After reading a recent story in the Yahoo! Sports Rumors (New York Daily News) section, I came to find that Eli Manning, “beloved” quarterback for your New York (football) Giants, is on the verge of free agency.  The article is projecting that Eli will join the illustrious handful of NFL quarterbacks to surpass the $100 million contract line. Like many people that follow football (fantasy stats count!) and the NFL, my initial reaction was “Are you freaking kidding me?!”  Not only will that place Manning’s value on par with future Hall of Fame candidate Donovan McNabb; Eli Manning will have a contract that pays significantly more annually than his “I’m one of the best quarterbacks ever” brother Peyton Manning. Let’s do a quick run down on Eli.

According to Pro-football-reference.com, Manning career stat line is as follows:

• 73 games
• 30W-25L record as a starting QB
• 55.9% completion percentage
• 98 TD compared to 74 INT (led the league in INT in 2007)
• 39 fumbles (averages roughly a fumble every other game)
• 1 Super Bowl win – voted Super Bowl MVP

Now, let us look at his older, more distinguished brother Peyton’s statistics:

• 176 games
• 105W-55L record as a starting QB
• 64.4% completion percentage
• 333 TD (led the league 3 separate seasons in TD’s) compared to 165 INT (led the league in INT in rookie season – 1998)
• 52 fumbles
• 1 Super Bowl win – voted Super Bowl MVP
• 8 Pro Bowls
• Multiple AP/NFL Player of the year awards

Now you may say that looking at statistics with a legend may not be fair.  Peyton has seen a team built around his ability as a quarterback with an offense that leans towards the passing game. Eli’s Giants are a running game driven team.  Regardless, I absolutely hate overvalued contracts in the NFL. I commend Peyton Manning for staying the course and riding out his contract instead of being a douche and demanding more money or a trade before the season starts.  Aside from the little things (awards, statistics, etc.), Peyton Manning is a leader on and off the field. Eli has been known to complain, is allegedly a “quiet leader” (a.k.a. he doesn’t do anything), and single-handedly created one of the most memorable draft day uproars in NFL history.

Does Eli Manning deserve elite quarterback pay based on the fact that he won one Super Bowl and landed a gig hawking Oreos?

I say hell no.

PWNED