t may be a little early for Giants hate, but the Eli Manning story got me thinking. The New York Giants gave Eli a $97 contract yesterday. The deal makes Eli the highest paid NFL player in the game. Did the Giants misunderstand the Cash for Clunkers program?

I will give Eli his due. He won the Super Bowl. Not only did he win a Super Bowl, but he beat arguably the best team in NFL history. On top of that, Eli didn’t hide behind a defense or Hall of Fame running back. Eli made clutch throws, maybe throwing the greatest touchdown pass in Super Bowl history.

Yet, for every great Super Bowl winning quarterback you can name another one who never did it again. For whatever reason, things just fell into place for that quarterback to win a championship. Is Eli Manning the real deal or is he a guy that benefited from tremendous talent and great coaching?

The Giants obviously felt that Eli is the real deal. The Giants feel that not only is he the real deal but that he is the best player in the NFL. That’s right. Eli Manning’s deal makes him the highest paid player in the entire league. I’ll give the guy his Super Bowl, but you have to be freaking kidding me if you expect me to believe he is the best in the NFL.

I have watched a lot of Eli Manning and I can tell you, he is an average quarterback. As an Eagles fan, I have never felt the fear of an Eli Manning fourth-quarter comeback. Without Plaxico, Eli performed as a mediocre quarterback at best. Giants’ fans should prepare themselves for six more years of this because he isn’t going anywhere.

The cold facts on Eli Manning tell the real story here. Does 73 Games, 14,623 Yards, 56%, 98 TD, 74 INT and a whopping 76.1 QB Rating make you the second best player in the NFL? He has lost his opening playoff game 3 of the last 4 years. Does one great year make you the second highest paid player in the game? It did yesterday thanks to the Giants.

Here is the problem in all of this. Manning’s deal will now escalate NFL salaries to ridiculous proportions. I am not one of these guys that complain about athlete salaries but I am worried about the game here. There is going to come a point where the bubble will burst and the league will wind up in shutdown mode. That is something I don’t want to see.

The Giants have also boxed themselves into a big corner here. Eli didn’t look so great without Plaxico last year. Plaxico is long gone and so is an elite wide receiver. How are the Giants going to go out and sign a big free agent receiver when they are capped thanks to Eli? Giants’ fans have Eli for the next six years, but do they have six winning seasons to look forward to?

So in the end, Eli gets his $97, his parents probably get their tenth home, and the fans will now sit back and watch players hold out for ridiculous salaries. Is there any logical reason that Eli Manning needed to be paid as the highest player in the NFL? Would Eli Manning have walked and gotten the deal elsewhere? Would the Giants have a hard time replacing Eli Manning? The answer is no so there really is no other explanation for the deal.

I think the Giants either misunderstood Obama’s program or someone has pictures on Jerry Reese.

Your favorite NFL teams and players gone big – Fathead.com

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