VIDEO: Eli Manning Says Giants Forbade Him from Riding the Subway: ‘I Could Get Pushed in Front of a Train’ Perry Knotts/Getty Images

Eli Manning spent the entirety of his 16-year career playing for the New York Giants. However, despite that, he recently revealed on social media that he took the subway for the first time this past week.

Moreover, Manning now reveals that the Giants actually forbade him from rising on the subway for fear that someone might push him onto the tracks.

During Monday night’s ManningCast, Eli’s co-host and elder brother, Peyton, expressed bewilderment that his younger sibling had never ridden the subway during his entire playing career in New York.

“Eli, this was very shocking to me; I thought you were a man of the people,” he said. “You’ve lived there since 2004. First time riding the Subway? Disappointed.”

Eli responded with a brief geography lesson, pointing out that the Giants play in New Jersey and NYC subway travel wasn’t necessary. However, the former Giant signal-caller then revealed that he couldn’t have ridden the subway even if he wanted to.

“It was in my contract when I was playing,” Manning explained. “I wasn’t allowed to ride the subway. I could get pushed in front of a train.”

It’s not unusual for NFL teams to impose seemingly bizarre and peculiar restrictions on athletes. Many contracts include language forbidding athletes from engaging in activities that could injure or harm them and prevent them from fulfilling their duties to the team.

Typically, these restrictions include riding motorcycles, surfing, rock climbing, skiing, skateboarding, and other similarly dangerous recreational activities. In the NYC area, the Giants clearly view subway riding as a potentially dangerous activity,

These concerns are not unmerited. In 2021, 21 people were shoved in front of trains; the following year, that number exceeded 25. A celebrity such as a star football player—especially a quarterback—could very easily become the target of such an attack.

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