Eli to the Giants-Maybe some insight into why teams with lots of talent don't win

The semi-slow period on the NFL calendar affords us time to take a trip in the wayback machine, 22 years to the spring of 2004, when Eli Manning was a fresh-faced Ole Miss product entering the draft.

The story is well-known at this stage.

The San Diego Chargers held the No. 1 pick. Manning, the top prospect, didn't want to play for the club. Eventually, the Chargers selected him but traded the QB to the New York Giants in exchange for Philip Rivers (No. 4 selection). Manning would go on to win two Super Bowls with Big Blue.

In a recent episode of "Bussin' with the Boys", Manning detailed his reasoning for not wanting to play in San Diego, noting a disconnect with the team brass and ownership.

"I just didn't feel like they were the most committed team to winning at the time," Manning said. "Marty Schottenheimer was the head coach, he 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, he's 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 whole lot of agreement on things and they were committed to building a great winning franchise at that moment."

Perhaps the Chargers can thank Manning's spurning for jump-starting a better commitment to winning. San Diego went to the playoffs in five of the next six seasons after the Manning rejection, and while the Chargers couldn't get over the postseason hump, they deployed some excellent teams led by Rivers, Hall of Famers LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates, Shawne Merriman, etc. After going eight seasons without a postseason bid before 2004, the Chargers, who moved to L.A. in 2017, haven't gone more than four campaigns in a row without reaching the playoffs, including back-to-back wild-card berths under Jim Harbaugh.

The discord part of the equation was more or less known as the reason Manning didn't want to play in the lovely city of San Diego. A new tidbit Manning relayed was that it was his decision, not his father, Archie, meddling.

"My parents really weren't supportive," Manning said of his decision to reject the Chargers. "My dad didn't like the idea. He came to my defense and supported me after everything was going down. ... Afterward, he took the brunt of a lot of the criticism. People were saying, 'You played in New Orleans. All those years you didn't win. So you are trying to dictate where your son is going.' He just kind of bit his tongue and said, 'This is what Eli wants to do. I support him.' He kind of did some media to save me from taking all the hits."

Manning also noted that the Cleveland, who held the No. 7 pick, considered trading for his services, but the QB's agent, Tom Condon, nixed that idea as well.

In the end, it all worked out for Manning, who won a pair of Super Bowl MVPs for the Giants.

The new sliver of news from this is that Archie backed his son and never let on for more than two decades that he disagreed with Eli's initial decision. That's fathering.