Shurmur: 'Eli Manning has got years left as starting quarterback'
INDIANAPOLIS -- General manager Dave Gettleman and new head coach Pat Shurmur doused any doubt the New York Giants are sticking with Eli Manning in 2018.
"We believe that Eli Manning has got years left as a starting quarterback in this league," Shurmur said Wednesday morning at the Indianapolis Convention Center on the first day of the NFL Scouting Combine.
Gettleman said he sat down with Manning and told him to be ready to go.
"I've said it multiple times: He can still play," said Gettleman, who become general manager in December and oversees the personnel department preparing to utilize the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Gettleman said the Giants will listen to offers for that pick but provided the context that the Giants should get a "Hall of Fame" talent with the second selection in the draft.
The Giants built a Super Bowl defense around one No. 2 pick -- Lawrence Taylor -- and a third overall (Carl Banks).
Last season in Carolina, Gettleman spent the seventh pick in the draft on Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey. Another running back with special qualities and the versatility to play special teams, impact the offense as a receiver and be a big-play threat as a runner, Penn State's Saquon Barkley, will likely be in consideration for Gettleman in April.
"If he's a great player, I don't care how stacked we are at the position," Gettleman said.
Gettleman and Shurmur, who spoke at separate podiums in the airplane hangar of a hall inside the convention center, were complimentary of Davis Webb. Webb could be the primary backup to Manning in 2018.
The team brass also propped the door open for cornerback Eli Apple to work back into the Giants' favor after a spat with safety Landon Collins and his position coach last season.
--Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media
