The (Proposed) Manning Deal

Eli Eli Eli. Highest paid QB in the NFL? Come on now. Making Eli Manning the highest paid QB in the league would be a contract solely based off what he’s done (2 Superbowls - of which I’m very grateful for) but a sane front office knows that a contract should be based on predicted future performance, to avoid leaving, what I call, dead money, on the table. Eli’s 34 now and it’s hard to make the argument that his best days lie ahead. Yes, he does have one of the best young receiving corps on his side but the Cruz-Nicks duo of 2013 wasn’t bad on paper and Eli still threw a whopping 27 picks (yes, I suppose that offense was a debacle all around). I say see what Eli can do this year. 2nd year with the new offense, healthy RB’s, uber-talent receivers, the o-line is so-so but it has been and will be until they can find a legitimate anchor. If Eli can get the G-Men back to the playoffs, which [t]he[y] haven’t managed to do since winning it all in 2011, then sure, go ahead and pay the guy. But if you pay him now and the Giants struggle, then what? In that scenario (one where the Giants miss the playoffs), Coughlin is most likely gone (McAdoo too?), and you’ve spent all this money on Eli that could be allocated towards other upcoming team free agents (Amukamara, J. Brown, DeOssie, Jenkins, McClain, RANDLE, J. Jones? Fells?) and the outside free agency pool (which the Giants never seem to win). I’m just saying, letting Eli go isn’t the worst thing for the future outlook of this franchise. Especially if the timing is right for him to leave with Coughlin, paying Eli his due diligence - if there is such a thing. There’s plenty of good young college QB’s (Hackenberg, Cook, 12 Gauge, Goff, Kiel, Kessler, etc.) that will be draft eligible in the upcoming drafts that would look mighty fine in big blue. 

I love the goof ball and I think in the end he will be a Giant, but I think Jerry Reese needs to look at this proposed deal long and hard before any ink is set to paper.