Tiki Barber won’t officially become a full-time journalist until he retires in five weeks when the New York Giants’ season ends, but the running back is already working on several stories for his new career – most notably a short documentary on draft busts.

            “I don’t necessarily always want to be stuck doing sports stories – I want to do hard news someday, too,” says Barber. “But I think I should start with what I know and I know football the best right now. And a story that’s really been weighing on my mind lately is draft busts and why teams stick with them long after they’ve proven themselves to be failures.”

            Giants quarterback Eli Manning, the league’s No. 1 overall draft pick in 2004, says Barber has asked to interview him for the documentary.

            “Golly, Tiki is such a swell guy and I’d be happy to help him out with anything,” says Manning. “But I told him I’m not quite sure how I could be of any use to him on this. I’m not a draft bust – at least that’s what my dad tells me. In fact, he says I’m coming along quite nicely.”

            Barber says he has already interviewed Tony Mandarich, Ryan Leaf, Brian Bosworth and Heath Shuler for the documentary, but knows he won’t be able to shop it to production companies or news programs until he gets Manning, too.

            “By the time this season is over I’m confident Eli will be ranked right up there among the biggest busts of all-time, so I can’t very well put a wrap on this until I get him,” said Barber. “It will be very disappointing if I don’t. But then I’m quite often disappointed by Eli Manning.”

            But Barber says he is confident he can get Manning in front of a camera.

            “Eli is always very agreeable after games because he’s afraid we’re going to beat him up for playing so poorly yet again, so he’ll do almost anything anyone on the team asks. So I think I’ll be able to interview him after we lose to the Cowboys this week,” said Barber. “And even if he refuses to admit in the interview that he is a total and complete failure as an NFL quarterback, I can use that in my documentary to show that some draft busts remain in denial of what they are even in the face of overwhelming evidence. It might be a nice, kind of tragic way to end the film.”