Sports

Eli Manning, Dave Gettleman had ‘great’ first meeting

Eli Manning and new Giants general manager Dave Gettleman recently had their much-anticipated meeting, The Post has learned, and what comes next likely will be an offshoot of what was discussed when the two were in the room together.

“Yes, it was a great meeting,’’ Gettleman told The Post on Thursday. “Eli, obviously on this team, there’s only three guys who are still here from when I left. Eli, Zak DeOssie and JPP [Jason Pierre-Paul].’’

Asked to characterize the meeting with Manning, Gettleman said, “We had a great conversation and everything went well.’’

Gettleman added, “I don’t want to go there,’’ when asked if there was any closure or decisions as a result of the meeting.

On Dec. 29, Gettleman said he was impressed with Manning’s Week 15 performance in a 34-29 loss to the Eagles (Manning threw for 434 yards and three touchdowns) and stated, “If what I saw was not a mirage, and I don’t believe it was, then we’ll just keep moving.’’ Gettleman later cautioned he needed to sit down and evaluate every snap from every game this season to properly determine the best course of action with Manning, the 37-year-old franchise quarterback of a Giants team that went 3-13 in 2017.





Manning has two years and $22 million in base salary, plus another $11 million in bonuses on his contract, remaining on his contract and will count $22.2 million on the Giants’ 2018 salary cap. He has a no-trade clause in his contract. The Giants own the No. 2 selection in the 2018 NFL Draft and very likely will pick their quarterback of the future, someone incoming head coach-in-waiting Pat Shurmur will get to groom, with or without Manning on the scene.

“I think he can still play at a high level, but at the end of the day that’s gonna be a discussion between Dave, the new head coach and myself,’’ co-owner John Mara said when Gettleman was introduced as the general manager.

The Giants cannot officially hire Shurmur until after the Vikings are done playing. They face the Eagles in Sunday night’s NFC title game in Philadelphia.

“We still can’t do anything, it’s crazy,’’ Gettleman said of securing a head coach. “This is weird, we just got to wait.’’





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