[GTripp0012]

Here's your Eli Manning conundrum: Manning spent a lot of his career playing with stiffs like Amani Toomer and Plaxico Burress, and his biggest weapon for a while was either Tiki Barber on screen passes, or Jeremy Shockey. He got his first true no. 1 WR (at least by the standards of the modern game; Toomer and Burress were adequate for the 2005 passing environment) in 2009. The best receiver he ever played with is Victor Cruz, who was undrafted and signed in Manning's seventh season, then spent a year on IR.

Could that have all been avoided if the Giants hadn't traded so much to get Manning? Maybe, maybe not. But if the payoff to trading up for a guy is one pro bowl before the age of 30, typically, your coach (at least) gets fired because of that trade, right?

I'm not saying Eli Manning hasn't been a successful quarterback for the Giants, but it took the guy who made the trade (Ernie Accorsi) retiring and getting a new personnel guy (Jerry Reese) in there to get the Giants over the top in the playoffs. Manning/Coughlin/Accorsi was essentially no better than Brunell/Gibbs/Cerrato or Bledsoe/Parcells/Jones. Manning only separated the Giants from the Redskins and the Cowboys deep into his career when the Giants started having really strong drafts.