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With the Jacksonville Jaguars sitting in first place of the AFC South with a 3-2 record and the other teams in the division seemingly reeling, one has to wonder if the Jaguars might cook something up to guarantee they win the division. While I would personally be surprised if the team made a move at the quarterback position, Daniel Jeremiah made an interesting proposition based on how the season has gone so far.
If you're Tom Coughlin/David Caldwell, would you make a call to Giants & ask what it would cost to acquire Eli Manning?
— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) October 9, 2017
Why trading for Eli Manning would make sense:
The New York Giants season is over, sitting at 0-5. You’re not crawling out of that hole to make the playoffs and the issues on the Giants seem too drastic to fix, especially with recent news of injuries to guys like Odell Beckham Jr. being out for the year. At 36 years old, it might be time for the Giants to begin the process of moving on from Eli and plan for the future, which they started by drafting Davis Webb last year. I don’t know if Webb is the answer, but it’s clear the Giants have started to think about the future.
The Jaguars have the cap room to facilitate a trade for Eli, as well as hang on to him a few seasons if they desire. Manning’s current deal runs through 2019 with cap hits of $22.2 and $23.2 million respectively, but the Giants and/or the Jaguars would be able to get out of the deal after the 2018 season with only about $6.3 million in dead money for the 2019 season.
On the Jaguars end, it gives them some stability at the quarterback position with a proven veteran who knows how to win. Sure, Eli has some hair-pulling turnovers, but he also has a knack for winning games in important situations. A lot of people in the offseason tried to compare Manning’s raw numbers to Bortles’, to show they both turn it over a lot, but the key difference is Manning can come back and win the the game, as he’s done countless times in his NFL career.
He would be injected into a team with a great defense that forces turnovers and can suffocate teams when they’re playing with a lead. He’d have a significantly better offensive line than he has currently with the Giants and a run game. Manning could be the type of quarterback who can force teams to back off stacking the the box to stop Fournette.
NFL windows are short, but the Jaguars right now are setup to be good for a while if they can hit on a quarterback and someone like Eli might be the perfect stop gap to accelerate that window opening with a dumpster division in 2017, and possibly 2018 while you groom a new quarterback.
Why trading for Eli Manning doesn’t make sense:
Simply put, the Giants may feel like this season is a total aberration and the ship will right in 2018 with a few draft picks and free agent signings. They could think Eli still has a lot left in the tank and they don’t want to part ways with him and don’t need to “rebuild” and start over at the position.
On the Jaguars end, the only real reason I can think of that they wouldn’t be interested is the price tag. I doubt Manning would be a cheap deal, especially to pry away mid-season before the Oct. 31 trade deadline. I think Eli, even with his warts, would be a significant upgrade mid-season for the Jaguars at the position, but how much do you give up for potentially only 1.5 seasons of play?
While Bortles hasn’t completely dragged the team down he clearly is an anchor the team pulls to wins, as he’s been poor in four of the five games so far, it’s been working more than it hasn’t. Is it a “not broke, don’t fix it” think? (lol sorry I laughed typing this, because C’MON NO ONE THINKS THAT).
Again, I don’t think anything like this would happen, but it is an interesting situation to look at. Would you give up a first round pick for 2017 Eli Manning? Certainly not. A second round pick? Two third round picks? Anything at all?