How One Decision In College Made Eli Manning A Quarter-Billion Dollars

Over his 15-year NFL career, Eli Manning earned about $252.2 million on the field—more than a quarter of a billion dollars. He also won two Super Bowls and two Super Bowl MVPs, leading the New York Giants to victory in Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI.

Manning's entire career was spent with the Giants. But things could have turned out a lot differently if he didn't speak up as a college student.

Manning recently appeared on the Bussin' With The Boys podcast, hosted by former NFL players Will Compton and Taylor Lewan. And he dropped a pretty significant revelation.

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Back in 2004, the San Diego Chargers had the first pick in the NFL Draft. Manning was entering the league out of Ole Miss and was widely expected to go No. 1 overall, but his camp was adamant that he was not going to play with San Diego. The Manning team forced a trade; Eli ended up in New York with the Giants, who had the fourth pick, while the Chargers opted for Philip Rivers, instead.

At the time, Archie Manning, Eli's dad, took the brunt of the blame. The general narrative was that the elder Manning was protecting his son from a bad situation, and Eli was just going along with what his dad wanted.

It turns out it was Eli's plan all along.

"My parents really weren't supportive. My dad didn't really like the idea," Manning told the podcast. "He just kind of bit his tongue and said, 'You know, this is what Eli wants to do. And I support him.' And he kind of did some media to try and save me from doing the media and taking the hits."

Why did Manning believe San Diego was a poor choice? To be fair, they were coming off the worst record in the NFL the previous season. However, Manning noticed cracks in the foundation beyond what was strictly happening on the field.

"I just didn't feel like they were the most committed team to winning at the time," Manning said.

He noted friction between coaches, general managers, and the team's owner, calling out a situation when the team took him out to dinner in New Orleans. Manning said he loved then-head coach Marty Schottenheimer, but the coach was critical of the team hosting a dinner at a Marriott hotel. They were in New Orleans—there's no shortage of tasty food options!

Would Manning have had the same level of success with San Diego? It's hard to say. The Chargers did have a couple of solid seasons with Drew Brees, and Rivers ended up having a long and productive career in San Diego and later Los Angeles after the Chargers moved there.

But Rivers never won a ring, and Brees had to go to New Orleans to win his only Super Bowl. Manning also wound up earning about $34 million more with the Giants than Rivers did with the Chargers.

And a disgruntled Manning in San Diego may not have been as productive as a happy one in New York. The Giants haven't been back to the Super Bowl since their last appearance during the 2011 season. Manning was a big reason why they won, and he can thank his college self for standing firm as he entered the NFL Draft.