Giants reportedly are set to offer Peyton’s little brother way more than any sane sports fan thinks he’s worth

SCOTT JACOBS

The Yankees and Mets have been throwing money out at free agents all offseason.  Apparently their football bretherin, the Giants feel left out.  Not even a week after splattering all over national television in a garbage performance, the Giants are on the verge of handing Eli Manning a $120 million contract.  Now I know what you’re thinking: what kind of sick joke is this, Scott?  But no, I’m not kidding. This is a real story.

Now why the Giants would do this is beyond my level of comprehension.  $120 million over seven or eight years?  Why not just take $50 million and light it on fire?  At least that would be amusing to watch go up in flames.  You see, I’ve never liked Eli.  Not since he/his father trashed the Chargers organization back in 2004.  But this isn’t even about that.  The Giants are about to make Eli the highest paid player in football history.

Forget about money for a minute.  Is Eli the best quarterback in the game?  No!  I’d argue that if he’s top five, that even that is cutting it close.  Is Eli The Giants?  In other words, if you take him out of New York and place him in say Detroit, does he instantly make the Lions a much, much better team?  I say no.  On the other hand, take a healthy Brady or Peyton and they woud instantly improve the Lions or any other QB needy team.

Does Eli have that it factor?  You know that larger then life persona that goes beyond the field.  That superstar presence that makes him worthy of being the highest paid player in the sport?  Uh, not even close. Eli is barely even the face of the franchise.  I mean yeah, people know Eli, but do casual fans know him like say a Peyton or a LT?  Again, I say no.

Is Eli the type of player who is only going to get better?  That’s the tricky question here.  Eli had the highest QB rating (86.4) of his career in 2008.  And his touchdow numbers have been relatively consistent although they’ve gone slightly downhill lately (from 24 in 05 and 06 to just 21 this year). Another interesting point of emphasis is the interception situation.  In 2008 Manning threw just 10 picks.  But from 05 to 07 he was a big fan of tossing the ball to the other team (in fact he led the NFL in picks in 2007).  So was 2008 the start of a turnover free Eli, or just an abberation?

These are the questions my friends.

Eli is durable though.  Since his rookie year he has started all 64 regular season games, and that doesn’t include the playoffs, which he has also failed to miss a start. His completion percentage has gone up every year with the lone exception being 2007.  He’s a winner.  Since a miserable 1-6 start to his much hyped Giants career, little Manning has gone 41-23.  He’s also been a Super Bowl MVP.  Take away the 2007 playoffs though and Eli is 0-3 when the lights shine brightest (including this year’s clunker against the Eagles).

That’s the debate if you look at it through numbers.

If you look at it through common sense, then this is what I have to say: are you freaking crazy New York Football Giants?  Making Eli Manning the highest paid player in the NFL is beyond absurd.  It’s mortifying.  Before their miracle 2007 Super Bowl run, fans were ready to kick him to the curb and start anew.  Now he deserves to be paid like royalty?

Since that shaky regular season finish the Giants have gone 16-5, which is impressive, but how much of that is simply because of Eli?

Eli is a good player.  He is a hard worker, a durable guy, and it takes a lot to bring his confidence down.  But $120 million?  No way Jose is he worth that kind of money.  Do you think of him in the same breath as even Donovan McNabb?  If anything they’re close, but I don’t think Eli is better.  And not even McNabb makes that kind of dough.

The Giants want to lock up Eli for the rest of his career.  Fine.  I don’t have an issue with that. But I do have a major beef about the price they’re throwing at him, as the rest of the country shakes their head in disbelief.  The economy is in a recession, and people are losing their jobs left and right, but yeah, it makes perfect sense to shell out a buck twenty to a guy who had one miracle post-season, a pretty good regular season, and hasn’t really done anything else in his short career.

C’mon Giants!  Get a clue.

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