Facts about Eli Manning
Eli Manning Biography
Eli Manning has been the quarterback for the NFL’s New York Giants since 2004.
Eli Manning comes from a football family: his father, Archie Manning, was a college star and then a longtime NFL starter for the New Orleans Saints. Eli’s older brother, Peyton Manning, was the first pick in the 1998 NFL draft and became a superstar with the Indianapolis Colts.
Like his father, Eli Manning attended the University of Mississippi (widely known as “Ole Miss”) and like Peyton, Eli was the first pick in the draft.
The San Diego Chargers, who drafted him first in 2004, traded him almost immediately to the New York Giants for quarterback Philip Rivers (the 4th pick in the same draft). By the end of that season, Eli Manning was the starting quarterback for the Giants and he has remained so since.
At the end of the 2007 season he led the Giants to Super Bowl XLII, where they defeated the New England Patriots in one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history. The loss prevented the Patriots and their quarterback, Tom Brady, from having an undefeated season, and Eli Manning was named the Super Bowl’s Most Valuable Player.
The two teams, still led by Manning and Brady, met again four years later in Super Bowl XLVI, and again the Giants won. The score this time was 21-17, and Eli Manning was again named the game’s MVP.
Extra credit
Eli Manning wears uniform number 10… Eli Manning is 6’4″ tall and weighs 218 pounds, according to his NFL roster page… Peyton Manning was the MVP of Super Bowl XLI, the year before his brother won the same award… Eli Manning and his wife, the former Abby McGrew, were college sweethearts. They were married on 18 April 2008. Their daughter, Ava, was born on 21 March 2011… According to the official NFL site, Eli’s “Oldest brother, Cooper, was a freshman member of the Ole Miss football team in 1992, but a congenital narrowing of the spinal canal and a bulging disk in his neck ended a promising career”… As with the Academy Awards, Super Bowls are held in the calendar year after the season they relate to: Super Bowl XLII, the championship for the 2007 season, was held on 3 February 2008, and Super Bowl XLVI, for the 2011 season, was held on 5 February 2012.