When NFL commisioner Paul Tagliabue stepped to the mic at Madison Square Garden to announce that San Diego Chargers had selected Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning with the first pick in the 2004 draft, you could feel the Manning family’s heart palpatations.
The Mannings have a long history of producing quarterbacks in the NFL. Archie, Eli’s father was a college and NFL star. His brother Peyton is one of the best in the game today. The clan had spent the days leading up to the draft trying to find a way to discourage the underperforming Chargers from drafting young Eli while expressing interest in playing in New York.
Although San Diego did pick Eli Manning, the family’s unhappiness washed away fifteen minutes later. Commisioner Tagliabue announced a trade that sent Eli and his demanding ways to the New York Giants for NC State quarterback Phillip Rivers and three draft picks.
As a Giants fan, I was thrilled with landing a potential franchise player. As a fan of professional sports, there was something about the situation I couldn’t digest. Not only will a kid the same age as me receive a multi-million dollar contract to play the sport he loves, but he also has the power to pick his team. Isn’t the draft organized in a manner in which the worst teams obtain the brightest young stars to maintain parity in the league?
Also, it seemed as though the Mannings missed the pre-draft news on the death of former Arizona Cardinal Pat Tillman, who died last week fighting with U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Their persistence in negotiations seemed trivial in comparison. Tillman was a guy who turned down millions to ultimately lose his life in service to our country, while the Manning camp was debating whether San Diego or New York would be a better home for their next family star.
You don’t have to agree with the Mannings’ stipulations to respect them. Archie & Co. didn’t feel comfortable with the direction of the team, and it was Eli’s right not to play if he so choosed.
Just think back to brother Peyton, who joined the dismal Indianapolis Colts when he was drafted first in 1998. The Mannings were confident with the Colts’ plan and the rest is now history. Peyton, with Marvin Harrison, was able to right the sinking ship in Indy, so Eli and the fam must feel that the situation is beyond correction in San Diego. It’s his life, and who wants to work for a failing organization?
Luckily, there are indications that Eli’s demands will be the exception. Similar occurrences have popped up in the draft before. John Elway refused to join the Baltimore Colts in 1983. Such demands aren’t common because not many athletes have the leverage to pull them off. Elway had an opportunity to play for the Yankees, which he used as his negotiating chip while Manning had his superb college statistics, near perfect mechanics and, most of all, the Manning football genes. How this drama will pan out is yet to be seen. But if Manning slips in leading the Giants he’ll be a worse flop than Ryan Leaf was with the Chargers. While Leaf could talk the talk, he couldn’t walk the walk, had locker room tantrums and is now out of the league a mere half decade after being the draft’s second pick. Let’s hope Eli hits his passes, because no one deserves to fall into the same category as Leaf. More importantly, lets hope Manning doesnt create a new category of selfishness in his own right.
