The 2004 NFL Draft is most known for the quarterback drama that played out at the top of the draft with Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, and Ben Roethlisberger. It was a crazy lead up to that draft with the Manning family saying they wouldn't play for the San Diego Chargers.

If you are like us, you might have forgetten the details on how things played out 17 years ago on draft day. Do you remember how big of a surprise it was to just about everyone that Rivers ended up going to Giants at 4th overall? 

Today we go back to that day in 2004 and get a behind-the-scenes look from an NFL Films documentary.

Let's go back and fill in those gaps on today’s episode. 

Along the way, we discuss:  

• Eli Manning and Archie Manning manipulating their way out of playing for the Chargers
• The interaction between Giants GM Ernie Accorsi and Chargers GM AJ Smith that made the trade happen
• Ben Roethlisberger’s agent Leigh Steinberg’s role and behind the scenes look at him prepping his client
• Big Ben being a bit dramatic
• Philip Rivers just happy to be involved having no clue what was going on as it played put
• Plus we redraft the top 10! There were a lot of other quality players in this draft and some even went undrafted
• Leigh Steinberg's reaction to Roethlisberger falling.
• Where each of the quarterbacks sit on the all-time list.

We'll hit these things and more on the show. 

If you'd like to go back and watch this documentary as well, we have it listed on our website here: https://distantreplaypodcast.com/ep-73-the-2004-nfl-draft-eli-to-the-giants/