New York Giants GM: It's 'a crock' that Eli Manning is overpaid

New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman went on WFAN radio to talk about the team’s decision to keep — and pay more money to — QB Eli Manning, and it made for some must-hear radio on Monday morning. Gettleman also spoke to Giants beat reporters about the decision to pay Manning and trade wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

Grab your coffee ... this was something.

So we start out with a bang here, as Gettleman delivers the money quote on Manning, who earned an additional $5 million this week just by still being on the Giants’ roster. Beckham isn’t anymore, mind you, and yet he’ll count for $16 million in dead money against the Giants’ salary cap this season.

But things are fine. Fine, we tell you.

The wild thing is that Gettleman appears to be sending the message to Giants fans that there might not have really been any internal debate about whether to pay Manning’s bonus. Check this out, namely the last part, from a conference call with New York-area media:

Yes, it’s the same Eli Manning we’ve known for years now:

It’s all part of Gettleman’s master plan

This is how you assuage a fan base. You tell it you’re “moving forward” but decline to indicate in which direction. Kind of brilliant, if you think about it.

Gettleman has indicated that it’s possible to rebuild and contend at the same time, which is also an incredible logic leap, so this appears in lockstep with everything else he has been saying in recent weeks and months.

The issue of value

Even if the Giants draft a potential successor to Manning, and even if they get the most out of the picks and the player (Jabrill Peppers) they received in the Beckham trade, it’s clear that Gettleman’s concept of return on investment wouldn’t be one shared by the bulk of the NFL.

Manning’s bloated salary and reduced effectiveness. Beckham’s dead money and questionable trade return. Turning down trade offers for Landon Collins at the 2018 deadline ... and then letting him walk, unencumbered, in free agency without first shackling him with the franchise tag. Collins ended up with the division rival Washington Redskins, you might recall.

So if little of this makes sense, you’re not alone. The Giants’ short- and long-term visions remain as cloudy as any NFL team’s right now. Yes, the draft could change that perspective, as they have three early picks and two first-rounders.

But did anything Gettleman said Monday make anyone feel better about his chances of fixing things? Yikes.

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