Re: OT Eli Manning Becomes Highest Paid NFL Player (merged)
I'll grant you that the "NFC East is not celebrating," but I also think that Eli's contract is to the benefit of the Eagles and Cowboys (and to the Redskins if Dan Snyder can resist the urge to sign every overpriced Free Agent that comes along, but that's another subject). I know that he won the SB, but I really think that this contract will work against the Giants. This is Brady or Peyton money for a guy who just isn't in their class. That has to hurt over time. It's like the Knicks paying Jordan money to Ewing...it was more "thanks for the memories" than "build for the future."
RIGHT ON THE MONEY!!!! - I actually think Brady understands the first rule of capology. That for every dollar he gets, its one less dollar for everyone around him. At if he played for the "bargain basement price of $10MM/yr, its not like we'd have to throw a testimonial for him.
When your team is top heavy with big contracts, then its doomed to failure. All these reporters who keep telling us to Pay this guy or PAY that guy are SOOOOOO short sighted. Think about it. Everyone has told us that we should have paid Assante, Well if we had who else wouldn't be here now. Remember we were right up against the cap when FA started. Think Vrabel. There are those who said we should have kept him, and we could have, but someone ELSE wouldn't be here. This isn't a zero sum deal. For every action there is a reaction, NONE of this happens in a vaccuum.
And this is MORE true in football, where even the best players, like Tom Brady, have less of an INDIVIDUAL impact than any other team sport. Just look at last year. Brady goes and out and a no name leads the team to 11 wins, and the focus of most of those 5 losses came from the DEFENSIVE side....and Brady wouldn't have been much help chasing down WRs.
The sorry fact is that at the top end of the pay scale, its ALL ABOUT how big your **** is. They all have more money the day they sign these contracts than they'll EVER need. Hell, Brady could play for nothing and never run out of money. Hell Brady could give away all the money he currently has and be a millionaire off the INTEREST from what his wife makes.
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I doubt it would ever happen, but I'd love to see Brady take stand and grab a "mere" 10% bite out of 100MM+ salary cap, to make sure he is surrounded by enough players to be competitive year in and year out.
PFS74 has it right. Mannings contract....EVEN IF HE DESERVED IT....will hurt the Giants in the long run.