Gästebuch » What IF Eli Manning Didn’t Refuse to Play

for San Diego? If you ever watched the movie Draft Day http://www.thechargerslockerroom.com/authentic-melvin-ingram-jersey , you are well-aware of the intrigue and double-dealings that go into the NFL Draft.If you ever surfed the Internet around draft time, you are inundated about the intrigue and double-dealings that go into the NFL Draft, whether real or imaginary.While most of the hoopla is smoke-and-mirrors or beat writer daydreams, sometimes in the NFL, where there’s smoke there’s fire.The 2004 draft was one of the most explosive non-contact weeks the NFL has ever faced.In 2003, the Chargers were terrible enough to earn the enviable first overall pick the following draft. Just days before the draft, Manning’s agent, Tom Condon, told the Chargers that Eli would sit out the entire 2004 season if the team drafted him with the first overall pick.It was an instant circus.There were a number of QB-hungry teams, including the Chargers, the Giants, the Steelers, and the Browns.There were a number of eventual Hall of Fame quarterbacks to choose from, and no one was really sure what was going to happen.As fate would have it, the Chargers DID draft Eli Manning as the first overall pick.The Giants, picking at ,4# bucked conventional wisdom by passing over Ben Roethlisberger and selected Philip Rivers for the express reason of trading him to the Chargers.The Chargers picked up a shiny 2004 3rd rounder and a pair of 2005 picks (including their first round!).Getty imagesBut what if Eli didn’t refuse to play for the Chargers?Well, first off, the Chargers almost definitely would have still selected him and stuck with him.They agreed with the conventional wisdom at the time that Manning was the best all-around QB of the draft.However Womens Junior Seau Jersey , keep in mind that the Giants loved him even more.They still might have tried to work out a trade with the Chargers.Even in this alternate timeline, things might have worked out exactly the same!As things stood, the cost of trading these two QBs is not far removed from the Giants trying to leapfrog into the 1st overall slot.I would guess that they would have to include an additional 2nd rounder in either 2004 or 2005 to the actual trade for the Chargers to seriously consider the move.In fact, after doing that, they could’ve very well continued the free-fall and traded with the Browns to pick up even more picks and still sit pretty at #7 overall (that said, the Browns were destined to Brown.According to Giants manager Ernie Accorsi, the Browns were ready to trade into the #4 spot while he was on the clock.But it wasn’t to select a QB, as they ended up passing on Big Ben when they moved up from 7 to 6 to select Kellen Winslow II.To this day, we have no idea why they were eager to trade up, as Eli Manning was already taken).After looking at how aggressive and risk-taking the Giants were in the actual timeline of events, this draft day leapfrog isn’t so far fetched.I think they would’ve moved heaven and Earth to get Eli Manning, and they did exactly that.The Chargers might still have ended up with Philip Rivers, but with an extra 3 or 4 picks from the Browns in tow (in addition to their 3 or 4 from the Giants).So, other than the Giants or Browns going balls-to-the-wall to make sure Eli Manning was their QB of the future, the next likeliest scenario is that Eli Manning plays for the Chargers, Ben Roethlisberger plays for the Giants, and Philip Rivers goes to the Browns or Steelers.It’s reasonable to assume that the Browns still select Kellen Winslow II and the Steelers grab our bolo-tied king.This is where things get tough for Chargers fans.Eli Manning will likely go down in history as one of the best “fine” quarterbacks of all time.He does his job and he goes home.He doesn’t often elevate his team, but he can string together a postseason run that vanishes the following year in the regular season.I can find no reason to think that Eli Manning would have ever elevated the Chargers above what they experienced with Philip Rivers.I honestly don’t think Manning would have ‘survived’ the McCoy years, where just above-average QB play would’ve had the team looking to the draft for better answers.He wouldn’t have been to blame for the Chargers’ woes Doug Flutie Jersey , but after a few solid years, the Chargers would have sent him out to pasture (as many writers tried to do with Rivers around that same time).On the other hand, Roethlisberger might have brought the Giants even more success than they experienced with Manning.He is a rare talent, and a dominant defense, like he ended up experiencing in Pittsburgh, would have played out similarly.I think the Giants win 2 Super Bowls with Big Ben, and get to at least one other (sound familiar?).Of course, the bright lights of New York might have gone to his head.The Steelers would’ve been in perhaps the best position of all with Philip Rivers.They love consistency, and they would’ve gotten exactly that out of Rivers.Much like his time in San Diego, there wouldn’t have been any QB drama, and he would end up being the face of the franchise for a generation.Philip Rivers grabs at least two Lombardi trophies while in Iron City, and I think that he would have performed identical or even slightly better over these last 2 years.If he could figure out how to beat Tom Brady, which is not a given, then the Steelers might be well past their ‘stairway to seven.’In short, if Eli Manning doesn’t refuse to play for San Diego, then he probably doesn’t win a Super Bowl.Roethlisberger was destined for a few trophy wins from the two teams that liked him, and Philip Rivers likely makes it to the promised land.That said, Philip Rivers is far from done.This true timeline might be the one with the most glory.Time will tell!-Jason “It’s Like TimeCop, But Different” Michaels By the time the Chargers called during the offseason to offer him a tryout http://www.thechargerslockerroom.com/authentic-trevor-williams-jersey , James-Michael Johnson had had enough.Still reeling from a year in which he spent time with five teams and got cut six times, the NFL linebacker passed on the chance to grind it out in camp.He retired at age 27 after four seasons.He wasn’t sad to see his playing days come to an end.“It’s just better now, knowing that if I go to work every day, work hard, get better at my job and learn everything I can in the occupation, that I’ll continue to progress,” said Johnson, now 29, who works as an emergency medical technician near his hometown of Fairfield, California, with hopes of joining a fire department. “Everything’s not based on my 40-yard dash.”While the league this week will celebrate the longevity of 41-year-old Super Bowl quarterback Tom Brady and others like him, stories resembling Johnson’s — a short stay in the league, followed by a virtually unnoticed retirement — are far more common.A first-of-its-kind analysis, conducted by The Associated Press , found that the average amount of experience on opening-day NFL rosters has dropped from 4.6 to 4.3 years over the past 14 seasons . That’s despite provisions in the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement that had the potential to extend players’ careers.Had Johnson chosen to stick it out and made it onto the Chargers’ roster, they could have gotten him for cheap. Under one of the provisions covering veterans, he could have received a one-year contract for the 2017 league-minimum $775,000, and it would have counted as only $615 Womens Desmond King Jersey ,000 against the team’s salary cap.But Johnson, a fourth-round pick in 2012, had stuck around long enough to qualify for a modest pension and, with the help of the NFL, had a decent 401(k) started. He loved helping people and looked forward to a different kind of life.So he decided to give up the game before some assistant coach or general manager he barely knew made the decision for him.Johnson — who played what is considered one of the league’s most disposable positions — said that he had never even heard of the salary provision that might have helped him, but that it didn’t sound like a realistic way of keeping guys like him around.“They’re always going to go with the younger player,” Johnson said. “You’re always going to go with the first-year undrafted free agent over the fourth- or fifth-year guy, when you’re dealing with the roster bubble and a couple hundred thousand dollars.”Eric Winston, president of the NFL Players’ Association, agreed: “There are very few positions outside of quarterback where teams are going to want to keep a veteran who’s decently paid and doesn’t start.”There were other factors at play in Johnson’s decision.The Hollywood hit “Concussion” came out during his final season. The movie is based on the real-life investigation into the brain disease caused by multiple hits to the head — a disorder discovered in more than 100 deceased former NFL players who donated their brains to science.Johnson estimates he has had scores of head traumas over his dozen years of football at the high school, college and pro levels. He tells of one instance — not all that uncommon — when he got hit so hard against the Cowboys that “I felt like someone had thrown a grenade at me.”“I don’t remember how I got to the sideline,” he said. “But when you watch the film, you see me, and you say, ‘All that happened was he got hit, hopped up and jogged off.’ Nobody knew anything bad had happened to me.”Because of what he knows now, Johnson feels compelled to someday spell out the risks to his 4-year-old son, James-Michael Jr., if he wants to play football.“I still wonder how that’s all going to play out for me when I’m 45 or 50 Brandon Mebane Jersey ,” Johnson said.Though he misses the competition, he doesn’t miss football itself. In fact, he barely ever watches it.His best memories of the NFL will be what happened off the field. He loved the Tuesdays when he would be invited to schools, food banks or charity events for a chance to meet people in the community. He made friends in all the locker rooms he was part of.Fresh out of football, Johnson considered scouting and coaching, only to be turned off by both.Invited to an NFL rules meeting, Johnson said he felt the priority wasn’t to make the game safer or more fair.Meanwhile, coaches he looked up to in college described a transient existence of slowly working your way up the ladder in a career that is ultimately dependent on head coaches who commonly get fired every four or five years.To Johnson, it sounded not all that different from the life he had just left. In all, he got cut seven times by six teams.Though his paychecks are not as gaudy these days, Johnson feels as if he can breathe again.“Now, I know if I do my job to the best of my ability, I can keep coming to work,” he said. “Someone’s not to call me up into the office and say, ‘We looked at the tape, and we’re thinking about bringing in a younger, better player today.'”