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Today’s a sad day.
The New York Giants are benching career .500 starting quarterback Eli Manning in favor of 2019 first-round rookie Daniel Jones. The team officially announced the change on Tuesday morning. Jones will start against the Tampa Bay Buccaners in Week 3.
Starting Jones is a no-brainer decision for the G-Men. Manning, who turns 39 in January, is washed and Jones showed some promise in the preseason. Even if Jones doesn’t end up being any good, the Giants might as well fail with him instead of Manning.
Of course, it needs to be said how the Giants were dumb for keeping Manning around to this point. Manning is now the league’s highest paid backup quarterback as he holds a $23.2 million cap number in 2019. The Giants could’ve cut him to save $12 million or traded him to save $17 million in the offseason.
Eagles fans should be very sad to see the Manning era come to an end. He was just one loss away from having an all-time losing record as starter. Instead, he’ll finish at 116-116 if this is the end for him.
Moreover, Manning’s record in his last 22 games against the Eagles is 4-18. To put that in perspective, Donovan McNabb — who last played in 2011 — has as many wins (4-0) in the last 22 Eagles versus Giants games.
Assuming Jones doesn’t get hurt, he’ll likely be the starter when the Eagles play the Giants in Week 14 and Week 17 this season. The Eagles will hope they can similarly dominate Jones like they used to beat up on Manning. (Note that Philadelphia can go over .500 in their all-time series against the Giants for the first time ever with a win in Week 14.)
Thanks for the memories, Eli.
— Tyler Jackson (@TjackRH) September 17, 2019
— Tyler Jackson (@TjackRH) September 17, 2019