Eli Manning is about to enter his 15th season as a professional, and his entire career has been spent with one team, the New York Giants. Manning will be the starting quarterback for Big Blue in 2018, but after that it’s all a big mystery.
Speaking with media on Monday as the team gathered for the first day of voluntary workouts, Manning said he hasn’t had anyone from New York discuss his contract beyond the 2018 campaign.
“This league, it’s one year at a time and that’s kinda how it goes,” Manning said, per Art Stapleton of USA Today. “Need to go out there and play well this year, and that’s all I’m looking forward to.”
Manning is officially signed through the 2019 season and is set to earn $45.5 million the next two seasons. Though, it would be somewhat manageable to cut ties with the two-time Super Bowl winner after this year, being that he’ll have just $6.2 million in dead cap in 2019.
So, if the Giants do draft the quarterback of the future this year — they’re said to be honing in on Sam Darnold if he’s available at No. 2 — then Manning could be a free agent if he’s released, or he could be traded if the Giants try to get something out of him next offseason.
Manning knew at the end of last season that his time with the Giants is running out. But if he has a successful 2018 campaign, he could stave off being replaced, for at least another year, anyway.