One of the NFL top story lines over the last day or so has been that Giants quarterback Eli Manning wants to be the highest-paid player in the league, a characterization possibly leaked by the Giants in order to make him look greedy or otherwise undeserving of that label. But the reality is that, if the Giants apply the franchise tag to him in 2016, he will be the highest-paid player in football.
By at least $1.7 million. Or maybe more.
The $23.7 million non-exclusive franchise tender would allow a franchise-quarterback-starved team (like the Jets) to try to swipe Manning in exchange for a pair of first-round draft picks. To prevent Eli from staying in MetLife Stadium but dressing in a different locker room, the Giants would have to apply the exclusive version of the tag.
The exclusive tag is determined by calculating the average of the five highest quarterback cap numbers for 2016. Based on current contracts, that number would be $25.23 million.
Via Spotrac.com, the top five cap numbers for quarterbacks in 2016 belong to Joe Flacco ($28.55 million), Drew Brees ($27.4 million), Ben Roethlisberger ($23.95 million), Matt Ryan ($23.75 million), and Matthew Stafford ($22.5 million). Although subject to change based on restructurings or extensions, there’s a chance the number will still be higher than $23.7 million. (Some of these quarterbacks have cap numbers so much higher than $22 million because the cap number is a reflection of the way the money is configured for cap purposes, not the total annual average on the contract.)
Applying either version of the tag would make Eli Manning the highest-paid player for at least 2016, and an extension based on the franchise tender would likely average more than $22 million, the current high-water mark via the Aaron Rodgers contract.
For the Giants, the ultimate question continues to be whether they want to keep him or whether they’re willing to take their chances with another quarterback. Based on the contract signed by Manning in 2009, the Giants knew that the cap number for 2015 would trigger a $23.7 million franchise tag, at a minimum, for 2016.
If they want to sign him to a long-term deal, $23.7 million for 2016 becomes the starting point. And the starting point likely climbs higher if the goal will be to eliminate the possibility of a quarterback-starved team trying to land him.
Whether those starting points make him the highest-paid player in the league is simply coincidental.
