ALBANY, N.Y. ? Eli Manning has agreed to a new six-year, $97 million contract extension with the New York Giants that will make him the highest paid player in the NFL with an average salary of roughly $15.3 million. A person close to the talks who asked not to be identified says Manning is guaranteed $35 million under the deal that will keep him with the Giants through the 2015 season. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal was not signed and had not been announced. There is a chance the deal could be signed Wednesday, but both sides wanted to review the contract, the person said. Manning, who led the Giants to a Super Bowl upset of the New England Patriots in February 2008 and was named the MVP of the game, was in the final year of the contract he signed as the No. 1 overall pick in 2004. He will make $9.4 million under that deal this season. Tom Condon, Manning's agent, was not immediately available for comment. The Giants had no immediate comment. This deal will give Manning an average salary that is roughly $200,000 higher than the one earned by All-Pro cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha of the Oakland Raiders. He agreed to a three-year, $45.3 million contract this year. The salary obviously also is higher than that earned by Manning's big brother, Peyton. The Indianapolis Colts quarterback earns an average of $14.17 million annually. The two sides have been discussing a contract for months, but they worked out the last details in recent days. While Manning's contract was to expire at the end of this season, there was little chance the Giants would lose him to free agency. They could have named him a franchise player and Manning has long said he wants to remain with the Giants. Eli Manning took over as the Giants starter midway through his rookie season and he has led New York to the playoffs in each of the past four seasons. Manning went to the Pro Bowl for the first time last season, completing 289 of 479 passes for 3,238 yards and 21 touchdowns. He also threw only 10 interceptions, 10 less than the previous season. Manning has started the last 71 games for New York, the third longest streak among active quarterbacks at the end of last season. During that span he has also become the first Giants quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards and at least 20 touchdowns in four consecutive seasons. PER FOXNEWS.COM
He is top 10. And look at the deal, the guaranteed money is low and it's incentive-laden; the odds of him making all he can are not especially high. They also got him to agree to play out his rookie contract, so the team has him for the next 7 years at a relatively cheap price this year.
When he's off, he looks like he wandered onto the field out of the stands, but ever since that Vikings debacle in 2007, those moments have been few and far between. He won a Super Bowl and put up a season where he picked his completion % up over 60 and slashed his INTs in half, while being without his security blanket target for most of the year. No, he's not an automatic, but there really aren't many who are. QBs get paid, that's how the league works. Not like it's going to tie the Giants up with the cap, since it seems like everybody figures out ways to work around it.
Eli is nothing special....he's a product of the talent around him. We all saw how effective he was without Burress in the lineup last season.
first off 9.4 million is relatively cheap? thats just nuts. also with a franchise QB the money that is guaranteed means diddly squat, even if it is incentive laden, and he meets none of the incentives at all its still like 75-85 million that his deal will be worth, and that is still way to high for an Eli manning type QB.
Not knocking him, but ponder how much money, directly or indirectly, his Super Bowl win put in his pocket. If you look at his stats, he wouldn't be in line for a contract anything like this one if he hadn't played so great down the stretch leading into that championship 2 years ago. Good for him.
I wouldn't put him in top 5 best qbs in the league but if someone is stupid enough to pay him that more power for him
9.4 mill a year for a QB that is on the south side of 30, just had his best (statistical) year, and has a Super Bowl MVP under his belt is actually lower than the market price set by Ben Roethlisberger. And where on earth on you getting those numbers? 35 million is guaranteed. 97-35=62. The number you've quoted is closer to what he could earn than what he will earn if "he meets none of the incentives." And let me ask you, did you really think he wouldn't get paid like this? He's a QB with a ring, they get paid. And it's not like the Giants had any options besides this, I would rather overpay Eli than go back to the Dave Brown and Kent Graham years.
And I love cogent, well-organized, and strongly debated points. Let me know if you have any... Oh, and even though I'm sure you know this, that kool-aid also comes in green. It's called being a fan.
hes an average qb on a great team. Is he one of the luckiest men alive? Yes, but after winning the superbowl the giants had no choice but to PAY him
Let's not forget that the highest payed player in Jets history has yet to take a snap in the NFL. This is how the financial dynamics of the league work.
