A Tale Of Two Eli's

 No one knows for sure and everyone has an opinion.

PAUL SCHWARTZ: No one knows for sure and everyone has an opinion. Mine is this feels like the ending for Eli Manning with the Giants. There was finality to the way he acted and spoke down the stretch of this miserable season, the way the fans – the few thousand that remained to the bitter end of the 18-10 thank-goodness-the-season-is-over victory over the Redskins – saluted their Eli as he trotted off the field. Heck, even after Dave Gettleman was hired as general manager and gave some indications he is leaning to keeping Manning around, Eli was sharp enough not to take the bait, saying his private discussion with the new GM would mean far more than Gettleman’s comments for mass consumption. When Gettleman takes a deep dive into every Manning snap this season, he will see a dysfunctional offense, a shoddy line, a receiver corps shredded by injuries, the lack of a game-breaking running back. He will also see a 36 (now 37)-year old quarterback who did not have a good year. Can Manning still function at a fairly high level? Sure he can. In this NFL, though, scrambling for a first down on third-and-four is something a quarterback must be able to do from time to time and Eli cannot do it, and has no interest in doing it. Manning was a true professional in handling the end of his consecutive-game starting streak but it is not going to work if the Giants use the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft to take a quarterback. Eli is too smart for that. He knows how Kurt Warner in 2004 was cast aside for a not-ready rookie named Eli Manning. It will be the same for Manning in 2018 if there is a top prospect at his position waiting in the wings. Sometimes you have to go with the vibe, and my vibe here is this is the last we’ve seen of Eli Manning in a Giants uniform.