
“‘You’re trying to dictate like where your son’s going.’ And he just kind of bit his tongue and said… ‘Hey, this is what Eli wants to do. And I support him.’ And he kind of did some media to try to save me from doing all the media and taking the hits.”
The senior Manning certainly did take a decent amount of hits, and it’s interesting that it took this long for Eli to come out and tell his side of the story regarding one of the most infamous storylines in draft history.
Either way, Manning made history as a Giant, and Rivers went on to have a fairly successful career in his own right.
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