At age 35, Eli Manning still believes that he can lead the New York Giants to the NFL playoffs next season. The quarterback made the statement even through there are rumors that he will get traded by the team.
Manning has been with the Giants since 2004. During his time with the team, which spans over a decade, he and the Giants managed to secure two Super Bowl championships in 2008 and 2012. However, since their last title win, the Giants have never managed to make it to the playoffs.
For the upcoming season, however, Manning said things will be different.
"Yeah, definitely," he told the New York Post when asked if the Giants can make it to the playoffs in 2016. "We added some great players in the offseason. We were aggressive in free agency, but we still have a lot of our core guys, especially on offense, back and I think we made some good moves on defense."
"It's just a matter of, hey, the talent is there, can we put it together, can we find a way to win the games and play our best football when we need to?" he added.
Aside from the potential of the roster, Manning is also probably drawing his confidence from his older brother Peyton. After all, the elder Manning was still able to win Super Bowl 50 with the Denver Broncos even though he's already 40 years old.
However, even if the Giants manage to secure a playoff spot next season, it may happen without Manning on the roster. Ever since the offseason, there have been several rumors about a possible trade involving the quarterback.
It is not yet clear if the New York franchise has already discussed the matter with other teams but according to Big Blue View, if a trade does happen, then it could take place between the Giants and the Washington Redskins.
As Big Blue View noted, the Redskins would benefit from the trade for Manning in exchange for Kirk Cousins primarily because of the former's rich Super Bowl experience.
The San Francisco 49ers are also another contender for a potential trade involving Manning. They could either offer Sam Bradford or Carson Wentz in order to get a guy who knows what it takes to lead a team to a championship.
