Eli Manning is at a crossroads, a 36-year-old quarterback coming off a so-so season, hearing unprecedented attacks on his integrity and facing his football mortality, with a 22-year-old rookie about to enter his orbit.
Manning is the franchise quarterback, the face of the Giants and revered in the building. For months now, team executives have been spreading seeds that finally germinated this past Friday night with the third-round selection of Davis Webb. Before this, all the talk of Manning being “on the back nine’’ and the desire to put in place a succession plan was logical, but harmless, a theory without a solution — until a name and body was added to the equation.