According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, it’s looking like a “foregone conclusion” that Eli Manning will be playing for a team other the Giants next year.
La Canfora says that it’s unlikely the Giants and Manning will be able to overcome the fractured relationship following the team’s recent decision to bench Manning and play their younger quarterbacks.
Archie Manning indicated that Manning could consider retiring from the NFL next year (NFLTR). However, La Canfora says that Manning still badly wants to start and is not mulling retirement in any shape.
Manning’s contract won’t be prohibitive, considering that he’s owed a $5M roster bonus due on the 5th day of the 2018 league year, a $10.5M base salary in 2018 (non-guaranteed) and will carry a cap figure of $22.2M.
Should the Giants either release or trade Manning next year, they would incur $12.4M in dead money.
As others have suggested, La Canfora mentions that the most likely scenario for Manning is a reunion with Tom Coughlin in Jacksonville. Manning is viewed as a “perfect fit” to potentially get the Jaguars over the top, much like Peyton Manning did with the Broncos a few years ago.
Plus, Jacksonville has a solid rushing attack and a good defense, so it could be tough for him to find a better situation.
La Canfora spoke with several GMs this week who believe Manning-to-Jacksonville as a fait accompli and they expect him to be traded to the Jaguars at some point.
“There might be, at most, maybe 2-3 teams where he could be a fit,” a long-time NFL executive tells La Canfora. “And everyone knows Jacksonville is probably where he’ll want to be. And he has the no-trade [clause]. There won’t be a huge market for him. Sending him out of the NFC and back to Coughlin is a good PR move for the Giants, and they can put a little more of a happy ending on this thing. Because it’s a mess right now.”
La Canfora adds that consensus among the execs he spoke to is that it would likely cost the Jaguars a 2018 fourth-round pick and conditional mid-round picks in 2019 to get Manning from the Giants.
Manning, 36, is a former first-round pick of the Chargers back in 2004. He was traded to the Giants during the draft and has spent all 14 years of his career in New York.
Manning is currently in the third year of his five-year, $101.5 million contract that included $65 million guaranteed and stands to make base salaries of $10.5 million and $11.5 million over the final two years of the agreement.
In 2017, Manning has appeared in 11 games for the Giants and thrown for 2,411 yards while completing 62.5 percent of his passes to go along with 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 18 quarterback out of 39 qualifying players.
We’ll have more regarding Manning’s future with the Giants as the news is available.
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