San Diego not the place for young Eli

By By Will Bardwell / sports writer
April 22, 2004
So Eli Manning doesn't want to play for San Diego, huh? I can't say I blame him. Neither do I. And I can't think of any reason he could want to, unless he were depressed or something.
But apparently, the thing that would depress Eli most is being drafted by the downtrodden Chargers. ESPN reported late Wednesday night that Eli's agent, Tom Condon, has asked the Chargers not to select Manning with their first overall pick in the NFL draft on Saturday. Eli would rather play for the New York Giants, who have the fourth pick on Saturday.
The request came on behalf of someone who knows something about being drafted by a bad franchise Eli's dad, Archie Manning.
Archie is widely regarded as the best quarterback in NFL history to never reach the greatness that was his destiny. He had all the tools a strong arm, confidence, mobility, you name it. The only thing he lacked was an offensive line. Too bad that's a necessary part of a football team, or Archie could've been great.
After being drafted No. 2 overall by New Orleans in 1971, Archie rotted. He passed for over 3,000 yards each year from 1978-1980 and earned Pro Bowl honors twice, but he was still constantly battered by defenders.
In 1980, the best year of his career, Archie threw for 3,716 yards and 23 touchdowns both career highs. It didn't matter. The Saints were 1-15 that year.
That same sort of thing happened to Archie every year, and the hits finally caught up with him. Over his last five seasons, he played in just 18 games with three different teams and never even came close to reaching 1,000 yards passing.
In 15 years, Archie never had a winning season.
It's hardly surprising that he would allow his youngest son to suffer such a fate without at least lobbying for something better.
This isn't an attempt to get out of playing for a bad team. That's part of being the best player in the draft, and Eli knows that. When older brother Peyton was taken by Indianapolis with the first pick in the 1998 draft, the Colts were coming off an abysmal 3-13 season. The difference between the Colts of 1998 and the Chargers of today is that the Colts were making obvious strides to get better. It didn't happen immediately Indy was 3-13 again in Peyton's rookie season but with time, the Colts have become one of the best teams in the NFL.
Not San Diego. Less than 15 minutes after Indianapolis righted its ship by selecting Peyton, the Chargers drafted Ryan Leaf. You remember how that went.
Four years later, San Diego had the No. 1 pick again and traded it to Atlanta. The Falcons took Michael Vick. An inconvenient broken leg aside, that's worked out pretty well so far for the Falcons.
Pop quiz name a superstar quarterback developed by Chargers head coach Marty Schottenheimer during his 18-yard career. And Joe Montana was almost 60 by the time he made it to Kansas City, so no, he doesn't count.
Go ahead. Think hard. Take all the time you need.
Maybe you thought of Bernie Kosar. Or maybe Steve DeBerg. Whether you thought of either of those two or no one, you get the point Schottenheimer is a lousy quarterbacks coach.
Only three times in Schottenheimer's two-decade career has he produced a 3,000-yard passer. Is that really the guy you Ole Miss fans want coaching Eli? Can you blame Archie for not wanting it either?
It's not that the Chargers are cursed. They're just a poorly-run franchise, and they've proven that at nearly every opportunity over the last decade. San Diego hasn't had a winning season since 1995. In this era of salary-cap-enduced parity, that's hard to do without the aid of a lot of bone-headed mistakes.
And not to knock Eli, but I think drafting him would be another mistake for the Chargers. Granted, Drew Brees isn't the savior that San Diego fans hoped for, but the Chargers have bigger worries than their quarterback. San Diego's defense gave up 30 or more points six times in 2003 and surrendered nearly 40 touchdowns through the air. Unless Eli has shaved half a second of his 40-yard dash and learned to backpedal since the last time I saw him, he's not going to solve those problems.
By taking Iowa tackle Robert Gallery instead of Eli, the Chargers would solidify their running game for LaDainian Tomlinson and protect Brees' blind side. If they're intent on taking a quarterback, the Chargers could always trade down for the Giants' No. 4 pick and take Miami of Ohio sensation Ben Roethlisberger. From there, San Diego could trade Brees for a later pick and start stockpiling defensive linemen and safeties.
Chargers general manager A.J. Smith maintains that he will make whatever selection is in his team's best interests on Saturday.
The Mannings just hope the Chargers protect Eli's best interests by drafting someone else.