Fantasy Football: One Potential Cut Candidate for Every NFC Team

New York Giants - Eli Manning

Cap Savings: $17 million

Dead Money: $6.2 million

There may never be a more misunderstood performer than Eli Manning. The greatest passer in New York Giants history, with 55,981 yards and 360 touchdown passes, Manning’s two Super Bowl triumphs are somewhat overshadowed by several seasons of indifferent play.

In 2018, Manning went 5-11 -- a two-game improvement on his 2017 performance -- and posted the seventh 4,000-yard season of his career, finishing with 4,299 yards and 21 touchdowns.

But the numbers look better than Manning actually played. He was woefully inefficient by our metrics. Manning was one of 18 quarterbacks with at least 500 drop backs last season, and of the 18, only 5 had a lower rate of Passing NEP per drop back than his 0.10. He was 18th in Success Rate -- the number of drop backs that positively impacted NEP -- with a mark of 44.30%.

The Giants general manager Dave Gettleman did not confirm that Manning would be back with the team in 2019 during his end-of-season press conference, nor did he guarantee Manning's exit. With a supposedly weak quarterback class in this year’s NFL Draft, there may be a temptation to hold onto Manning for another season. But his 2018 form does little to suggest that this would be a move destined to return the Giants' offense to something approaching a competitive level.