When it was announced on Tuesday morning that the New York Giants would bench Eli Manning in favor of rookie Daniel Jones, the football world initially reacted in shock.
Curiously absent from the early wave of reactions however, were former teammates of Manning who had otherwise always been very vocal and supportive.
As the reality of the team’s move set in throughout the day, several of those former teammates began to make their voices heard and each expressed a very high level of displeasure with the approach to Manning and the disrespect that appears to have been shown.
Retired Giants offensive lineman David Diehl was among them.
“To make this move now, if you weren’t going to let Eli Manning play throughout the year, then you shouldn’t have had him on the roster,” Diehl told WFAN’s Mike Francesa, who went on his own rant. “I am surprised by this, because Eli Manning is not the reason why the Giants have started 0-2 this season.
“But having said that, you knew they were going to transition at some point. Everybody wants the future. Everybody wants that knee-jerk reaction. And they got it.”
The Giants did give Manning a curiously short leash following months of reassurances that he’d remain under center until the team was eliminated from the playoffs. But if we’ve learned anything about those currently in charge of the Giants, it’s that they don’t often tell the truth.
“It signifies to me that they’re playing basically for next season,” Diehl said. “When you sit here and look at these last two games, it’s easy to pinpoint and blame Eli. Obviously, on the defensive side of the ball, they’ve got to simplify things.”
Diehl also blamed the misuse of running back Saquon Barkley as a determining factor in Manning’s fate, which is a fair assessment given that Eli was provided just two games to save his career and Barkley was shockingly underused in both.
“That’s an injustice to [Barkley] and to the Giants football team,” Diehl said. “He’s the reason why you are going to win football games.”
As an employee of the team, Diehl’s criticisms should ring the loudest. The Giants absolutely bungled this situation and if you don’t believe Gettleman and Shurmur did this to help cover up some of their own miscues, you’re lying to yourself.
