When quarterback Eli Manning’s new contract was inked on Wednesday, the deal was heralded as having the highest multi-year average in the NFL.
The only problem? It isn’t.
Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer earns an average of $16,166,667 per year on a contract that was signed in December 2005.
Manning’s average, based on the seven-year, $106.9 million deal, is only $15.2 million.
In all fairness, the six-year, $97.5 million extension has an average value of $16.25 million. But the total average, based on the $9.4 million he was due to earn in 2009, is lower.
Meanwhile (and we’ll address this in more detail later), the talk regarding the average annual value of the contract overlooks the fact that Manning’s guaranteed money really isn’t as jaw dropping as it could have been.
So maybe he didn’t get overpaid after all, because maybe the deal doesn’t represent the cutting edge contract that it was made out to be.
UPDATE: After further review, Eli ended up passing Palmer.