Eli Manning didn’t exactly shut down the idea of Arch Manning ending up with the New York Jets. If anything, he leaned right into it.
Speaking on the Pardon My Take podcast, the former Giants quarterback said, “For purely selfish reasons, I wouldn’t mind if [Arch] went to the Jets,” a line that instantly gives the crosstown conversation a little extra fuel.
The family already knows what it looks like to make noise in New York. Eli Manning delivered two Super Bowl titles to the Giants, and now his nephew is being discussed as a possible future answer for the Jets, who are trying to steady a shaky start to the season.
That start is already putting the draft on the radar. New York sits at 1-3, and the numbers aren’t flattering: PerThirtySix has the Jets with the third-worst Elo rating in the league, ahead of only the Tennessee Titans and Miami Dolphins. They also have the eighth-hardest remaining schedule by opponent win percentage, a tougher path than Tennessee and Miami, who are tied for 19th.
The Jets already beat the Titans in Week 1, and they still have two games left against the Dolphins, a team many view as the favorite for the No. 1 pick. Those meetings could matter a lot if New York can’t get itself back on track.
Arch Manning, meanwhile, is sitting at the center of a very different kind of conversation. He currently leads the No. 1-ranked Texas Longhorns and has the second-best odds to go first in the 2027 NFL draft, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Only Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith sits ahead of him.
New York also has a possible draft cushion. The Jets hold two additional first-round picks in the 2027 draft, one from the Indianapolis Colts and another from either the Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys, whichever is higher. Right now, they own the sixth, 11th, and 12th overall picks, which at least gives them the ammunition to move up if they decide to chase a quarterback.
The timing makes all of this even louder. After a promising opener in Nashville, the Jets have dropped three straight and now enter Week 5 at a crossroads in their 2026 season.
A loss to the Cleveland Browns at MetLife Stadium would send the conversation spinning even further toward the draft. A win would push them to 2-0 in the AFC, within one game of .500, and set up a chance to get there in Week 6 against the division-rival New England Patriots.
For now, the Arch-to-New York chatter has Eli’s stamp on it. And if the Jets can’t handle Deshaun Watson and the Browns, that talk is only going to get louder. Aaron Glenn will need his team to do the talking on Sunday if he wants the headlines to stay on football instead of next year’s draft - and whether he’ll even be running it.
In Other News...
Tennessees Arkansas Captains Reveal A Surprising Leadership Shift
Tennessees captaincy setup for Saturdays SEC matchup with Arkansas offers a small but notable glimpse into how the Vols are distributing leadership heading into another conference test. The group includes long snapper Bennett Brady, defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam, wide receiver Mike Matthews and safety TJ Metcalf, a cross-section of special teams, offense and defense that suggests the staff is leaning on voices from across the roster.
Arion Carter has been one of the steady fixtures in that role this season, so his absence from the captain group stands out even if it does not necessarily signal anything bigger than a weekly adjustment. Still, when a team makes a change like this heading into league play, it is usually worth watching, especially with Arkansas on deck and Tennessee looking for the right mix of leadership on both sides of the ball. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Just Took Another Early Recruiting Hit In The SEC
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Carrolls profile made him a priority worth tracking, with national buzz that placed him among the better prospects in his class and one of the top safeties in the country. For Tennessee, the miss carries some added sting because it fits a familiar early pattern in this cycle, with another defensive back the Vols chased ending up committed to an SEC rival. [Read more 🡒]
Miami Still Carries Huge Value As Its Apparel Switch Nears
College athletics apparel market keeps tightening around the same familiar names, with Nike, Adidas, Jordan Brand and Under Armour accounting for almost every major deal and Boston College still the lone outlier with New Balance. Against that backdrop, Tennessee has become part of a busy wave of schools reshuffling closets and contract language, as schools like Ole Miss move from Nike to Adidas and Miami prepares to head back to Nike. The latest rundown of the top 20 apparel agreements shows just how much these arrangements now matter, not only for branding but for the kind of long-term money that can shape a departments look and leverage.
For Tennessee, the fresh Adidas partnership sits near the top of the market, a sign of how aggressively brands are chasing premier football powers and the attention that comes with them. Penn State has also landed a major new deal this season, putting both schools at the center of one of the busiest stretches for apparel movement in recent memory. With contract expiration dates and annual payouts now tracked almost like recruiting rankings, the Volunteers remain one of the most important teams to watch as the next wave of school-and-brand decisions starts to sort itself out. [Read more 🡒]