In 2004, New York Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi wanted to select Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning in the NFL Draft. There was one little problem, however. He didn’t have the first overall pick that year and Manning was widely regarded as the top player in the draft.
The San Diego Chargers had the first overall selection in the draft that year and although Manning had said publicly that he would play for the Chargers, general manager A.J. Smith selected him anyway in hopes of making a trade down the road.
Accorsi had the No. 4 pick and as the clock ticked and the Giants’ turn to select came, he still wanted Manning, but who could he take that the Chargers would want?
Accorsi ended up selecting North Carolina State quarterback Philip Rivers and then turned to Smith to hammer out a deal for Eli.
It was a trade that almost didn’t happen.
“I didn’t think it was going to happen,” Accorsi said earlier this year, via SNY. “I didn’t know AJ Smith very well, we just didn’t know each other. We only spoke three or four times, and he was supposed to call me Friday … and he didn’t call. So, I was resigned to the fact that we weren’t going to make the deal. And we were seven or eight minutes into our 15-minute allotment when he called, and he asked for Osi one more time and I said no one more time.
Then he asked ‘Would you trade next year’s one?’ and we had already discussed that we would, and then we made it. And we made it so late that we didn’t have time to get it in by computer, which makes it official. We had to do it orally over the phone … He could have backed out of the trade …”
Rivers went on to displace Drew Brees in San Diego, while Manning would become one of the greatest players in the history of the Giants. All three players, ironically, will end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame someday.
But for kicks and giggles, what would have happened if Smith took a different path that year? Let’s say he selects Miami of Ohio quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, another future Hall of Fame, instead of Manning and Eli goes to Oakland at No. 2?
Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report mapped that scenario out in recent re-draft of the 2004 class.
Arizona still selects Pitt wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald (yet another future Hall of Fame) at No. 3 and the Giants draft Rivers at No. and keep him.