Davis Webb may well be the heir apparent to Eli Manning as the New York Giants quarterback, but the team’s owner thinks that labeling him as such would be getting ahead of themselves.
Owner John Mara told the “Rich Eisen Show” on Tuesday that Webb, the team’s third-round pick, isn’t necessarily going to succeed Manning as the Giants’ quarterback.
“Well, I am in the room with [GM Jerry Reese] and I do give the final approval to everybody we take,” Mara said, via Will Brinson of CBS Sports. “But I was hoping we would take a quarterback at some point. I’ve always held a belief that you can never draft too many of them. I think it’s a little premature to be anointing this guy as the heir apparent to Eli — he hasn’t set foot on the field yet. But he’s got a lot of talent and we’re looking forward to seeing what we’ve got when he gets here. But as Bill Parcells used to say, let’s not get his bust ready for Canton.
“He’s a talented guy but let’s let him get on the field, let’s let him play in the preseason and develop and if he’s the successor that’s great, but if not we’ll find somebody else.”
The Giants know that Manning is entering the twilight of his career. It seems like an attempt to keep pressure off Webb by avoiding placing too much expectation on him, but the statement that the team will look elsewhere if Webb doesn’t show them something may add some unintended pressure.
