Beyond the smokescreens and rumors, it seems the New York Giants and Eli Manning are going to wrap things up with a new contract extension achieved before the new season begins.
Manning sees Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger getting massive extensions and he wants one as well, naturally, heading into the final season of his deal. Not that he’s in bad shape: He’s making $17 million in 2015 (base salary) and carries a cap hit of $19.75 million. Following what was the best season (statistically) of his career and with so many quarterbacks getting hefty raises, he wants in on it.
While there’s always an argument about how good Eli Manning really is and there have to be questions within the Giants about it as well, some facts can’t be ignored: He led the team to two Super Bowl victories, and has done a good job last season of curbing his interception numbers towards a more manageable spot. He’s far from perfect, but he’s more than worthy of the ‘franchise quarterback’ label, if it wasn’t clear by now, and it’s rare to see teams let one go unless they have something special waiting around the corner. The Giants don’t.
Is Manning looking to become the league’s highest paid player (on average, it’s Aaron Rodgers with $22 million per season)? Maybe he is, maybe he’ll settle for slightly less, it doesn’t really matter. The Giants won’t let Manning go because it doesn’t make sense taking a huge risk and entering some quarterback limbo, although putting too much money out of the salary cap into just the quarterback is usually a fine recipe for not winning the Super Bowl.