Eli Manning says friction with Chargers ownership led him to force trade to Giants

Eli Manning worked his way out of a draft situation with the San Diego Chargers and spent his entire NFL career with the New York Giants.

The 2004 move altered the path of both teams. The Chargers traded Manning to the Giants for Philip Rivers. The Giants won two Super Bowls with Manning at quarterback while the Chargers have not reached a Super Bowl since the 1994 season.

Manning explained why he pushed to leave the Chargers. He would have joined a team coming off a 4-12 season under head coach Marty Schottenheimer. He likely would have sat behind Drew Brees and Doug Flutie instead of starting right away with the Giants, where he took over the starting job from Kurt Warner.

"I just didn’t feel like they were the most committed team to winning at the time," Manning said on the podcast "Bussin’ with the Boys." "Marty Schottenheimer was the head coach, who was awesome. Had great respect for him. But they came to work me out in New Orleans, went to dinner and there was just friction between the head coach, general manager (A.J. Smith), the owners (Spanos family). They are all yelling — kind of like fighting.

"We are at a Marriott restaurant. Schottenheimer’s mad like, ‘We’re in New Orleans and we’re eating at a Marriott?’ He’s like pissed. They are kind of bickering. It just didn’t seem there was a lot of agreement on things and they were committed to building a great winning franchise at that moment."

Manning said his parents did not support the idea of trying to avoid the Chargers but let him make his own choice.

Manning became a four-time Pro Bowler and two-time Super Bowl MVP with the Giants. He led the team to a win over the undefeated Tom Brady-led New England Patriots in one of the bigger Super Bowl upsets in NFL history.