Good article on the Chargers (1 Viewer)

Joe Bryant said:

Gold Plated Nails said:

Joe Bryant said:

Reaper said:

Joe Bryant said:

BoltBacker said:

Both Eli and Rivers were going to have long successful careers regardless of where they ended up playing. I'm just glad SD ended up getting Merriman/Kaeding/Oben along with one of them.

Click to expand...

Exactly BB. New York is the loser in this deal, not Eli Manning.J

Click to expand...

Again, I'm not a Giants fan but, I think the Giants have a pretty good team and if they stayed healthy this year they were quite possibly the best team in the NFC... they still have a shot......I think both QB are going to be real good..... Only the Mannings were the one's in the whole situation who made an apparant conclusion that someone / some team Sucked and they were W R O N G.There may nopt be a loser in the whole thing... But, someone was definitely Wrong Archie.

Click to expand...

I'd agree with that. They were clearly wrong about Smith's abilities and the team's chances. This one may be only one the fathers here can understand but I can see where Archie was coming from. If you thought your son was about to get into what you very strongly believed (rightly or wrongly) to be a really bad situation, I think most dads would put themselves up for the ridicule that would come from making an incredibly unpopular decision. There was no upside to doing this for the Manning's outside of going to NY. And the obvious downside was the ridicule he knew he'd get.He had the leverage and he used it. I'm not sure I would have done it. But I can see totally where he was coming from. J

Click to expand...

If every potential top pick treated the doormats of league like the Mannings did to the Chargers, then the Draft would be alot like the MLB draft. It would ultimatly knock the sport we all love down a couple notches on the ladder. That is why I hate the Mannings, not because they are too good to play for us in San Diego, but because they thought they were above the system. If everyone acted like that, the NFL would be crap.

Click to expand...

I can see that. I don't think that will happen though as there are not many John Elways / Eli Mannings out there with the kind of leverage (options) they had.Bigger picture is the scorn and hatred a move like that brings being a huge negative. Probably not worth the positives for most players. So I wouldn't worry.J

Click to expand...

I really don't see the options Eli had. Other then to be a whiney baby and sit out. Elway had option to play baseball. Eli strictly dictated where he did not want to play.I know its not likely to happen very often. But in theory, lets say Quinn dosen't want to play for the Raiders (or Detroit) and tries to arm wrestle his way out. This ruins the league in my mind. And thats forever why Eli is and his dad can go stick it where the sun dont shine...jerks

BoltBacker said:

Joe Bryant said:

Again, maybe this is the father thing but if the "joke" is "ridicule" that's a risk you take all day long.It would have been infinitely easier to not have tried to protect him there. Turns out, Manning would have been in a fine situation in SD and the worries were unwarranted.J

Click to expand...

How old was Eli at the time he was drafted?

Click to expand...

Not sure. 23 or so?J

Gold Plated Nails said:

Joe Bryant said:

Gold Plated Nails said:

Joe Bryant said:

Reaper said:

Joe Bryant said:

BoltBacker said:

Both Eli and Rivers were going to have long successful careers regardless of where they ended up playing. I'm just glad SD ended up getting Merriman/Kaeding/Oben along with one of them.

Click to expand...

Exactly BB. New York is the loser in this deal, not Eli Manning.J

Click to expand...

Again, I'm not a Giants fan but, I think the Giants have a pretty good team and if they stayed healthy this year they were quite possibly the best team in the NFC... they still have a shot......I think both QB are going to be real good..... Only the Mannings were the one's in the whole situation who made an apparant conclusion that someone / some team Sucked and they were W R O N G.There may nopt be a loser in the whole thing... But, someone was definitely Wrong Archie.

Click to expand...

I'd agree with that. They were clearly wrong about Smith's abilities and the team's chances. This one may be only one the fathers here can understand but I can see where Archie was coming from. If you thought your son was about to get into what you very strongly believed (rightly or wrongly) to be a really bad situation, I think most dads would put themselves up for the ridicule that would come from making an incredibly unpopular decision. There was no upside to doing this for the Manning's outside of going to NY. And the obvious downside was the ridicule he knew he'd get.He had the leverage and he used it. I'm not sure I would have done it. But I can see totally where he was coming from. J

Click to expand...

If every potential top pick treated the doormats of league like the Mannings did to the Chargers, then the Draft would be alot like the MLB draft. It would ultimatly knock the sport we all love down a couple notches on the ladder. That is why I hate the Mannings, not because they are too good to play for us in San Diego, but because they thought they were above the system. If everyone acted like that, the NFL would be crap.

Click to expand...

I can see that. I don't think that will happen though as there are not many John Elways / Eli Mannings out there with the kind of leverage (options) they had.Bigger picture is the scorn and hatred a move like that brings being a huge negative. Probably not worth the positives for most players. So I wouldn't worry.J

Click to expand...

I really don't see the options Eli had. Other then to be a whiney baby and sit out. Elway had option to play baseball. Eli strictly dictated where he did not want to play.I know its not likely to happen very often. But in theory, lets say Quinn dosen't want to play for the Raiders (or Detroit) and tries to arm wrestle his way out. This ruins the league in my mind. And thats forever why Eli is and his dad can go stick it where the sun dont shine...jerks

Click to expand...

Eli's option was to sit and try again next year. He wasn't 'ed by the money. I don't disagree it's ugly for the league. Maybe the lawyers here have some insights but I'm not sure what can be done to prevent it. I don't see it happening very often though. From Elway to Manning was a while. Wouldn't surprise me if it's that long until we have another.J

Eli's not a very good QB. i haven't seen enough of Rivers personally to make a comparison, but my gut tells me SD came out smelling like roses. in fact, i think everyone's gut is telling them that.

Eli was well within his rights to tell San Diego he didn't want to play there, and to hold out and re-enter the draft. That's using leverage, and eventually on draft day Eli got what he wanted, a ticket to NY.

But it's quite obvious that he and his dad made a huge, huge mistake. Eli's in a fishbowl in NY, and it remains to be seen how that situation is going to end up. The Giants aren't contenders, and with Tiki walking after this year, the future isn't so bright.

Conversely, Phil Rivers is sitting on top of the world in San Diego, driving the best (and youngest) team in football that is set up for a Dallas/NE type run over the next few years. It's a small media market, so he doesn't have to worry about being crucified every time he has a sub par outing.

Playoff games and practices in 70 degree weather ain't bad either.

By the way, Joe...

I was the one who mentioned "doormat". The article never does (although it talks about dregs).

The point of the article is that here was a team that was widely considered to be the pits just a few years ago, and by shrewd drafting and free agent signing, they have built what is probably one of the top two or three teams in the NFL. (By the way, even though they were 12-4 a couple of years ago, I don't think they had quite become as good as they are now).

Has Smith been lucky? I suspect there is some luck involved, because player evaluation is not a science, but an art. But has he done it well? I think he has done an incredibly good job, and he maximized the Manning situation for the benefit of his team.

Gold Plated Nails said:

I really don't see the options Eli had. Other then to be a whiney baby and sit out. Elway had option to play baseball. Eli strictly dictated where he did not want to play.I know its not likely to happen very often. But in theory, lets say Quinn dosen't want to play for the Raiders (or Detroit) and tries to arm wrestle his way out. This ruins the league in my mind. And thats forever why Eli is and his dad can go stick it where the sun dont shine...jerks

Click to expand...

I've never quite understood this line of thinking. I think the NFL would do just fine without a draft entirely. Why should a kid coming out of college be forced to deal with only one team?

roadkill1292 said:

I think the NFL would do just fine without a draft entirely. Why should a kid coming out of college be forced to deal with only one team?

Click to expand...

I agree. Despite the rhetoric that the draft exists to increase parity, it doesn't really do that.What the draft does is decrease salaries for players in their first few years, which increases salaries for veterans after they have become (or would have become) free agents. It's a political thing. It benefits current veterans at the expense of future rookies, and is thus a no-brainer to include in the CBA since the players' union doesn't represent future rookies.

Nonetheless, given the existence of the draft, when some players try to work things so it doesn't apply to them, it does impugn the integrity of the overall system.

Nice article, but it barely mentions Martty Shotteheimer.

When the author finally does get around to it, it is at the end, and it is in a negative paragraph detailing some of the holdouts and police issues that have hit the Chargers.

Kind of odd, since Marty deserves just as much credit for the Charger turnaround as AJ does IMO.