New York Giants: Odell Beckham Jr. contract a sign of Eli Manning’s end?

The New York Giants made Odell Beckham Jr. the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL, but could it also be another sign that Eli Manning’s time is up?

Refreshingly, with no holdout in training camp and (perhaps to the shock of some) with little drama over the past few months, the New York Giants have locked up their star. As reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Giants have signed wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to a five-year extension worth $95 million, $65 million of that being guaranteed. The deal makes Beckham the highest-paid player at the position in the league.

In truth, none of this is all that surprising. When healthy, Beckham is truly a force that can hardly be contained on the field. Yes, he makes jaw-dropping catches with one hand, but he’s also a threat to break a game open whenever the ball is in his hands. He’s simply one of the most dangerous and dynamic weapons at wide receiver in the NFL. Now he’s being compensated as such.

However, whenever you’re talking about that kind of financial commitment to a player, especially with a contract that resets the market, you have to take into consideration what it does to the salary cap of the team and what it could all mean moving forward. And for quarterback Eli Manning, it could mean that the end of his time with Big Blue is near.

That’s not exactly breaking news. People who follow the league and the Giants alike have been talking about the franchise finding Manning’s successor for some time now. Some even believed they should have used the second-overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft on Sam Darnold or another vaunted quarterback prospect instead of Saquon Barkley.

Regardless of what the Giants have done to this point in regards to addressing life after Manning, though, Beckham’s new extension is a good sign that changes are coming.

With the reports that Beckham will make around $20 million in the first three years of his new deal, that would likely leave the Giants with around $13 million in cap room going into the 2019 offseason (per Over the Cap). And as big as Beckham’s cap hit will be, it will still be second on the team behind the two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback, who will be on the books for north of $23 million next season.

However, the Giants could potentially save $17 million if they cut Manning next offseason. While there is something to be said for franchise loyalty, there is also something to be said for modern team-building. And having an aging quarterback cripple your cap situation like that isn’t the model for success that we’ve seen.

When you look at what the Philadelphia Eagles did last season and what the Los Angeles Rams have done coming into this year, it’s apparent that the most valuable commodity a team can have is a viable starting quarterback on a rookie contract. With that in-tow, a team can then hand out big deals to build the best possible team around that young player and vie for a championship.

This is all speculation. Perhaps the Giants plan to maneuver around the salary cap next year and let Manning play out his deal. Then all that’s been said about the future at quarterback will be a conversation delayed until 2020 when his contract runs out.

However, when you consider how things are going with front offices around the league, Odell Beckham Jr.’s new deal and the potential cap implications of that contract, it’s not far-fetched to think that the Giants could be paving the way to make a post-Eli world a reality sooner rather than later.