After an awkward, ugly, and emotional in-season benching, it wasn’t clear whether the Giants wanted quarterback Eli Manning in 2018 or, more importantly, whether he wanted the Giants.
It now seems that the interest in continuing the relationship is mutual.
Via John Healy of the New York Daily News, Manning seems to be interested in sticking around, and in working with Pat Shurmur.
"[I’m] just excited to see how he calls games, how he looks at defenses, how he wants to pick them apart and just seeing his insight to that and learn from it,” Manning said. “So we can see things the same way, have great communication and figure out how to score some points.”
Eli has a prior connection to Shurmur; his son, Kyle, is a quarterback at Vanderbilt, and he attended the Manning Passing Academy.
“We spoke with him a little bit there,” Manning said. “So I know a little bit about him. I know a little bit about his past when he was in Philadelphia and obviously the Browns and obviously this season with the Vikings and what he was able to do as offensive coordinator. So I’m excited about that and excited to get back to work with him and see how we can improve this team.”
A desire to improve the team clearly implies that Manning will be staying with the team. And with Shurmur saying Friday that he believes Manning has “years” left in the tank, a situation that seemed destined to end in divorce may still be ‘til retirement do we part.