Just in case you've decided to take the last year off of watching football, or you don't particularly care for the New York Giants, here's a primer on Eli Manning's contract situation:
The 34-year-old two-time Super Bowl champion is entering the final year of a seven-year, $106.9 million contract. The Giants had an opportunity to extend him last offseason and shave some room into their budget but opted against it.
They had a second opportunity this offseason to hand him an extension, but as ESPN's Dan Graziano reported a few weeks ago, it seems like both sides are comfortable heading into the lame-duck year without a new deal.
What's changed? Nothing. Manning is cool with it. The Giants are cool with it. There's no rush to make Manning the second 2004 quarterback out of the big three to land a mega-deal (Ben Roethlisberger signed a five-year, $99 million deal in mid-March and Philip Rivers doesn't seem interested in inking one with the Chargers).
So that brings us to Sunday where, at a charity event in the city, Manning reiterated this just so everyone understands.
"I've known a lot of people who have gone into their last year, my brother went into the last year of his contract twice, and that's just part of it," Manning said Sunday via Newsday. "I look at it as, hey, I signed a six-year contract and I never once mentioned the contract to them or anything, or tried to get extended. I'm going to play out those six years and hopefully my play and the success of the team will dictate the future of me being in New York."
As Newsday noted, Manning has the second-highest base salary ($17 million) in the NFL for 2015. There is absolutely no need for him to sign a longer deal and flatten that out.
For the Giants, it gives them a chance to breathe after the 2015 season and think realistically about what they want to do.
Offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo will be two seasons in and up for a new deal as well. Tom Coughlin will be entering the final year of his contract. It's a logical evaluation point as the franchise hits a major crossroads.
By then, all sides should have a good idea as to whether or not a 35-year-old should get a new deal that takes him near 40.
Chances are he'll get one done. It's hard to see Manning playing for another franchise any time soon.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast conducts a redraft of the 2014 NFL Draft before chatting about this year's event with Daniel Jeremiah. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
