With the New York Giants agreeing with their QB Eli Manning on a new 6-yr $97 million contract extension making him the NFL’s highest paid player, clearly Eli isn’t the best QB in his family never mind the league.

So where does Eli fall when you look at the QB’s? Is he 2nd? 4th? 10th? Who is he better than? Who is not as good as the man who gets his first name from the inventor of the cotton gin?

So in my unscientific ways I attempted to make a list of the starting QB’s based on what order I would take them if I ran a NFL team. So here it goes. Number 1 is interchangeable take the first guy; take the second you won’t lose.

1. Peyton Manning IND; 1. Tom .Brady NE; 3. Ben Roethlisberger PIT; 4. Drew Brees NO; 5. Eli Manning NYG; 6. Carson Palmer CIN; 7. Phillip Rivers SD; 8. Kurt Warner ARI; 9. Donovan McNabb PHI; 10. Jay Cutler CHI; 11. Tony Romo DAL; 12. Matt Ryan ATL; 13. Joe Flacco BAL; 14. Chad Pennington MIA; 15. Matt Cassel KC; 16. Aaron Rodgers GB; 17. Marc Bulger STL; 18. Matt Hasselbeck SEA; 19. Jake Delhomme CAR; 20. David Garrard JAX; 21. Trent Edwards BUF; 22. Mark Sanchez NYJ; 23. Daunte Culpepper DET; 24. Derek Anderson CLE; 25. Jason Campbell WAS; 26. Kerry Collins TN; 27. Matt Schaub HOU; 28. Tavaris Jackson MIN; 29. Luke McCown TB; 30. Kyle Orton DEN; 31. Shaun Hill SF; 32. JaMarcus Russell OAK.

Editor’s note: Steve sent this to me via text message. He hopes to return before the start of the NFL season.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the 2010 NFL Draft will make its primetime debut on ESPN on Thursday evening April 22 at 7:30 p.m. when for the first time Round 1 will not air on a Saturday.

The league also announced the draft will expand from 2 days to 3 with Round 2 and Round 3 airing on Friday night with the balance of the draft occuring on Saturday.

So football fans mark your calenders, set your DVR’s if you need to because the NFL Draft is now a primetime event.

[Editor’s note – Steve sent me this post via text message. Steve should be returning to the site before the NFL season starts.]

I’m pretty sure that Rich Eisen from the NFL Network had his Twitter page hacked. What do you think?

Tony Kornheiser’s fear of flying finally has caught up with him as this year’s Monday Night Football schedule would have seen him flying all the time. So he decided to step down from his gig on Monday Night Football on ESPN.

“I am totally grateful for the MNF opportunity that I truly enjoyed the last three seasons,” he said. “I feel we got better each year. My fear of planes is legendary and sadly true. When I looked at the upcoming schedule it was the perfect storm that would’ve frequently moved me from the bus to the air. I kept looking at the schedule the past month and wanted to find a way to quietly extricate myself.”

“If I could handpick a replacement of a football guy, I would cast a net and drag in Jon Gruden,” Kornheiser added. “He is the two things you most want — smart and funny — and has the two things I don’t — good hair and a tan. I love PTI and am looking forward to continuing to yammer and yodel with Wilbon until the end of time.”

He has been replaced by former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden who let was go by the Bucs on January 16th.

Gruden joins ‘Monday Night Football’ [ESPN.com]

Monday Night Football on ESPN

NFL Network: The NFL Network will be in Foxborough tomorrow night at CBS Scene at Patriot Place when the network announces the 2009 NFL regular season schedule. They will be there to get reaction from New England Patriots’ fans about the Patriots 2009 schedule. We already know the Pats will open up with Terrell Owens and the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football. [Patriots Daily]

NFL Pro Bowl: After turning two down previous proposals, the Hawaii Tourism Authority Board voted 9-1 to approve the NFL’s offer to bring the game back to the Aloha Bowl in Honolulu. “We are pleased to continue our partnership with the state of Hawaii, which has embraced the Pro Bowl for 30 years,” Frank Supovitz, the NFL’s senior vice president of events, said in a statement. The 2010 Pro Bowl will be played in Miami and then will return in 2011 and 2012 to Hawaii. [AP via the Boston Globe]

Are you wondering what kind of free stuff the 4 representatives of the UConn Huskies football team are going to get at the NFL Combine that started today?

If you are, here’s a look at the NFL Combine gift bag from Under Armour (valued at over $900) that all of the players including UConn’s Donald Brown, Will Beatty, Cody Brown and Darius Butler will receive.

• 1 Under Armour Combine Bag
• 3 UA Metal apparel pieces — short sleeve compression, sleeveless compression and short sleeve loose shirt. All are personalized with position and number on the front, with the last name on the back. (UA says the compression shirts have the lightest fabric weight of any shirt on the market at 3.5 ounces.)
• 1 Travel suit, personalized with number and position on jacket.
• 1 pair of customized combine shoes (weigh 8.5 ounces, designed for NFL combine with footing for lateral, linear and vertical drills).
• 1 pair of UA cleats
• 1 pair of UA slides (sandals)
• 1 pair of UA running shoes
• 1 pair of UA trainers
• 1 Fleece Crew top and bottom
• 1 pair of Metal Compression shorts
• 1 pair of Heat Gear Leggings
• 1 pair of Micro-shorts
• 1 pair of Combine short

Like Brian over at Awful Announcing, I didn’t realize they gave the players a goodie bag.

Combine Invite=Free Stuff [Sports Biz]

A Look Inside the NFL Combine Gift Bag [Awful Announcing]

The 2008 NFL All-Pro Team was announced this afternoon and the New England Patriots only had one player make the first team and one other on the second team.

Placekicker Stephen Gostowski was selected to the First-Team Offense while wide receiver Wes Welker was selcted to the Second-Team Offense.

Offensive guard Logan Mankins narrowly missed out on the team and received 4 votes. Rookie linebacker Jerod Mayo received one vote as well.

A full look at the All-Pro Team after the jump.

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2009 Pro Football Hall of Fame Finalists:

[NFL.com]