The Sports Xchange

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, entering the final season of his contract, may not be concerned about an extension but his agent is confident a deal will get done.

Agent Tom Condon said negotiations with the Giants will begin soon on what likely will be Manning’s final NFL contract.

“It’s an extraordinarily hard position to fill, as you know,” Condon told the New York Daily News. “You actually have some leverage with the quarterbacks. The only problem is there’s a salary cap. But let’s face it, sooner or later …”

Condon didn’t finish the sentence, but he knows today’s going rate for elite quarterbacks as he represents seven of the NFL’s 32 starting quarterbacks.

Five of those quarterbacks make an average of at least $17 million per year.

“The quarterbacks always get done,” Condon said. “And the Giants are not a skittish team. So it’s not one of those things where they get nervous or they jump around or anything like that. You know you’re going to go in and it’s going to get done. I’m sure at the appropriate time it’ll happen.”

The 34-year-old Manning, with two Super Bowl rings, surpassed 4,000 passing yards in four of the last six seasons. He has never missed an NFL game.

Manning bounced back from a poor 2013 season to complete a career-high 63.1 percent of his passes in 2014, with 4,410 yards and 30 touchdowns against 14 interceptions.

“The interesting part about it is, since 1993, the inception of free agency, has there ever been an elite quarterback hit the open market?” Condon said. “Peyton (Manning did in 2012), but he had four neck surgeries and no idea if he would ever be well enough to play. Drew Brees, when he went to New Orleans (in 2006), he had 15 studs in his shoulder, in his throwing arm (from a hit he took in the final game of 2005). There’s nobody else that’s ever come up. They just re-do you.”

Manning, who is due to make $17.5 million this season, signed a seven-year, $106.9 million contract in August 2009. That deal includes $97.5 million in new money in what was a six-year extension of his previous contract.

The Giants could always use the franchise tag on Manning at a cost likely around $20 million for one year.

Condon said Manning’s value goes beyond what he has done on the field.

“In all the years that he’s been here, has he ever said anything that’s been scandalous in the newspaper?” Condon told the Daily News. “Nothing. And in this market? He’s a genuinely good guy.”