Illinois Football: Former Illini David Diehl questions Eli Manning benching
The Illinois football team hasn’t exactly been an NFL quarterback factory throughout the history of the program.
There have been a few examples of successful NFL quarterbacks who have come through the program. Some of the examples include Tony Eason who was selected with the No. 15 pick in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft. He had an okay career but he is most known for his ugly performance against the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl.
Jeff George was another quarterback who the Illini put in the NFL. He was the No. 1 pick in the 1990 NFL Draft. George had a long career but it never panned out to be the quality of a No. 1 pick. I can’t fully say he was a bust, but he definitely didn’t live up to his potential.
While the Illini might not have a big-time quarterback with a lot of NFL notoriety, they have had some great offensive linemen who know what it is like to block for great quarterbacks at both the college and NFL level. One of those great offensive linemen was David Diehl.
Diehl played on the offensive line when Illinois had some of their best teams in recent memory. That 2001 season where we ended up making the Sugar Bowl, Diehl was on that team blocking for Kurt Kittner and Company. After blocking for Kittner, Diehl was drafted by the New York Giants in the fifth round of the 2003 NFL Draft.
During Diehl’s time with the Giants, he had a chance to block for some of the great names in the sport. He blocked for running back Tiki Barber. For a short time, he blocked for Hall of Famer quarterback, Kurt Warner. And then Eli Manning came into the picture and Diehl had the chance to block for him as well.
Manning and Diehl ended up winning two Super Bowl titles together, one in 2007 and the other in 2011. But a shift is currently happening in the NFL. Manning, who is still in the league today, was benched on Tuesday in favor of rookie quarterback, Daniel Jones.
Jones was drafted by the Giants with the sixth pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. It was only a matter of time before he was slotted into the starting role no matter what the Giants executives were saying. But the way things shook out didn’t sit well with some people, including Manning’s longtime protector Diehl.
Diehl went on
on Tuesday and expressed his displeasure with the move by the Giants and the way they went about benching Manning.
"“To make this move now, if you weren’t going to let Eli Manning play throughout the year, then you shouldn’t have had him on the roster,” Diehl told WFAN’s Mike Francesa. “I am surprised by this, because Eli Manning is not the reason why the Giants have started 0-2 this season."
Next. 3 observations from the Illini loss to Eastern Michigan. dark
This statement by Diehl isn’t wrong. The Giants have some serious problems that go way deeper than Manning. But, to me, it is almost like ripping off a Band-Aid. You had to make this move some time. The ship is clearly sinking. You might as well see what you have with the young quarterback behind the wily old veteran.