The New York Giants find themselves in a hole, early in the season. The Giants are 1-5, essentially knocking them out of playoff contention.

Now with their season going downhill, their focus should be on the future of this team. That starts with the quarterback position.

Eli Manning has been their franchise QB for 15 years now, with it likely coming to its conclusion very soon.

In those 15 years, the Giants have seen him start in 220 games (including this year). In his long-lived career, Manning has also brought two Super Bowls back to New York.

Surprisingly, he defeated Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in both of them (still boggles my mind).

New York fans will always feel a certain way towards Manning, for everything he achieved for their beloved Giants.

Manning has thrown for 53,344 yards, 345 touchdowns and 232 interceptions in his career. If you include his fumbles, he has a total of 351 turnovers in his career.

He’s always had a turnover problem, with it getting worse as the years go on.

Manning will likely sport a gold jacket, making his way into Canton. His career has been a roller coaster ride.

With the first overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft, the San Diego Chargers selected Manning. He was drafted to be the replacement for Drew Brees, who left the Chargers in free agency.

Brees signed with the New Orleans Saints that season, where he won a Lombardi trophy in 2010.

The Chargers traded Manning to the Giants, just three picks later. The Giants traded Philip Rivers for him, ultimately swapping QBs in the same draft.

Both teams got their franchise QB, with the Giants getting multiple Super Bowl rings out of theirs.

Rivers had teams that came within inches of reaching the Super Bowl but always fell short. The Hall of Fame committee could be calling both of these guys.

It’s hard to say who got the better guy, as Rivers might be more talented. In the end, winning is what matters most to the critics.

Fast forward to now, Manning is struggling mightily in his 15th season. Struggling for some time now, likely forcing the inevitable. The inevitable is him being replaced as the QB of this squad.

For Giants fans, I know it’s hard to see a guy who brought you championships, walk away. But it might be officially time for him to do so.

That can’t occur until the off-season, so the Giants need to consider all options while this regular season is still running its course.

They need to at least contemplate sitting Manning, and seeing what they have in their backups. There’s nothing for the Giants to play for, so why not?

You have Alex Tanney and Kyle Lauletta sitting behind Manning. The worst that could happen, is they struggle too, causing you to find someone next year.

I understand the offensive line isn’t grand, but when he does have time, Manning still misses easy throws.

Here’s an example of that.

https://twitter.com/SilberNFL/status/1047131520484433920

We’ve seen throws like this all year from Manning. Frustration is starting to mount up for guys on the offense, due to plays just like this.

It has to be frustrating as a Giants fan too. Odell Beckham, Saquon Barkley, Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram (he’s been hurt) are weapons on the offense, but they still struggle to put up points.

Other quarterbacks in the NFL would love to have that type of firepower on their offense.

Their talents will continue to be wasted if Manning remains to be under center. I don’t think they made a mistake taking Barkley, but they need to figure out their QB issue going forward.

Now back to Tanney and Lauletta. Tanney is a 30-year-old QB, who has played for three teams already. He began his career at 25 years old.

One game played is all Tanney has under his belt. You know what he is as a NFL QB, so why not start Lauletta?

In the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft, the Giants selected Lauletta. He comes from the University of Richmond, where he started for three years.

In those three years, he racked up 10,465 yards, 73 touchdowns and 35 interceptions. Not too shabby, plus he is a little more mobile than Manning.

He added 12 scores on the ground in his three years as the starting QB for Richmond.

For the Giants, the only way to me you don’t play him, is if he doesn’t have a grasp on the offense.

You have to see what you have in him at the least, before jumping the gun and taking someone in next year’s draft.

Who knows, maybe Lauletta is a diamond in the rough for the Giants. That would be the best case scenario for the G-Men.

If Lauletta does become that, it takes a lot of pressure off of this front office. We can’t know that though, until the Giants hand him the keys to the offense and let him take a test drive.

Like many have said over the years, “I’d rather try and fail, than not try at all”. The Giants should follow this quote when it pertains to their QB position.

To me, if the Giants do in fact give Lauletta a shot, it will likely come in Week 10. This is the week following their bye week.

With the struggles of Manning, the Giants will need to make a decision very soon. They need to do so before the fans of New York become completely restless towards the organization.