Andrew Buller-Russ
Leading up to the 2004 NFL Draft, there was no question who the No. 1 overall pick would be. Eli Manning was the consensus choice. That meant the then San Diego Chargers were going to land a franchise quarterback. Only, that’s not the way this played out.
Eventually, it became known that Manning did not want to play for a Chargers franchise that had missed the playoffs eight years in a row. Yet, the spin at the time was that it was Eli’s dad, former NFL QB Archie Manning, who made a power play to ensure his son landed in a more favorable destination.
However, now 22 years later, Eli revealed on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast that it wasn’t his dad’s idea. It was actually Eli who had no interest in playing for the Chargers.
“My parents really weren’t supportive. My dad didn’t like the idea,” Manning said. “Now, he came to my defense and like supported me after everything was going down, but he didn’t like that. And afterwards, he took the brunt of a lot of the criticism because he came to my defense and people were saying, ‘Oh, you played in New Orleans all those years you didn’t win, so you’re trying to dictate like where your son’s going.’ And and he just bit his tongue and said, ‘Hey, this is what Eli wants to do and I support him’ and he did some media to try to save me from doing all the media and taking the hits.”
Manning added that he didn’t feel like the Chargers were “the most committed to winning at the time.”
The Chargers ended up getting an incredible haul by trading Manning to the New York Giants. In exchange for Manning, the Chargers received Philip Rivers, Shawne Merriman, and Nate Kaeding. Meanwhile, Manning led the Giants to two Super Bowl wins, and the rest is history.
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