Giants quarterback Eli Manning had ankle surgery last week to repair an injury he suffered in the final game of a miserable 2013 season, but there’s no sign of concern that he’ll be ready to go for training camp and the regular season.
According to a report from Dan Graziano of ESPN.com, there are some concerns about Manning’s future on the heels of that poor season. Graziano reports that the question of whether Manning’s decline is something that can’t be turned around is one “that has not gone unasked” in the Giants front office this offseason and that it is part of the reason why the team opted not to pursue an extension beyond the 2015 season that would have provided them more cap space for their free agent buying spree.
Optimistic though they might be about Manning’s chances of being reinvigorated by the arrival of offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo and other changes to the offensive personnel, the Giants would be doing themselves a disservice not to ask those questions. They have to consider every possibility when there’s the prospect of a contract extension on the table and a fair chance of a head coaching change in the next few years with Tom Coughlin nearing his 68th birthday.
Considering those options is very different than moving on any of them and the Giants are probably wise to wait and see what 2014 brings before making any big decisions in any direction. Philip Rivers never sank as low as Manning did last season, but his 2013 was a big improvement over the previous two years for a player who was once traded for Manning.
Should something similar happen in Jersey, that would probably change the question about whether to extend his contract to one of how many more years they’d like to extend the relationship.