News of Eli Manning's six-year, $97.5 million contract extension was duly noted in San Diego, where star QB Philip Rivers is in the last year of his deal.
Rivers said after Wednesday morning's practice that he is optimistic and hopeful that he'll be in San Diego for a long time.
"You would have to think that Philip Rivers, who is certainly a contemporary of Eli Manning's, is going to now be after a contract that is very similar to the one that Manning signed," said 619Sports.net's Chris Ello in a podcast on the site.
The other half of the local sports Web site's duo, Craig Elsten, called it "gulping good news for the Chargers. It's 'Gulp, that's the price tag? Yikes!' "
The flip side, though, Elsten pointed out, was that the Chargers now have a price tag. What's been holding back River's deal was Manning cutting a contract.
Ello noted that Manning has a Super Bowl ring but argued that Rivers has had a better career than Rivers.
"Statistically, the Pro Bowls, the numbers he has put up ... I think Phillip Rivers is better than Eli Manning, and therefore might be able to ask for even more money than Eli Manning got," Ello said.
"I would offer him a six-year, $97 million deal," Elsten offered, and Ello quickly agreed.
Manning was briefly the property of the Chargers on Draft Day 2004, before being traded to the Giants for Rivers and draft picks. There apparently hasn't been much movement on talks between Rivers' agent and the Chargers regarding an extension.
