NFL: Eli Manning Exits In Style, Retires After 16 Seasons

Eli Manning has achieved practically anything an NFL player could imagine after 16 seasons. Seeing that he is no longer in the plans of the rebuilding New York Giants, the two-time Super Bowl MVP officially announced his retirement.

Undoubtedly one of the best players the Giants have had, Manning has hardly anything to prove. He led the Giants to the Super Bowl twice (XLII and XLVI) and is a four-time Pro-Bowler. Though his exit could have been sweeter, the 39-year-old opted to end his illustrious career with the only team he has played for since entering the league back in 2004, Giants.com reported.

"It meant something to Eli to be the Giants' quarterback, and it meant even more to us. We are beyond grateful for his contributions to our organization and look forward to celebrating his induction into the Giants Ring of Honor in the near future," said Giants co-owner John Mara in a report by TMZ Sports.

Outside the football field, Manning has earned more than enough. In a previous post, it was mentioned how the top pick of the 2004 NFL Draft has amassed more earnings playing football than anyone else at $252.3 million. He is just ahead of older brother Peyton Manning who earned a total of $248.7 million followed by Drew Brees ($244.7 million) and Tom Brady ($235.2 million). Brees and Brady could surpass the younger Manning in 2020 although the 2016 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year may hardly care.

There's no word yet on what Manning plans to do next in the professional sense. In a report from the New York Post, the Louisiana native said he had no desire to get into coaching. But the only thing certain is that he is exiting the game in good health and can attend to his family full-time.

Set to succeed Manning is Daniel Jones, someone the future NFL Hall of Famer has taken under his wing. The next thing that new head coach Joe Judge will have to do is look for a backup quarterback. So far no names have been mentioned although New York could pluck one out of the 2020 NFL Draft.

The Giants own the rights to the fourth pick of the NFL Draft which stars promising quarterbacks like Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa. But as mentioned in a previous report, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Miami Dolphins seem inclined to nab these two. If not the NFL Draft, Judge could check out the list of available free-agent quarterbacks instead.