Eli Manning doesn't know if he's playing next week, but the benched Giants quarterback is confident he'll be playing in 2018 -- somewhere.
"I plan on playing next season," Manning iterated to reporters following New York's loss to Oakland on Sunday. Manning's remarks followed comments from his father, Archie Manning, to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport that retirement could be an option after the season.
The two-time Super Bowl champion is one month removed from turning 37 and has two years left on his deal with Big Blue. Manning is due a $5 million roster bonus on the third day of the 2018 league year, per Spotrac.
Manning, who had started 210 consecutive games, was benched this week in favor of Geno Smith, this after he refused to start for the sake of starting with the understanding that he'd give way to one of New York's younger quarterbacks later in the game. The Giants, at 2-10, have little left to play for this season than their draft position and, apparently, evaluating the talent under center.
If he stays in the Big Apple next season, Manning said he hopes embattled coach Ben McAdoo is still there.
"I don't want that. I don't want anybody to get fired," Manning said. "When a coach gets fired, it's usually because the team, the players and myself haven't performed up to our duties. I don't want to see that. So I hope there is no truth to it."
For now, Eli is fixed to the sidelines, "mentoring" the five-year veteran Smith and rookie signal-caller Davis Webb, who was inactive this week.
"I knew once it got to [Sunday] I'd be a good teammate," Manning said. "I'd support all the guys, be ready to play if I was called upon, support Geno, support the offensive guys, do what I had to do if I saw something that I would need to tell them."
