The Draw Play

The time has come to reveal the truth. I was hoping to keep this under wraps forever, but with the recent Bryan Colangelo twitter burner account news, Kevin Durant’s burner account news, and the older news of Roger Goodell’s wife having burner accounts to defend the commissioner, I feel as if I have little choice before I am found out. This way, I can control the terms. I control the narrative.

I am Eli Manning.

I started The Draw Play because it was Coach Gilbride’s favorite play back when he was my coach. I got the idea after we won the 2011 Super Bowl, because I wanted a place where I could comment on the league. As an NFL QB in New York, I don’t get much of an opportunity to speak my mind and joke about things that other teams go through or even criticize my own team. I just can’t do it without obscene scrutiny. Having an outlet here has been therapeutic.

After years I’ve had time to cultivate my own voice. I got to poke a little bit fun at myself. It was nice to push the narrative that I am a mouth-breathing idiot who eats rocket pops (though rocket pops are delicious) because that just threw off the scent and I knew it was not true. I am Eli Manning. I’m glad people can now see me for who I am. A talented artist who also makes millions of dollars. It’s a dream life. I can’t pretend I’m not blessed.

I could never risk injury during the games so I always went down on threat of contact. If I got hurt, I wouldn’t be able to draw, and you guys would notice. I’ve gone to great lengths to hide my identity, but the world is different now. It was only a matter of time before people noticed. If you’ve ever thought I was biased towards Eli…well now you know why. It’s hard to not want to defend myself in the wake of criticism. It can hurt when someone I’ve never even met thinks and says horrible things about me.

The character of Draw Play Dave has made it easier to distance myself and more fun. I made him as bland as possible. If he was just a straight up New Yorker who lived in NY it might be too stereotypical. By making him generic hipster from a pacific NW city with no football team it was easier to make him a blank slate that I could attach any personality to. In time, he really became a part of me. But he’s not real. The Instagram account linked here? Just a guy I pay to occasionally take pictures of himself. Pretty sweet deal for him. His name is James. He requested I keep his last name private.

So as I’m sure you are all trying to figure out how this could possibly be true, I invite questions. Ask me anything. Ask me how I learned to draw, how Peyton likes his eggs, anything. It’s time to take the Draw Play to a new stage. A stage of truth. I will answer everything I can in the next few days.

Due to the obvious shockwave this will cause across the fandom I will not be making a comic for Saturday. It is a time to be with my family, who has come up to stay with me in this stressful time. Except Cooper. We don’t actually like Cooper.