The New York Giants’ dumbfounding decision to trade an all-time great at the peak of his powers is the latest example of an NFL team valuing their culture and the allure of hope over talentThe Giants traded Odell Beckham Jr to the Browns on Tuesday night, weeks after paying the star receiver a $20m signing bonus, and after general manager David Gettleman proclaimed less than two weeks prior: “We didn’t sign Odell to trade him. That’s all I need to say about that”.Gulp. In return, the Giants picked up a first- and third-round pick, safety Jabrill Peppers … and $16m in dead money. It is the kind of trade that would cause a mutiny in your fantasy league. Related: 'Wow':...
The quarterback has never reached the heights of his older brother Peyton but he was a familiar and reassuring presence in New YorkThis wasn’t how it was supposed to end for Eli Manning. Unceremoniously benched on a Tuesday afternoon in late November after 14 years with the Giants. There’s no good or “ceremonious” way to be benched, of course. Eli’s older brother Peyton’s career concluded in storybook fashion as a Super Bowl champion and that kind of ending was not on the cards for Eli with a Giants team that at 2-9 is nowhere near being a contender any time soon. But Eli’s Giants career definitely wasn’t supposed to end like this, cast aside by a failed head coach who will...
It once looked like Drew Brees’s career would wind down with a bunch of yards and a heap of 7-9 seasons. But suddenly he has a defense to help him outSo much time has passed since the New Orleans Saints became the best story in the NFL it’s hard to remember their miraculous rise. That came back in the fall of 2006 just a year after Hurricane Katrina tore the roof off their Superdome and filled the city with so much water that many wondered if New Orleans would be the same again. But as the politicians failed and the government failed and the utilities failed, the football team that once broke their fans’ hearts actually came through. The dreadful...
The end of the season could see as many as eight well-known quarterbacks end their careers, or at least change jobsBetween 1993 and 2000, the NFL careers of Phil Simms, Joe Montana, Jim Kelly, Boomer Esiason, Dan Marino, John Elway, Steve Young, Troy Aikman and Warren Moon all came to a close. It was a mass exodus of talent at the quarterback position – all but Simms and Esiason are in the Hall of Fame – and led to Super Bowls being won by the likes of Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson before the Tom Brady and Peyton Manning era truly kicked into high gear.So while the NFL saw nine big-name quarterbacks leave the league over eight years two decades...
The improbable two-time Super Bowl winner is 36 and at the helm of the NFL’s most anemic offense. With no heir apparent in line, could a trade be the answer?Eli Manning’s run of good fortune in New York has run out. The quarterback who won his first of two improbable Super Bowl titles thanks in no small part to a helmet catch, is now leading an offense that would need a huge dose of luck just to score 20 points in a game. New York’s latest prime-time debacle on Monday night at home against the Lions, a game in which all-universe receiver Odell Beckham returned from injury, saw the Giants put up just 10 points – meaning the Giants have...