Eli Manning Was Nearly Traded to Awful NFL Team Amid 2004 Draft

The 2004 NFL draft featured three of the greatest quarterbacks of this generation and one of those quarterbacks is unearthing what exactly happened to shake up the draft.

In a recent interview, Eli Manning revealed forcing his way to the New York Giants was actually his idea and his father, Archie Manning, was against the decision. While most thought it was the College Football Hall of Fame quarterback pulling the strings, it was actually his son, who went on to win two Super Bowl titles in New York.

"My parents really weren't supportive. My dad didn't like the idea," Manning said. "Now, he came to my defense and like supported me after everything was going down, but . . . he didn't like that.”

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Manning revealed a meeting with the Chargers ahead of the draft showed the owner, general manager and coach weren’t on the same page as they argued during the course of the meeting.

"San Diego had the first pick, I didn't really want to go there," Manning said. "I just didn't feel like they were the most committed team to winning at the time.”

His agent, Tom Condon, told Manning during the draft that the Cleveland Browns wanted to trade for him, but the quarterback also didn’t want to play in Cleveland. In the end, the Giants met the Chargers asking price and New York ended up with its quarterback of the future.

The Chargers also struck gold by trading for Philip Rivers while the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Ben Roethlisberger just a few picks later.

All three turned into star quarterbacks for their respective franchises.

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This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 1:55 PM.