Giants need to keep Eli Manning on next year’s roster

We learned a lot about Eli Manning this past week. We already knew about his leadership and integrity and all the intangibles that make him the proud face of the Giants franchise, but what we learned this week was how much it means to him to be a  New York Giant.

For the first time, we saw the usually stone-faced Eli get emotional after learning that he would be benched regardless of the score after games that he started just to keep his 201-game starting streak alive. Eli has way too much pride for that and it was that pride that sent him to the bench. Never once did he throw the head coach under the bus, despite coming under his public scrutiny or the general manager, who never really gave him the players to keep him protected long enough to make plays. Eli Manning is, and always was, all about the New York GIants and because of that, he needs to be here.

Archie Manning says his son Eli is heartbroken over what happened to him and that all he ever wanted is to be the quarterback of the New York Giants. Now that both head coach Ben McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese are gone, I say the Giants should let him do just that.

Eli says he wants to play again next year and I think it should. He has two years left on his contract and who better to teach a young drafted quarterback the meaning of Giant Pride. He's also never been hurt and can still make all the throws and lead a team to a championship. All they have to do is get him some much needed blocking. O

Despite the way they've played, the giants do have a lot of talent and many picked them for the playoffs this year.

He gives Big Blue the chance to win now while building for the future. Think it can't be done, see Philadelphia Eagles, that was they're plan drafting Carson Wentz and that's what they are doing. Since none of these draftable quarterbacks are "Wentz worthy" it's best to continue to try to win with Eli and they do have the talent to do that if they would only fix the offensive line.

Could Eli go somewhere else and succeed? I have no doubt. This I feel is the happy ending to an otherwise horror story. Eli Manning, with all he's done for the Giants and what we now know he means to this fan base, deserves a happy ending.

More from New Jersey 101.5:

Steve Trevelise is on the air from Monday-Thursday, 7 to 11 p.m. Tweet him @realstevetrev or @nj1015.