Giants announce Eli Manning is benched

[Everlong]

This ends his consecutive starts streak that began in 2004.

What a shitty way for it to go down and what a shitty decision by a shitty coach.

[The Legend]

It sucks for Eli and the way this season has transpired is definitely not his fault, but in the end I think this might be the right idea for the Giants moving forward. Get a chance to see what you have in Davis Webb (we know what Geno Smith is), and while Eli has something left see what you can trade him for to a team much closer to contending than the Giants are. Could you imagine the Broncos trading for Eli? or Buffalo? or Houston? There's plenty of teams that are a quarterback away and the Giants are everything away from contending, most likely this re-build will go past Eli's career usefulness.

[Everlong]

I don't think there's any chance Eli goes to Houston--they'll have Deshaun Watson coming back after injury, and he was lighting it up before he got hurt. They're hinging their franchise to him.

Buffalo I could potentially see, but I think Eli's going to want to go to a team that's just a QB away, and Buffalo has other problems beyond QB that they need to worry about. Here are, IMO, the three biggest contenders outside of New York:

1. Denver. You already mentioned it. They did ti before with another Manning, and it just makes sense. If the defense can get its act together (having a better offense would help), and it certainly has the talent to do so, then adding Eli would be a massive upgrade over Brock Oswelier or Trevor Siemian or Paxton Lynch, even at this point in Eli's career. John Elway has shown he has no qualms about making splashy moves to put his team in position to win. This is a realistic scenario.

2. Jacksonville. This is a team that's ready to make some noise, it just needs a quarterback it can rely on come January. They currently have one of the league's best defenses, a talented running back and options in the passing game. But let's face it, Blake Bortles hasn't been particularly reliable. The Tom Coughlin connection makes this an even more tantalizing option for Eli. You gotta think Coughlin would make a push for him if he's available. Another realistic scenario.

3. Kansas City. There have been rumors that the Chiefs are looking to move on from Alex Smith after this year. He has one more year left on his contract, but it wouldn't be a major hit for the Chiefs to release him or move him after this offseason. If that happens, Eli would be an upgrade and a good stopgap solution for a team that has the talent to be a contender. Probably a little more of a stretch than the first two scenarios because it relies on the team releasing its current starter.

Outside of those three teams, I don't really see a whole lot of options. There are certainly other QB-needy teams, but I don't see Eli wanting to go to the Jets, or the Browns, or someone like that. At the end of his career, he's really just playing for another ring at this point.

[The Legend]

Denver and Jacksonville are probably the front runners. Good call on Houston with Watson. Not sure about KC. I'm thinking if they move on from Smith, it's probably for Patrick Mahomes. It probably would be the Broncos or Jags.