Giants and Eli Manning reportedly close to new deal:

The New York Giants and especially Eli Manning would like to get a new deal done before the 2015 NFL season kicks off for the team this Sunday night, and NFL media’s Ian Rapoport is reporting that the team and Manning are closing in on a deal to get that done.

Like many NFL players, Manning suggests he’d like to play the season out without the distraction of contract negotiations, so while neither side has ever sounded concerned that negotiations may drag out. Although there is some urgency to wrap it up before the season begins.

“I’m not a big fan of contract negotiations during the season,” Manning admitted Tuesday morning on WFAN. “I’m hoping if this thing is gonna get done, it’s gonna get done quickly.”

There has been a lot of conjecture that Manning wanted to be the highest paid quarterback in football, a suggestion that Manning has denied, but regardless of where the final number is, he will be among the highest paid players in the game.

Should Manning be one of the highest paid players in football?

Of course he should. Some might argue that he’s past his prime or that he’s not one of the best quarterbacks in football, but it’s a silly argument. Every quarterback who’s good enough that their team wants to extend them is going to get a big deal. When that quarterback has two Super Bowl MVP’s, he has the clout to be one of the highest paid players in the game, end of story.

Because of signing bonuses and guaranteed money, it’s possible Manning’s new deal saves the Giants on the salary cap, and gives them the opportunity to be real players a year from now when free agency begins again, as the team will likely have the money tied up in Jason Pierre-Paul this year available to them as well.

While some will argue whether or not Manning is an elite quarterback, the argument is mute. The Giants know that if everyone else is doing their job, Manning is a guy who can lead them to a Super Bowl title. Better yet, the Giants know Manning is a guy who will come up big in big situations, and you just can’t overpay for that.

Jason Pierre-Paul may not be ready to sign for weeks:

A couple of months after Jason Pierre-Paul was injured in a fireworks accident, which resulted in the amputation of his index finger, the defensive end finally reported to the New York Giants for a physical on Monday.

Despite Pierre Paul’s assertion that he will be back with the Giants, the team has no timetable for the defensive end to be back on the field. Head coach Tom Coughlin addressed the issue, just saying that Pierre-Paul isn’t ready to contribute, and that the team will continue to monitor his progress.

“(He) was in an outstanding frame of mind,” Coughlin explained. “Was not ready to play. Returned to South Florida. Optimistic about going forward and feeling better and continuing to work towards being able to come back. So we’ll monitor that.”

Despite not wanting to sign his franchise tender because of fears that the Giants would place him on the non-football injury list, and his inability to play when the team begins their season Sunday night against the Dallas Cowboys, Pierre-Paul took to Twitter to suggest he’d be back, and “besting.”

“My grind don’t stop! I will get better and get healthy 2 help my brothers out this year. #90PC PS. Don’t be surprise when I return BESTING!,” JPP said.

The Giants have a pair of young draft picks at defensive end with Damontre Moore and Owa Odighizuwa behind starters Robert Ayers and Kerry Wynn, but none of those players have the kind of elite pass rush skills that Pierre-Paul possesses when he’s at his best.

With former Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo back to once again run the Giants defense this year, Pierre-Paul would have been, and for the Giants will hopefully be, a big part of what is a pressure based defense that relies heavily on its pass rushers.

Nobody knows how the former first-round pick from USF will respond, because this isn’t an ACL or a hamstring, or one of the other injuries many NFL players suffer year in and year out. Instead, Pierre-Paul is trying to return from an amputation, and he’ll have to re-learn how to use his hand.

As important as hands are to a pass rusher, we won’t have a good idea of how Pierre-Paul will be effected until we finally see him on the field.  As of right now, it looks like the Giants and their franchise-tagged defensive end, aren’t really sure when that will be.

Kam Chancellor speaks about holding out:

In what could be considered the biggest surprise heading into Week 1 of the NFL season, Kam Chancellor is going to allow his holdout to go into the regular season and cost him games.

While it had been widely reported that Chancellor was holding out for a new, bigger contract, the veteran safety contacted NFL Network’s Dan Hellie to clear up the situation, or at least give his side of the story.

According to Hellie, Chancellor says he’s not actually looking for a new deal. Instead, Chancellor was hoping to restructure his current contract by having some of his 2017 salary moved into 2016, a practice commonly used by teams around the league.

“He told me he feels like this whole thing could be over by now,” Hellie said about Chancellor.

According to Hellie’s conversation, Chancellor says he and the team are less than a million dollars apart, he’s willing to meet the team halfway, and he believes the whole thing is petty.

Less than a million dollars apart?

Whether or not Chancellor is right (and there really is no right or wrong here), the fact that he’d allow a disagreement over less than a million dollars cost him games off of his NFL career.  It’s a mistake.

And he’s willing to meet them halfway?

So now we’re talking about $500,000, right Kam? Chancellor is really making a foolish move here by holding out over $500,000, or a million dollars or whatever the number is that he’s allowing to cost him games.

Whether it’s about principal or whether or not Chancellor “deserves” a new deal or not, this is the wrong move, because he’s losing out more than anyone by holding out once the season begins.

The NFL career is short, and there’s a good chance that once Chancellor’s career is over, he’ll be sitting on his couch on Sunday’s thinking about how he’d pay any sum of money just to get back on the field one more time.

Players need to maximize their playing time when they’re healthy and can be on the field. It doesn’t matter if you’re right or wrong, or if the Seahawks are being petty. You do this for you.

Get back on the field Kam, because if you don’t, you are going to regret it. I’m sure there’s someone on the team that can lend you the 500k or whatever it is you’re allowing to cost you games in the prime of your career if you really need it. The principal of the whole thing is not worth losing game checks and games off of your career.