Legendary New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning will hold a press conference on Friday to announce his retirement from the NFL, according to Dan Graziano of Jordan Raanan of ESPN.
So ends an illustrious 16-year NFL career.
Manning, who played his collegiate football at the University of Mississippi, was originally selected by the San Diego Chargers with the first overall pick of the 2004 NFL Draft, but was instantly traded to the Giants for Philip Rivers, whom New York took fourth overall.
It didn't take long for Manning to take over as New York's starter, as he supplanted Kurt Warner under center midway through his rookie campaign.
While Manning experienced some rough patches over his first few seasons, he began his path to football immortality during the 2007-08 campaign, as he led the Giants to a thrilling Super Bowl victory over the heavily-favored 18-0 New England Patriots, taking some Super Bowl MVP honors in the process.
Manning that took New York to another Super Bowl in 2011-12, once again topping Tom Brady and the Patriots and nabbing the Super Bowl MVP award for the second time in his career, which made him one of just five players in NFL history to win multiple Super Bowl MVPs.
However, from that point on, Manning and the Giants made the playoffs just once, and much of the back end of Manning's career was very ugly.
The 38-year-old ultimately lost his starting job to rookie signal-caller Daniel Jones in Week 3 of this season.
Regardless of how poorly Manning played over his last couple of years in the NFL, he will forever be an icon in New York, and his Super Bowl wins will always be recognized in the annals of football history.
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