ALBANY, N.Y. — The Giants don’t think being the highest-paid player in the NFL will change Eli Manning. Nothing seems to.
“He is a franchise quarterback,” Giants general manager Jerry
Reese said Wednesday. “He has done everything we asked him to do. He has come in, taken a lot of flack from you guys (the media) and he just keeps going. He does what we ask him on the field and he does what we ask him to do off the field. He is a good football player.”
The easygoing New Orleans native, who took over as the Giants’ starter midway through his rookie season in 2004, has proven a worthy No. 1 overall draft pick. In his first four NFL seasons, Manning has won a Super Bowl and was MVP of the game, helped his team to the playoffs all four years and is coming off his first Pro Bowl season.
Now he’s set to make more money than even older brother Peyton.
Eli Manning agreed to a six-year, $97 million contract extension, an average salary of roughly $15.3 million, according to a person close to the talks. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal was not signed and had not been announced, said Manning is guaranteed $35 million under the deal that will keep him with the
Giants through the 2015 season.
The extension will pay Manning $200,000 per year more than Raiders all-pro cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, who agreed to a three- year, $45.3 million deal this year.
Peyton Manning earns an average of $14.17 million annually with the Colts. Carolina defensive end Julius Peppers has Eli Manning beat this season, when he will make $16.7 million — but it’s only
a one-year deal.
Manning’s Pro Bowl season last year included 3,238 passing yards and 21 touchdown passes. He also threw only 10 interceptions, 10 fewer than the previous season.
