When asked point blank, “Will you be happy if the Chargers end up picking him on Saturday?” the blunt answer from Archie was a simple, “No.” In an interview, Archie Manning, Eli’s father and former NFL player himself, confirmed that Eli did not want to be selected by San Diego. Several days later, the Chargers leaked the story stating Eli’s refusal to play in San Diego. A week before the draft, San Diego contacted Eli’s agent, Tom Condon, to discuss contract negotiations about him becoming a Charger. In those days, the club with the number one selection usually already had the first player signed to a contract prior to draft day. Eli’s cool head in stressful situations, skilled passing and steady demeanor made him the better prospect in both Giants’ head coach Tom Coughlin and Accorsi’s minds. He was a leader, had a very strong arm and was a good runner. Roethlisberger had proven to be an exceptional athlete who did more with less. Although the initial phone call did not net a deal (nor did Accorsi think that the Chargers would eventually swap picks), he had a fallback plan in place: Roethlisberger. Accorsi knew that with the number four pick, that would allow the Chargers to get one of the three QBs and gather some extra picks in the process. Smith wanted.īefore the draft, Accorsi called Smith and asked about the possibility of the two teams swapping picks. It was also the player that Chargers’ GM A.J. This meant the Giants would get their future QB one way or the other in this draft.Īccorsi had studied every season that Eli had played at Ole Miss and was the player he coveted. Miami (of Ohio) University’s Ben Roethlisberger was ranked second followed by Philip Rivers of North Carolina State. In this draft, the top QB was Eli Manning of Ole Miss. Both of these teams weren’t looking to draft a QB, but the San Diego Chargers, who held the first overall selection, was. Owning the third pick, Arizona had Jeff Blake and Josh McCown as their signal callers. Oakland was picking second and had Rich Gannon entrenched behind center. The good news was that this draft there were several college QBs who qualified as franchise players. The horrific season placed the Giants with the fourth overall selection in the annual college draft. Although Warner was signed to fill the void of Collins, Giants GM Ernie Accorsi wanted a young franchise quarterback. QB Kerry Collins was released and the team signed former league MVP Kurt Warner to replace him. The Steelers evenly distribute the wealth on both sides of the ball.In 2004, the New York Football Giants trudged to a lowly 4-12-0 record and head coach Jim Fassel was fired. This makes it clear the Colts spend most of its money on the offensive side of the ball, which would obviously put more talent on the offense. Here are the top salaries of the Colts from this past year. Is that directly related to the players? Let's take a look at how the Colts and Steelers spend their money.Ĭolts. It is clear that in these time periods, the Steelers were the better defensive team, while the Colts were the better offensive team. Take that out, they would have been ranked third) Indianapolis: Eighth ( Colts' offense was ranked 19th in Manning's rookie season. Were the Steelers really the better team at that point? I want to thank Nick Signorelli for the following comparison that I took directly from his article New Stats to Prove Ben Roethlisberger is Better Than Peyton Manning.
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