When the 2019 regular season concluded, Eli Manning said that all options remained on the table with the sole exception of one: returning to the New York Giants in 2020 as a backup to Daniel Jones.
Manning was also lukewarm on the prospect of potentially becoming a coach, but didn’t entirely rule it out.
Whatever Manning ultimately decides to do, Giants co-owner John Mara wants the two-time Super Bowl MVP to know there’s always a place for him within the organization somewhere.
“No, I haven’t closed any doors on [Manning returning to the Giants],” Mara said on WFAN’s Moose & Maggie on Friday. “Eli came to see me a few days ago, and we had a nice long talk. But I don’t think he’s fully decided yet what he wants to do. And I told him to just take his time, think about it some more and then come back and see me again.”
What other roles could their be more Manning? They are aplenty, but Mara still won’t let go of the idea of Manning possibly returning as a backup.
“Yeah, I think so,” Mara said when asked if Manning may cave on being a backup. “Obviously that’s something that Joe Judge is gonna have something to say about, as well. And I’m not sure that that’s what Eli wants to do, but again he needs to think about it a little bit more.
“I’ve mentioned to him the possibility of thinking about other roles in the organization, and he’s just undecided right now. The season just ended recently, and he needs to take some more time and think about it. And I told him there’s no time limit on that. We’ll talk whenever he’s ready to sit down and talk again.”
Mara concluded by offering Manning some of the highest praise he’s ever bestowed upon a player.
“He obviously has been the best representative of this franchise maybe that we’ve ever had — both what he’s done on the field, how he conducts himself off the field, the professionalism that he shows. You can’t ask for a better representative than Eli Manning. So he’s gonna take his time and we’ll hopefully have another discussion at some point in the future,” Mara said.
