New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is entering the final year of the six-year, $97.5 million extension he signed prior to the 2010 season. Will the Giants offer the veteran a new deal or let him play out the final year of his current contract?
Since signing that extension, Manning and the Giants have won a Super Bowl, but that was their lone playoff appearance. The team also owns a 41-39 record over those five seasons while Manning has led the league in interceptions twice (2010 and 2013). The 34-year-old will earn $17 million this upcoming season, and given the team's long-term uncertainty, it's unknown if they want to give Manning a contract that will pay him $20 million per season, which he's likely to command when the time comes.
At the end of the 2014 season both Manning and co-owner John Mara spoke of the impending contract situation, with Manning saying "it's not a focus" of his and Mara expressing interest in keeping the two-time Super Bowl champion. Perhaps this offseason will be telling of the Giants' future plans because they have notable players - Antrel Rolle, Jason Pierre-Paul, Stevie Brown and others - hitting the free agent market.
"Yeah, we would like [Eli] to retire as a Giant," Mara said, via Jordan Raanan of NJ.com. "That is where he should be. We still think we can win a championship with him and he is still playing at a high level. Of course we would like to keep him."
"I've never really been worried about contract stuff. I let all that handle itself. My concern is getting better for next year," Manning told Ebenezer Samuel of the New York Daily News.
After the 2013 season the Giants brought in Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach Ben McAdoo to run the offense. After just one year under his West Coast system, Manning and the Giants made significant strides. They lost wide receiver Victor Cruz early in the year, but rookie Odell Beckham Jr. stepped up and had a historic season, which has given the team some hope moving forward. But do they have everything figured out as well as they would like to before potentially giving Manning a new lucrative extension prior to the 2015 season?
"It simply might not make sense for the Giants to empty the coffers for Manning before they have to," writes Paul Schwartz of the New York Post. "He will cost $19.75 million on the 2015 salary cap. That's some heavy lifting for the Giants, and with so much long-term uncertainty surrounding the team, from the head coach on down, it might be unwise to saddle the organization with a mega-deal that a year from now could be viewed as a financial albatross."
Perhaps the Giants' performance in 2015 will dictate whether or not the front office feels paying Manning $20 million per season is a prudent investment. There's no doubting Manning's abilities, it's just that there may not be incentive to give Manning another large deal with a lot of other unanswered questions surrounding the team.
