The Giants and Eli Manning are in the flirting stage of what seems like an inevitable mega-deal that will keep the two-time Super Bowl champion in East Rutherford, New Jersey, until he's almost 40. In the meantime, though, Manning's agent is feeling free to list all the reasons why it needs to get done sooner.
"The Giants have always been a solid organization, and Eli obviously is a unique human being and a terrific guy, so I think he's uniquely suited to be the New York Giant quarterback," Tom Condon said Wednesday on Sirius XM, via The New York Post. "I don't know of anybody else who could handle that New York media and the scrutiny and all the pressure that goes with that the way that he does. He's truly is unflappable."
Typically, siding with an agent or team during dense negotiations like these is an exercise in fandom. There is no side operating without a massive bias.
But in this case, Condon is absolutely right. There are very, very few quarterbacks who can handle the position in the New York market, and Manning has done an exemplary job for more than a decade.
Our short-term memory takes us back to the Mark Sanchez era, during which fellow players complained about their leader being babied by the organization, or shielded after particularly jarring losses or controversies. In a different era, the team's former first-round pick, Richard Todd, hurled a New York Post reporter in a locker.
For all the Giants have been through -- both highs and lows -- Manning has been an asset who they don't have to worry about. During his aggressively insipid media sessions, the team can just wind him up and let him go. It's no different in a six-game losing streak than it is in the wee hours after a Super Bowl victory.
There's something to be said about that kind of mental capacity. If nothing else, the Giants have a consummate CEO in Manning, and need to pay him as such to keep him around.
*The latest Around The NFL Podcast discusses the eight most intriguing training camp battles heading into the season. *
