It’s rare that retired New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning tops any list as the “best of” anything — not necessarily because he’s isn’t, but because he’s spent nearly two decades being overly critiqued for his looks, his facial expressions, his personality or his mannerisms as opposed to his actual play.
That changed a bit earlier this week when Bryan DeArdo of CBS Sports ranked every single No. 1 pick of the 21st century.
1. QB Eli Manning
The first overall pick in the 2004 draft, Manning retired after the 2019 season with 125 career wins and two Super Bowl MVP awards under his belt. A four-time Pro Bowler, Manning is seventh all-time in both career passing yards and touchdown passes. His 210 consecutive starts is the third-highest total in league history.
Manning’s legacy as an all-time great player is complicated. While he did author one of the greatest upsets in professional sports history, Manning also led the league in interceptions three times, barely completed over 60% of his passes and recorded an underwhelming 117-117 regular season record. That being said, Manning did post an impressive 8-4 postseason record that included two Super Bowl wins over the Patriots. To get there, Manning and the Giants defeated Tony Romo and the Cowboys in the 2007 divisional round, Brett Favre and the Packers in the ’07 NFC title game, Aaron Rodgers and the rest of the 15-1 Packers in the divisional round of the 2011 playoffs, and Alex Smith and the 49ers in the ’11 NFC Championship Game.
When asked about his younger brother’s legacy, Peyton Manning, who will likely earn induction into the Hall of Fame in 2021, summed it up best.
“When you’re the Super Bowl MVP twice against the greatest dynasty of all-time, the New England Patriots, Tom Brady/Bill Belichick, and you join a list that includes Terry Bradshaw, Bart Starr, Tom Brady and Joe Montana, Eli Manning as the only (multiple) Super Bowl MVPs. I don’t really know what that term, ‘drop the mic’ is, but I guess if there was one. … There really is no ‘yeah, but’ after that. That kind of ends it. But if you want a, ‘yeah, but,’ yeah, but he also started 220-plus consecutive games. He’s sixth or seventh all-time in touchdowns. It wasn’t like he just played those two seasons.
“He answered the bell, played his butt off, won some huge games for his team.”
Manning’s legacy is only complicated for those who want it to be complicated. He did more with less than any quarterback in NFL history, and remained completely silent while the Giants wasted the final eight years of his career.
Aside from that, Manning has been a model citizen, going so far above and beyond to help the community and those in need that he’s won both the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award and the Bart Starr Award.
Manning is the type of person and athlete you want your son or daughter to become, excelling both on and off the field. And sooner rather than later, the book on his career will be closed on the stairs in Canton.
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