The New York Giants and Eli Manning are in something of contract negotiations but currently seem to be very far apart on the matter, which comes down to the usual argument of how good is Manning, regardless of the Super Bowl rings he has.
Manning and his agent want the same deal Ben Roethlisberger got from the Steelers. He signed a five year deal three months ago, receiving a $31 million signing bonus and overall making $99 million over the five years. Roethlisberger has two Super Bowl rings, Manning does too. Tom Condon, Manning’s agent, claims Manning brings more than just the numbers and production on the field.
What exactly? Well, that’s a secret between Manning and the front office. In short, Manning, who played well last season and might have finally put his interception-filled days behind him, as long as the offensive line holds up, wants to be paid like the group of the best quarterbacks in the league, or to be part of the trend of really well paid franchise quarterbacks: Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Newton, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco and Drew Brees, the six QBs with an average of over $20 million per year in salary.
Condon is an agent of both Ryan and Brees, so he has a knack of getting what he wants for his clients. But the Giants feel that Manning isn’t the reason they won the two Super Bowls, and is also part of the reason why they haven’t made the playoffs since 2011. Giving so much of the cap space to him might hurt their attempts of further rebuilding this team.
Quarterbacks usually get what they want. A million here and there? That’s not that much considering the overall sums involved, although sometimes deals blow up over what is viewed from the outside as merely insignificant change. Maybe the Giants will simply give Manning the franchise tag next season (worth about $23 million) and try to dodge the long-term contract bullet that way with a player that’s done a lot for them, but might not be good enough to lead them for too many years in the future, certainly not to Super Bowl success.