Eli Manning Makes Head Turning Arch Manning to Jets Comments

Longtime former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning was asked on the "Pardon My Take" podcast where he would prefer Arch Manning lands if he were to enter the 2027 NFL Draft.

"There's two ways I look at this," Manning said via Grace McCarron of the New York Post. "For purely selfish reasons, I wouldn't mind if he went to the [New York] Jets, just because I live right there, I could go to games, I could have dinner with him during the week a little bit. I think it'd be great for him to have some family nearby, so I wouldn't mind him going to the Jets, being up in New York…that's just my selfish reasons and I think he could help them."

This is a shocking turn of events. Eli was infamously set to be a member of the then San Diego Chargers as the No. 1 overall pick. The problem was Manning didn't want to play in San Diego, so he and the Manning family were able to force his way out. He ended up getting traded in a dramatic draft-day blockbuster to the Giants.

Most people have assumed on social media that if the Jets were ever in a position to select Arch, his family would step in and prevent that from happening. Based on these recent comments, that might be the wrong assumption.

We're still many months away from the 2027 NFL draft. We're in the middle of the 2026 regular season. However, before the 2026 college football season, the potential storyline of Arch refusing to play for the Jets got shut down.

Longtime sports columnist Gary Myers said on February 26, "I heard again this week that Arch Manning absolutely will not try to manipulate the draft (like Uncle Eli did in 2004) to avoid playing for @nyjets if they're in position to get him with [the] overall #1 pick in 2027. So relax, Jets Nation."

Eli's most recent comments seem to confirm that. If the family didn't want Arch to end up with the Jets, I strongly doubt they would be entertaining the idea on a popular podcast.

Arch Expected to Follow in Family's Footsteps

Peyton Manning was a No. 1 overall pick. Eli Manning was a No. 1 overall pick [that was eventually traded]. Arch is expected to be another Manning who becomes a high pick in the draft.

In Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic's most recent mock draft, he projected that Arch would be the No. 12 overall pick to the Cleveland Browns in the first round.

In this mock scenario, Manning was the third QB off the board. The Jets took Notre Dame passer CJ Carr with the No. 5 overall pick. With three 2027 first-round picks, if the Jets want Manning, they should have every opportunity to potentially select him or to be able to trade up to land him.

Let's just make this clear: the Jets are absolutely taking a quarterback in the first round of the 2027 NFL Draft. That isn't even up for debate. The only question is who that player will be. Obviously, that piece of the puzzle is still very much up in the air, but it sounds like Manning is on the table as one of those choices.