Giants Super Bowl Hero Mario Manningham May Not Return To New York

After a stunning performance in Sunday’s Super Bowl, New York Giants wide receiver Mario Manningham’s free agent value just shot through the roof – and that may cause him to leave New York.

Manningham had this to say in comments to the New York Post:

"“I want to come back. I want to come back but I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m just going to try and enjoy this Superbowl (victory). I’m not really thinking about (free agency) right now.”"

While it was never a certainty that Manningham would remain with the Giants, it was a distinct possibility given that his contract would likely be relatively inexpensive, prior to Sunday’s performance. Now things have changed and you can expect that Manningham will have quite a few offers on the table. This now gives the Giants a headache as Manningham is their number three receiver and as such a large contract would be difficult to justify.

Also, there is the fact that star receiver Victor Cruz is due to only be paid under half a million dollars in 2012, before he becomes a restricted free agent in 2013. Should the price for Manningham get too high and Cruz were to remain at his current salary, you could expect this to create tensions within the Giants locker room. To avoid this, to keep Manningham the Giants would have to re-sign Cruz as well and that contract would likely be similar to the six year $54 million contract paid out by the Dallas Cowboys to wide receiver Miles Austin in September.

Mario Manningham’s performance at the Super Bowl was enough to drive his price up. The question now is – did he just play his way off the team he loves?

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