The New York Football Giants – Ouch

The New York Football Giants put their trust in Eli Manning. The Giants passed on drafting a possible replacement for Eli to draft Saquon Barkley with the second pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.   While I think that this is a good pick.  It has shown more and more in the NFL that a running back.  No mater how good they are.  Does not translate to having a successful season.

What does translate to having a successful season.  Especially with all the new rules for offense is a average to better quarterback.  Of course you want a better than average Quarterback but it has been shown that even with an average quarterback you can win some games.  You may not be able to win the Super Bowl but you can win.

Well I should take that back.  The Ravens won two Super Bowls with two different average Quarterbacks.  So it is possible.  The New York Football Giants decisions seem to be jaded by the what Eli has done for them in the past.  Eli was the Quarterback for the last two Super Bowl championships that the Giants won.  In both of those playoff runs he put up reasonable numbers but not great numbers.  The biggest things that helped the Giants those years is that he did not do anything to lose those games.

83.5 Career Quarterback Rating

It a  time when Quarterback ratings have been going up and even average quarterbacks have had ratings in the high 90s and low 100’s.  Eli’s rating has been declining.    In 2015 he has the best quarterback rating he has ever had at 93.6.  In 2016 that declined to 86.0 and in 2017 it had declined to 80.3.   Eli has averaged out to 83.5 for his career.  This would palce him in the high 40’s for career quarterback rating.

I don’t think that quarterback rating on its own is the best indicator of your season or your career.  It does give you a base to move either up or down from.   Certainly the New York Football Giants took this into account when they decided to draft a running back rather than a quarterback this year.  Right?  At least I would think that they would.  I am not sure that they did.  This is looking more like it is a reward for a nice career.  Here Eli continue to be our starting quarterback since you have had a good career for us.

Father Time Always wins

Eli is now 37 years old.  While not ancient yet and with the better nutrition and understanding of exercise people can play into later years.  No matter what he is on the down side of his career.  It looks like the end is much closer than the New York Football Giants though it would been.  In sports father time always wins and there is nothing that you can do about it.

Other than Baker Mayfield the Giants had their pick of any quarterback in the draft this year.  That inclues Sam Darnold who the Jets too and has been starting for them.  His performance has been only slightly worse than Eli but he has only started a handful of games so far and is only going to get better.  Of the quarterbacks taken in the first round.  It looks like any of them would have been a good choice to replace Eli.

I get why the New York Football Giants did what they did.   It is looking like they will get a chance to draft a replacement for Eli early in the 2019 NFL draft.