Sure, everybody makes fun of his "Aw, Shucks" face, but when it comes to payday in the National Football League, this guy is no joke.
Giants quarterback Eli Manning is about to join the exclusive $100 Million QB Club.
Despite Sunday’s ugly loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Manning is getting a fat new contract. And he’s going to get paid as much as some of the top quarterbacks in the league – even more than his big bro Peyton earns from the Indianapolis Colts.
Manning’s current contract expires after next season and word on the street has it the Giants are taking steps to give him a new deal worth about $15 million per season – the highest in the league – according to the Daily News.
The deal would earn last year’s Super Bowl MVP about $1 million more than his brother Peyton makes on the seven-year-deal he signed with the Colts a few years ago.
Right now seven quarterbacks are members of the $100 million-plus club. Only Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb (12 years, $115 million), Cincinnati’s Carson Palmer (9 years, $118.8 million – though this year was a waste because he barely played because of an elbow injury), and ex-Falcons QB, current convict Michael Vick (10 years, $130 million) would make more than Mr. Big Blue.
But apparently, the hefty contract is a sum the Giants are more than happy to pay.
Local
It all started after Manning led the Giants to an unlikely Super Bowl victory over the then undefeated New England Patriots in 2008. That got the ball rolling. Manning had a fantastic regular season with the Giants this year, going 12-4, and as for the pathetic 15-29, 169 yard, 2-interception game he put up in the divisional playoffs against the Eagles, the Giants management essentially said: So what? He’s still our guy.
"You would like to be as good as you possibly can be all the time and Eli feels the exact same way," head coach Tom Coughlin said 24 hours after the Giants' season ended this year, reported the Daily News. "Am I concerned? Sure. You'd like to have it be a lights-out day every time we play. But we'll take care of that. It will get better and he'll get better."
Manning is expected to get a seven- or eight-year contract ranging from $110-$120 million with $40 million in guarantees, according to the paper.
Judging from the lunacy that broke out in the parking lot of the Meadowlands after Sunday's ugly loss, it could get pretty hairy if this deal doesn't work out.
