FULL Story Behind Eli Manning's 2004 Draft Day Trade | New York Giants 

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Big Ben's agent wearing his emotions on his sleeve on camera like that is the best part of this video.

To me one of the craziest parts of this story is that the Chargers had Brees already 😂.

Crazy to see this knowing Ben goes to Pittsburgh, Rivers goes to San Diego, and Eli goes the Giants. It's like reading a book but someone already told you how it ends.

eli had so much pressure and hype at the time. His brother just won a NFL MVP and people expected him to do the same one day. Good for him winning two superbowls.

I still cannot believe how Eli & DJ talk almost identically.

In the end all three quarterbacks have been in the league over 10 years with playoff appearances and titles to show for it in Manning and Roethlisberger so for now this has been one of the more successful qb classes in a while. Each player and franchise really have no reason to complain as far as achievements go. If anyone can find the N'If'L series by Dave Dameshek where he goes on a what if explanation for Manning staying with the Chargers and Roethlisberger being a Giant, it could be entertaining to imagine the alternate path

Eli, we love you and know Archie wanted you to be on the winning team

All three are all-time great QBs with top 10 stats and bound for Canton. Ben and Rivers were better QBs, but I'll take Eli and his 2 SBs over them both. Go Giants.

1:08 nuff said. thanks Ben

I'm glad he came to us. A Great Giant. Love you Eli! Thanks for the Championships.

Greatest trade in Giants history. Eli was tough as nails, he was clutch, quiet leader and hall of famer. I was lucky to see him play in two incredible Superbowls.

Steelers fan here. I appreciate what ben did for us but he seemed pretty douchy when he was younger. Eli was probably an even bigger douche refusing to play for the chargers though. Glad he went with New York at the end of the day though cuz he handed tom brady 2 ls

It’s over, and Archie and Eli was right.

You have to wonder what would have happened if they either kept Rivers, or took Ben. Though all said and done I'll take 2 Super Bowl wins any day.

Funny how Ben said Eli couldn't handle the big city

Ben's agent made no sense to me

My favorite player from 2006-2010 was Plaxico Burress. I still have all his football cards on the front page of my collection that I got and still own his aluminum Pepsi bottle. Eli is the best Qb in Giants History and will forever be my favorite player, but my favorite ACTIVE player is Saquon!!! So glad we got Eli instead of Rivers!!! Best trade in franchise history!!!!

I'm a Chargers fan from SD and I remember watching this like it was yesterday and furious that Manning would do such a thing. However, now that it's been over a decade later I look back at what he did and think he had a valid reason to reject San Diego. NFL is that certain sport where time is short and critical. Hell I hear people saying in week 5 how the teams chances are already dead. It takes teams forever to build, rebuild, constant coaching changes, etc. So when you've worked your whole life up to get to that moment where you are being drafted into the NFL, do you really want to be drafted to a team that has no potential? I'm not trying to bash on my team, but let's be real... our management sucks!

Everything worked out just fine and that's crazy

Ben’s agent sounding like Palpatine at 9:13

At the end of that year draft , big Ben delivers his super bowl then Eli got his rings to Rivers did magnificent work to

Eli is the 🐐 Seeing that slimy agent sweat it out was tremendous.

Instead of blaming the player blame the arrogance of the organization

so weird seeing this video in 2024. they were just kids. only 20-22 years old. now they’re all in their mid 40’s

Has to be the first and only one to not be excited being drafted #1

Great video but they forgot Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire not aa fire fight

totally cool insight nice video

I still can't believe people are bitter about this. And it's not even Chargers fans either! Which btw Chargers fans are some class act people. From what I've seen very loyal, nice and friendly....except to Chiefs fans.

Feel so bad for Roethlisberger but both quarterback balled out except for rivers lmao

ELI .....YOU WERE A GODSEND 4 NYG!!!!!

That's why Ernie Accorsi earned his spot in the New York Giants Ring of Honor in Metlife Stadium: gambling on this deal and having AJ Smith take the bait. Eli Manning won two Super Bowls as a Giants, both in Tom Brady's expense while Philip Rivers, while he had a pretty good career with the Chargers, was another Dan Fouts, a QB with respectable stats that will possibly get him enshrined in Canton, but no Super Bowl titles nor Super Bowl appaearances.

Love me some Eli. Roethlisberger would have been a great Giant too

“I still like you eli” bahahahah

Funny how it all shook out- Eli- 2 super bowls Ben- 2 super bowls Rivers- Future HOF'er

REMEMBER: they announced the trade while SEAN TAYLOR was being picked!!

everytime i watch this i wonder what ben was thinking during this whole thing

"Alright guys. Guess what? We're in play. *Eyes*" - Big Ben's agent. This had me dying lol Crazy to think between the three franchises you had Eli, Ben, Philip and Drew. Like you aint know what you got till it's gone lol

Eli is the best one in the class🤷🏾‍♂️

It worked out for Manning, Rivers & Big Ben

I’m not gonna say who I am, but I was very involved in Eli Manning’s camp and that draft and the reason was he didn’t want to go to San Diego because his brother Peyton Manning was in the AFC and Peyton Manning wanted him and Eli to have fair chances at winning the Super Bowl. He didn’t wanna have to compete against his brother if it came down to it and that was the reason so basically Peyton Manning is the reason why Eli Manning was a giant.

It’s arguable that Big Ben might’ve been the better player (career wise) but, character wise, as WE all know, he’s not even close to Eli. FUHGGETABOUTIT! Ultimate gentleman & hands down, one of the classiest person on & off the field. Even if WE can all go back to 2004, I still wouldn’t have changed a thing. ELI All The Way! 💪🏼 Fast forward to now or in last year’s draft, it would’ve been highly unlikely that we would’ve/could’ve gotten Danny🎯Dimes if Ben was our QB...Why? It’s coz DG wouldn’t have had the inside scoop on DJ the way that he did bc of David Cutliffe (yes, Eli’s & Peyton’s former coach). Not to mention, before being drafted, DJ8 went to the Manning Academy to learn from them (as y’all know). It’s a blessing that we got Eli. & who knows if Jerry Reese only took care of the OLine back then. 🤷🏻‍♂️ No doubt, Eli & The GMen would’ve gotten more SBs besides the ‘07 & ‘11. And guess what? Speaking of w/c, here we are in 2020, & I do hope DG takes care of that OLine for Danny & Saquon’s sake. Otherwise, what’s the point of drafting them that high...or drafting them for that matter if he doesn’t take care of them now (this Thursday). 🙏🏼 Don’t get me wrong. Simmons is a great player. A jack of ALL trades, master of NONE. This is turning into a book (my bad) but, If we don’t get a tackle ASAP in the first, all of the top 4 OL would be gone by the time we pick on our second (@36). It’s also possible, the top 5-6 tackles would be gone by time we pick 36 so...#TakeCareOfDannyDimesAndSaquadsNOW! 🙏🏼

Rivers started early with his big family

We need to fix that line and give DJ a chance so when is two championships or three championships against mahome boy

I'll also say if Indianapolis wasn't an ideal situation, Peyton wouldn't have been a Colt. Archie was not going to let his sons go to a hopeless situation like he had in New Orleans

A paperboy informed Eli Manning that he was a NY Giant.

Workes out pretty good for ben going 11 though

I never understood why Eli didn’t want to go to the Chargers….did he think he was going to go to the 85 Bears? Usually when you get drafted that high you’re probably going to go to a bad team.

I still don't understand why he or his agent or dad didn't want to play for San Diego. This explained nothing.

Can bens agent have any worse body language lol

I miss Tim coughing

Eli wasnt bad for the Giants BUT Ben Rothlisberger would have been much better and cost less to the organization. I am glad though the Giants got Eli and not Phillip Rivers. With Rothlisberger and the picks only God knows how many Superbowls the Giants would have won.

Archie was great he would be HOF if he had an o-line

Ben got carried his first Super Bowl with the worst stats ever but Eli actually worked for his rings

The way things have gone through Week 3 of the 2023 season, this fiasco is set to happen again if the Bears get the #1 pick and try to draft Caleb Williams.

Draft system is stupid.

Archie didn’t want for Eli to get spanked by Peyton. He walked up to him and said “yOu CaN’t WiN tHe AfC”

Tillman died by friendly fire

Why was San Diego so unfavorable for all the players or was it more a QB thing?

12:40

I call bs both teams talked behind closed doors because the chargers knew eli wasn't gonna play for them

I believe eli mannings dad paid somebody off big time! Always have

How about Roethlisbergers agent..... what a damn dork...

Bens agents had to be his uncle or something lol wtf

Funnily enough, Eli was not the best quarterback in this draft

Eli had a great Career Winning 2 Super Bowls

He knew this franchise was broke. San Diego had the worst attendance in the NFL even forced them to eventually move to LA.

I do wonder what would have happened had Ernie taken Rothlisberger.

I was surprised the Chargers didn't trade the 1st overall pick sooner. They already had Drew Brees, who was 25 at the time, so it wasn't like they were desperate for a QB. But, it all worked out, we got Eli, he won us 2 Super Bowls, and I'm happy. I just found it strange how the Chargers wanted a QB when they already had one

The last five seconds didn’t age well

Eli, BR and Rivers have all earned a spot in Canton. I would their careers about the same rating, especially when taking into account BR's character issues. BR and PR had better regular-season career numbers with Eli having a slight edge over BR in the postseason b/c of the SB MVPs with Rivers behind both of them. Note to critics - don't waste your time with your weak replies, hypotheticals, and flawed metrics - you will be ignored.

That sucks for the chargers

If he’d stayed he would eventually get beat up 2 times a year by Peyton when he go to the broncos

The Chargers weren't happy with Phillip Rivers cause they let him walk

Y’all post this same type of video with the same content like a million times bruh

It’d be cool if the number one pick is able to select the team he wants to play for. Maybe make it so there’s a group of teams that are bad enough to have the number one pick and have the number one pick pick where he goes. I mean Eli and Archie basically did exactly that here lol

The reason Arch didn’t want his boy going to Chargers, was bcuz he’s a southern boy and hates liberal California. He didn’t want to say that publicly, but that’s the reason…he wouldn’t go to any CA. team afraid his little boy would turn into a Democrat/Hippie. Why else would anyone not want to go to beautiful San Diego?!?

Thank god we didn’t get Ben

After seeing this I would never want this guy Lee as my agent lol wtf is this guy doing

The eager beat relevantly juggle because turkish understandably sparkle underneath a learned turkey. nauseating, voracious throne

Uh well ya know

l recommended a professional broker to you guys sometime ago, can I get person who invested with her comment below let's gooooo

MANNINGS ARE LIKE THE BUSH FAMILY!...LMAO!

This drama paid dividends. But don’t let GLENN tell you that. GLENN said he wanted Big Ben. Don’t be like GLENN.

They are both woke, supporting bud light!. Is an issue being hidden?

Eli Manning overrated asf he was only hyped cus his last name Big Ben still had a better career and Philip rivers tbh. Eli got 2 lucky super bowls because of his defense