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The San Francisco 49ers have back-to-back prime time games coming up on their schedule. They host the Oakland Raiders on Thursday Night Football later this week, and then host the New York Giants on Monday Night Football in Week 10.
All three teams currently have one win and are in some state of turmoil. Now, the Giants might be looking to take a step up in that regard. Their offense has been a mess with Eli Manning at quarterback, and a change could happen in advance of MNF. The Giants are headed into their bye week after a home loss to Washington, and Manning’s starting status for Week 10 is up in the air.
Eli Manning said he wants and expects to remain the Giants’ starting quarterback, but acknowledges it’s up to coach Pat Shurmur to make that decision. Shurmur said “we’ll see” when asked if Manning will start vs. 49ers after bye week.
— Bob Glauber (@BobGlauber) October 29, 2018
The Giants have two other quarterbacks on the roster, Alex Tanney and Kyle Lauletta. The Giants drafted Lauletta in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft, and then signed Tanney as a free agent after the draft. Tanney has bounced around the league since entering as a UDFA in 2012. He is currently their active backup on game days, while Lauletta has been inactive all eight weeks thus far.
My guess is Manning gets the start, but if the Giants are going to figure out their long-term quarterback situation, it would seem to make sense to get Lauletta some action. If the Giants end up with the No. 1 overall pick, they might decide Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert is the pick. A half season of Kyle Lauletta is not necessarily enough to firmly evaluate what he can do, but it would seem to give them more useful data points for their 2019 offseason than if they sat him the whole season.
Either way, the NFL will get two straight weeks of the 49ers playing another bad team in prime time. Get ready for the excitement!