The Giants announced on Monday that Eli Manning is officially back with the franchise in a business operations and fan engagement role.
In an interview with the team’s website, Manning said he’s excited to return where he spent his entire professional career. But he also noted he was grateful that he could spend some time away from the club in 2020.
“I wanted to be back here with the organization,” Manning said. “I had a little break; I think both sides needed a little parting. But I’m excited to team back up with the Giants and help out in any way they feel they need it. Most of it will be on the business side and be with the sponsors and marketing and corporate stuff and the community service, which has been so important to me.”
Manning noted that not being around the team last year due to the pandemic likely helped transition into retirement.
“I think I was just ready,” Manning said. “I was ready to be done, I was ready to be retired. ... But I was at peace with my decision when I decided to retire, that I was ready to be done playing football. I think that made it easy for me to watch the Giants on T.V. and watch football games because I wasn’t bitter, I wasn’t saying, ‘Hey, I should be out there, I’m good enough to be out there.’ I was just saying, ‘Hey, I did my time, I played, I gave it all to the team and to the organization and now I’m ready just to be a fan.’ And I am a Giants fan, so I watched every game, rooted for them every game, pulled for them, so I’ll continue to do that.”