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Giants land Manning & Snee
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

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April 24, 2004

East Rutherford, N.J. - After all the speculation and rumors, the Giants ultimately did land Eli Manning. Manning, the splendid quarterback from Mississippi who was the top player on the Giants' draft board, came to the team in a draft-day trade. Manning was actually taken with the first pick by the San Diego Chargers, the team Manning vowed he would not play for. Three spots later, the Giants chose North Carolina State quarterback Philip Rivers, another player they coveted.

"I think he's got a chance to be a great quarterback," general manager Ernie Accorsi said. "What I saw in Manning was a classic prospect. (He has) size, arm, tremendous athletic ability, poise, class and probably more important than the obvious physical attributes that you have is the fact that he lifted his team. I thought this year in particular he made his teammates play better and that is an element that a lot of the top quarterbacks have."

"We're excited," said head coach Tom Coughlin. "When you go through this process and do all the work and put the board together, and the number one player on the board is within striking distance for you as a franchise, you exercise every option that you can to try to see if that player could possibly be a New York Giant.

"This is a very special football player. We're very excited to have football p layer of his ability in our organization. Eli Manning is an excellent football player."

Manning, of course, is the youngest son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and the brother of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. For those looking ahead, the Giants and Colts will meet in Giants Stadium in the 2006 season.

The big question, of course, is what will happen to Kerry Collins, the Giants' quarterback since 1999. Collins is entering the final year of his contract. Neither Accorsi nor Coughlin wanted to address the Collins situation today, saying the organization first wanted to talk to Collins.

Technically, the Giants' first-round draft choice was Rivers. He was the first quarterback taken by the Giants in first round since Phil Simms in 1979 (Dave Brown was taken on the first round of the 1992 supplemental draft). The last time the Giants came out of a draft with the top player selected was 1965, when they chose Auburn running back Tucker Fredrickson.

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