Giants putting Eli Manning on 'pitch count' ahead of 14th season

The New York Giants seem to be doing everything they can to keep their leader fresh as he enters the latter stages of his pro career.

As general manager Jerry Reese explained on the eve of training camp Thursday, Eli Manning will have his practice workload monitored both before and during his 14th season.

"You can call it a pitch count. You can frame it like that. You can frame it however you like," Reese said Thursday, according to Jordan Raanan of ESPN. "That's a good way to frame it if you like."

"We want to make sure that he is fresh in the games late in the year and hopefully going into the playoffs. We want him to be fresh and ready to go."

Manning enters his age-36 season looking to bounce back from an up-and-down year in which he managed to throw for 4,027 yards along with 26 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

The Giants will be hoping that Manning can regain his form from a season prior when he put together one of his most productive campaigns.

Anything close to that 35-touchdown output would go a long way toward improving upon New York's 25th-ranked offensive standing in 2016 and thus providing a suitable complement to what's now one of the league's most well-rounded defenses.