Dave Gettleman spent a chunk of his first conference call since shipping Odell Beckham out of town defending Eli Manning, noting the notion that the aging quarterback can't play is a "crock."
The unyielding defense of Manning doesn't mean the Giants GM isn't planning to chase a young signal-caller. Gettleman joined WFAN's Mike Francesa on Monday afternoon following the conference call and admitted he must devote assets to a future under center.
"Obviously we have to address it. I'd be a real clown to not admit to that," Gettleman said, via the station's website. "There's some quarterbacks in this year's draft. I made the statement I really like the Kansas City model. For years it was everybody's model. The ideal situation is you bring a young kid in and let him learn from the old pro. That's the way we would like to approach it."
After reiterating he admired the Chiefs model of drafting a young quarterback and allowing that player to sit behind a veteran a year, Gettleman stopped short of revealing his entire hand, noting that "most likely" a young signal-caller could come from this year's draft, via Tom Rock of Newsday.
"I told Eli that we were gonna consider everything, consider all our options," Gettleman said. "The conversation was early January. Obviously, we have done nothing. I think everybody can figure out what option we have decided to go with. Moving forward, he's our starting quarterback."
Gettleman later noted: "The GM has to get two things right: The head coach and the quarterback."
The jury remains out on whether the Giants' general manager has gotten either job right in his short tenure in New York.
