New York Giants: Manningham changes route, but there is a “catch”

A couple of days ago I posted that the New York Giants and their third option at wide receiver, Mario Manningham, were to part ways. Manningham had been reported to say that he was probably 75% sure of leaving his current team, with the rumors being that he would be heading south to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, before the ink was dry on those reports the author of the amazing catch in the last Super Bowl has gone on WFAN Radio saying that he wants to stay with the Giants, but there is a (no pun intended) catch to all of this. The fourth year player out of Michigan, who was drafted in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the G-Men, is not going to take less money in order to stay with the Super Bowl champs.

From what I have read the New York franchise is over the salary cap, Manningham is not going to take a cut, other team(s) are probably willing to spend for him. All of this indicates that his reversal is more for show than for facts. There is no way that anyone is going to tell me that the wide out, or his agent, does not know how the Giants are set with their cap, and so to say that he would like to stay but without a cut in salary is like stating to the fan base that he wanted to stay but the team could not keep him.

Do not get me wrong. While I am not a fan of free agency, the reality is that this is the sport world that we live in, and so to watch a player go look for his payday is not a surprise, it’s not the exception, it’s the norm. What kind of bothers me is the fact that more and more do it out in public and not behind closed doors, where business deals should be done. As I wrote about in my prior post about the free agents of the NY Giants I do not see the front office thinking about taking care of Mario Manningham before others. To me this back and forth by the receiver is a PR move to try and get himself higher on the ladder of the players the G-Men need to keep, and if not, to get him a better payday from someone else.

In the end I find this story interesting for one reason: the Giants are a pass first team and I am sure that the front office and the coaching staff do not want to ruffle the feathers of the core that catches the balls from Eli Manning. On the other hand the NY quarterback has shown that he does not need big time names in order to do a big time job, meaning that in the end unless Manningham decides to once again do a 180 and accept less money he will be packing soon enough. So, as usual, here is my question for all of you: should the Giants try and find a way to keep Mario Manningham or should they just let him go elsewhere?