well, the cap is even harder than the NBA cap...but at this point it's large enough that the hardness isn't so important

it's not 2002 anymore

Hard cap was the wrong word. You know what I mean, the cap is much more manageable than in the NBA.

Basically I'm saying that if you sign the 6th best player at a position to a max contract in the NBA then you are losing a lot more value than if you sign the 6th best QB (or 8th or whatever) to a similar contract to all of the top guys.

QFT. Especially in Giants Stadium. How many QB's have played most of their career in Giants Stadium and been good? Simms, Eli, maybe Kenny O'Brien. I'm sure I'm missing a few, but it's a small group.

But more importantly:

YOU ****ED UP THE SPOILER WHATS WRONG WITH YOU

Whats the % chance there's no salary cap next year?

There is basically no salary cap now. It's almost a figment of the league's imagination at this point.

Franchise60: I'm going to stick my hand down this active garbage disposal. Its a bad decision, I know its a bad decision but my horoscope said I was going to do it so I really have no choice.

This is laughable. 12 teams made the playoffs last year- two of them had Rookie QBs who- while good for rookies- weren't great at all, or even good QBs. Two had journeyman veterans who can be had virtually every offseason. One had a QB coming off major elbow surgery who was a middle of the road QB taken from NFL Europe. One had a smart vet with no arm who was released in favor of Brett Favre's corpse.

You know what all these teams had in common? Great running games a defenses. Being competitive with 2nd string QBs and over the hill vets is much much easier when you have the kind of a team that the Giants have. Sure there are only a handful of guys who could take Arizona from last year to the Super Bowl, but there are 30 Trent Dilfer wannabes in the league that could make a run with a team like the Giants.

What is the WORST case scenario if you franchise Eli? You are paying him the most in the league now- so the average of the top 5 is LESS money. If someone else signs him you get to match if you want so its unlikely that he gets scooped up for some great contract- and if they do sign him you get 2 1st rounders for him. If he blows out his knee or arm you don't have to pay him top dollar since its only a 1 year deal. Where is the downside to all this? If Eli takes a big step forward is he going to suddenly command even more than the HIGHEST PAID PLAYER in the league?

There is basically 1 other team in the league (WAS) who throws around money like there is no tomorrow and needs (or thinks they need) a QB. Everyone else either has a QB or doesn't have the money to throw around to force the Giants to pay him this much cash.

Eli Manning is not the highest paid player in the league.

It's just pointless to put your team in that type of situation when you are contending for a super bowl. Who franchise's QB's? It's an idea that works on paper but isn't close to as applicable in a real situation.

You are underrating both the importance of the QB position (with your extremely scientific study listing the QB's of teams who made the playoffs last year), and Eli's value.

If Eli is a free agent right now he is getting something close to what the Giants gave him.

first off i think people are overreacting a little simply because eli is now the "highest paid player in the league." in 1 year he will be 2nd or 3rd, in 2 years maybe 4th.

second i think people forget to look at things relatively instead., and their sense of contracts is always nominal, obviously making large contracts that were just signed look way bigger than old ones

and finally, this is how things go these days. players wanna get paid, especially young ones. anyone who's decent is going to have a good agent, and is rarely going to get signed below their market value

and ya eli is more valuable than most ppl think

tolbiny,

To win the super bowl with a mediocre QB you need an insane defense. The Giants D, while good, isn't Dilfer Ravens good.

If Eli had hit the free agency wire, it would have been the biggest circus in the history of the NFL; because he's Peyton's little brother and won a SB playing in NY.

Franchise,

Your understanding of salary caps is pretty bad. You should probably read up on them before posting any further on the subject.

Also, when I say he was always going to get overpaid, I also think most of the QBs outside of Peyton/Brady are overpaid.

I mean christ, Stafford got 40 million plus gtd and Sanchez got 28 million gtd. Cassell got 28 gtf. Eli got what? 33 or 34? Eli's isn't really that crazy considering he is a 28 year old QB entering his prime, coming off the best season of his career, and playing for a contender.

No, not really. Saying the NFL doesn't have a cap is hyperbole but the cap isn't close to as difficult to maneuver as a lot of people think.

You are massively overrating Eli's value. Hes a middling QB with a career completion % of under 56% and one year where he manages to break 60%, hes got a mediocre career TD/INT ratio, a sack rate that is nothing to write home about despite playing behind one of the best Olines in the league with a strong running game. Hes not a good QB and just being a QB doesn't magically make him super valuable, he's basically on Jason Campbells and Trent Edwards' level (and both of them are less experience than he is and are more likely to improve).

A. So what- someone else doing something dumb doesn't make your dumb actions less dumb.

B. Whats the ABSOLUTE WORST CASE SCENARIO for not signing him to an extension? 2 first round draft picks a 15 million dollars?

lol

297/529 56.1%, 3336 yards, 23 TDs, 20 INTs 6.3 y/a

298/527 56.5%, 3787 yards, 29 TDs, 9 INTS 7.2 y/a

One of these players (the one with worse stats) is Eli in 2007- the other player (the one with better stats) is DA in 2007.

Apparently all you need to win the SB is to have David Tyree make an insanely lucky catch with his helmet.

Give a QB a great offensive line, be it the Browns in 07 or the Giants whenever, and he will look much better than he really is.

Please ignore Eli's playoff stats from that season, and then his performance the following year. Those four games don't count I guess right? That is a 20 game window where the improvement is as clear as day.

I guess isn't fair though since DA will never start in a playoff game. Sick contract that was!

Anyone that makes this statement can't possibly understand salary caps very well at all. Its not just uninformed, its completely 180 degrees wrong.

ya the nba cap is better than the nfl

Take out the word hard and my point still stands. I realize I used the wrong word, and said so earlier.

My point was that overpaying players hurts you more in the NBA than in the NFL, my wording was wrong. The NBA has a much less forgiving cap, that was the point I was trying to get across.

But thanks TNM, it's always a pleasure.

0-3, 41/74, 55%, 443 yards 6.2 y/a, 2 TDs 6 INTs - Oh i'm sorry those are Eli's OTHER playoff games.

His run in 2007 is solid, but nothing special at all. Two games he throws for less than 200 yards and he ends up with a 60% completion rate.