Eli Manning would like to remain the starting quarterback of the New York Giants. There’s just a couple of problems: he turned 38 on Thursday, and he hasn’t had a productive season in, well, quite a while.

Which is why general manager Dave Gettleman didn’t make any promises to Manning during a Wednesday press conference.

“He’s saying he doesn’t see a future for Eli,” former NFL linebacker and Super Bowl champion Mark Herzlich said on Taz & The Moose. “He wanted to stay as non-committal as he possibly could, but you could tell he let his emotions kind of get in the way a little bit.”

Manning threw for 4,299 yards, 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions this season. At times, he appeared unable to stretch the field, often dumping the ball to Saquon Barkley.

The result? A 5-11 season.

Ultimately, what is the best course of action for the Giants and for Manning?

“I think the best course of action for the Giants and the best course of action for Eli are two different things,” Herzlich said. “If the Giants can restructure his contract and get him to stick around for a year and be the mentor for a young quarterback, that would be best-case scenario for the Giants. Now, that being said, that’s what a lot of people, including me, thought was going to happen this year.”

The Giants, however, drafted Barkley with the second overall pick. The Penn State product responded with 2,000+ total yards and 15 touchdowns (11 rushing, four receiving).

Still, the Giants don’t have their quarterback of the future.

“I think what will end up happening is Eli is going to say, ‘Look, if I’m going to be the backup, I don’t want to be here,’” Herzlich said. “Because he still thinks he has time left to play. When Gettleman says, ‘I’m going to watch film until my eyes bleed,’ that’s not film on Eli; that’s film on every other quarterback possibility in the country.”

In other news, Herzlich weighed in on the drama surrounding Antonio Brown in Pittsburgh. The Giants, of course, have their own issues with Odell Beckham Jr.

“It would drive me absolutely crazy,” Herzlich said of Brown’s antics. “It would drive me nuts. First of all, that starts with the head coach, and as much as I love Mike Tomlin and as much as he might not deserve the blame for these antics, I saw it happen to Ben McAdoo.”

McAdoo, 41, served as Giants offensive coordinator from 2014-15 and head coach from 2016-17.

“He came in, we had a good season, and Odell started doing things that were distractions for the team,” said Herzlich, who played for the Giants from 2011-17. “And Ben McAdoo, who is a young coach – which Mike Tomlin is not – let those things go for a long period of time. Then when it was time to put his foot down, he could only put his foot down to Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. There was this unfair balance of power: ‘This guy can break the rules, but I can’t?’ It’s a double standard. Once you lose the respect of the locker room, then you have a tough time coming back. I think Antonio Brown is in that same category. The fan base has got to be losing their mind.”