On Monday, the New York Giants announced that they are not only retiring Eli Manning’s No. 10 jersey, but they are bringing back the Ole Miss alum and Super Bowl champion in a business operations and fan engagement role.
Fan engagement shouldn’t be much of an issue for Manning as he has taken the Twitter universe by storm since his retirement in 2020 (He never had a Twitter during his 16-year career). Exempting the consistent sloppy joe and working out in khaki tweets, here are 10 of Manning’s best Twitter posts up to this point.
1. Eli debuts with a Hoosiers reference
To begin his new career as a ‘Tweeter,’ Manning utilized one of the best sports movie lines in history. In a slight alteration of the famous Jimmy Chitwood quote, Manning wrote, “I don’t know if it’ll make any change, but I figure it’s time for me to start playing social media.” *The rest of Twitter erupted in applause*
2. The Brady-Manning rivalry hits social media
In a rivalry that has become nothing but good, clean fun (at least that’s what they want us to think), Tom Brady welcomed Manning to Twitter in the most fitting way imaginable. Manning quickly retaliated, wishing Brady the worst in his upcoming charity golf challenge, which just happened to be against Peyton Manning. Brady and teammate Phil Mickelson did eventually fall to the team of Peyton and Tiger Woods.
3. Eli turns the shots toward Peyton
On the actual day of Capitol One’s “The Match: Champions for Charity,” Eli sent out a multitude of tweets taking jest-filled shots at big brother Peyton. In one of them, he wrote, “Heard Peyton say he wants me to be his caddie. I would, but I can’t always carry the team.” In another (as seen above), he did admit that Peyton may be a better golfer, however, he’ll never be a better dancer. Just ask Odell Beckham, Jr.
4. Happy birthday, Eli
On Manning’s birthday this past January, his Giants were getting ready to face off against the archrival Dallas Cowboys while Manning was having an outfit crisis. He later posted another tweet in which he was wearing his jersey prior to the game, but did he end up changing at halftime? The world will never know.
5. Eli gets Eli’ed by an old teammate
Manning was known as a practical joker throughout the course of his career, and old teammate Shaun O’Hara didn’t waste any time to get back at his old quarterback. O’Hara not only welcomed Manning to Twitter with a comical photo of the quarterback, but he ended up putting that same photo on a mask and giving it to Manning.
6. Destroying Chris Simms’ career in one tweet
Back in March, Manning came across an old magazine that featured him and Chris Simms during their college days. Manning then proceeded to tweet out, “Found this old Magazine today. I forgot Chris Simms played football.” Simms’ playing career didn’t necessarily pan out as he played in just 23 NFL games while Manning went on to win two Super Bowls. Nevertheless, Simms, who went on to create a more than respectable career as a broadcaster, kept the pettiness clean with the humorous reply of “Haha. Well good afternoon Eli!! I can take it from the 2nd best Giants quarterback of all time,” referencing his father, Phil, who was also a legendary Giants quarterback.
7. Staying in shape
Once Eli noticed Ja’Marr Chase ran an electrifying 40-yard dash at LSU’s pro day, he decided it was a good time to facetiously show off his staying in shape since retiring. 210 lbs. for 10 reps, in theory, would make for a 280 lb. one rep max. Just saying! Manning’s pro day > Chase’s pro day
8. The Brady-Manning social media ‘rivalry’ continues
Last month, Tom Brady told NFL Draft-A-Thon that he would trade two of his seven Super Bowl rings in order to go 19-0 during the 2007-2008 season—in which his Patriots ultimately went 18-1 after falling in Super Bowl XLII to Manning and the Giants. Manning had a simple, one-word response to this hypothetical notion from Brady: “Never.”
9. Taking his talents to a new game
Pre-game jitters recently hit Manning once again as he was forced to take the mound in his 8-year-old daughter’s softball game. Regarding if he got the W or not, he never followed up on this tweet…
10. First office ever!
After Monday’s announcement, Manning went to Twitter to express excitement for not only his new job but for his first-ever office. Congrats, Eli! We all look forward to seeing what you accomplish in your new role.
