By Ryan Dunleavy | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Once the Giants start paying Odell Beckham like a star quarterback in 2019, how long will it be until they have to pay their quarterback like a young wide receiver?

Not long, suggests the NFL model.

The strategy for winning while fitting 53 players under the NFL salary cap is to only have one or two salary cap hits at or above the $17 million mark,. In 2019, the Giants are scheduled to have four: Manning ($23.2 million), Beckham ($21 million), linebacker Olivier Vernon ($19.5 million) and left tackle Nate Solder ($17 million).

Beckham's freshly signed five-year, $95 million (with incentives) contract extension provided the Giants with immediate cap relief of $3 million for 2018, when his contract counts for only $5.49 million. It should help make room for an attractive waiver wire pickup.

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But, because the number skyrockets when the extension and $65 million guaranteed money kick in after this season, it might give the Giants an artificial deadline for the inevitably tough decision on quarterback Eli Manning's future. At the latest, they will have to decide when Manning's contract expires after the 2019.

Why sooner?

The Giants, Cowboys and Lions are the only teams in the NFL carrying multiple players with salary cap hits of $17 million or more in 2018, according to spotrac.com. All have two. No team has three, let alone four.

Asked in 2017 if the Giants could afford both Manning and Beckham, Giants co-owner John Mara said, "You can’t have 53 of them but, yes, we can afford them both."

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Until this week, the Broncos were the team with the highest-paid salary cap hit trifecta in 2019: Linebacker Von Miller ($25.12 million), quarterback Case Keenum ($21 million) and wide receiver Demaryius Thomas ($17.53).

It just so happens those are the same three positions filled by Vernon, Manning and Beckham. The trios represent almost identical cap space: — Broncos ($63.65 million) and Giants ($63.7 million) — but the Giants also have Solder on the doorstep.

Of the 23 players with cap hits of $17 million or more in 2018, 17 are quarterbacks. Of the other six, four — Justin Houston of the Chiefs, Fletcher Cox of the Eagles, Tryon Smith of the Cowboys and Calais Campbell of the Jaguars — play on teams with relatively low paid quarterbacks.

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Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media

In 2019, the Giants have three of the 14 non-quarterbacks and four of the 36 total players scheduled for salary cap hits of at least $17 million.

Therein lies the problem.

Having a highly paid quarterback plus three other highly paid players means going cheap at the bottom of a roster in danger of being top heavy and lacking depth. Or it means going to either Manning or Vernon or both to ask for a pay cut, contract restructure or discuss a possible release.

Vernon, 27, still is in his prime and looks in the preseason like he is sitting on a monster year as long as he recovers from his sprained ankle.

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In an emotion-less world, the easy solution for the Giants is to approach Manning, 37, for a solution to a cap problem. Easier said than done.

Manning told NJ Advance Media in July that the Giants had not discussed with him an extension. The two-time Super Bowl MVP also said he didn't pay attention to the outrageous contracts signed by quarterbacks who have accomplished much less than is on his resume.

"What's the long-term plan with the quarterback?" general manager Dave Gettleman said after the 2018 NFL Draft. "(Manning) is going to play. What do you want me to tell you? He is our quarterback. We believe in him."

Manning believes the Giants can win more championships and has given no indication he sees an end around the corner.

"I don't know why they ask, 'How long do you want to play?'" Manning told NJ Advance Media. "I don't know why that's a question. You can make up a random number and say it, but each year is going to be a different story. It all depends on how your body feels, how the season goes and what the circumstances are."

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John Munson | NJ Advance Media f

Making the salary cap work

NJ Advance Media matched up the 10 non-quarterbacks with the highest salary cap hits in 2018 and 2019 with the salary cap hits for the starting quarterback on their teams.

More often than not, the teams with highly paid non-quarterbacks are taking advantage of salary cap space created by a quarterback who is getting paid less than market value.

In other words, the signing of Beckham plus the addition of Solder in March might spell the end of Manning's days with the Giants or his huge pay days ... or both.

Here is what we found:

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Eli Manning's contract

There is $17.4 million in dead money (if he is released) attached to Manning's contract in 2018, but that number falls to a manageable $6.2 million in 2019.

The $17.4 million never became an issue because the new regime cemented Manning as the quarterback for 2018 in January, just about eight weeks after he was benched by the fired regime.

A young starting quarterback like Davis Webb ($984,605) or Kyle Lauletta ($746,924) would have a much smaller salary cap than Beckham's or Manning's.

Actually, the starting quarterback's salary cap hit plus Manning's dead money would be about 1/3 of Manning's salary cap hit. And the Giants would save money on the year-over-year trade-off of a high-paid quarterback with low-paid receiver (2018) for high-paid receiver with low-paid quarterback (2019).

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The Giants only have been to the playoffs once in the last six years, while 20 other teams have gone at least twice in that span.

"I think I still have some peak years left," Manning said, "so we can make it right.”

The Giants also will be committing more salary-cap space than most teams to running back after drafting Saquon Barkley with the No. 2 overall pick, passing on quarterbacks like Sam Darnold, Josh Allen and Josh Rosen.

Any of those three would have made the same money as Barkley and given the Giants an option more expensive than Webb or Lauletta but cheaper than Manning for the future.

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The younger options

Manning joked recently that he dances in the locker room more than he used to, as a way to bridge the age gap between himself and the Giants' super collection of young offensive skill players. Beckham, Sterling Shepard, Saquon Barkley and Evan Engram all are age 25 or younger.

Just like Webb and Lauletta.

Webb, who is entering his second season, calls Beckham one of his closest friends on the team. Odds are that if Beckham ultimately retires as a Giant, he will have spent as much time playing alongside Manning's TBD successor as with Manning.

"Congrats to him," Webb said. "No one deserves it more. Everybody has asked him to take us out to dinner. We're all fired up for him. You've seen it at practice: No one is running routes harder, chasing down guys 30 yards down field and catching up to them. He's very special. I'm happy for him. I know he wanted it."

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NFL rookie power rankings

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John Munson | NJ Advance Media f

Olivier Vernon's contract

If the Giants wanted to keep intact the Manning-Beckham pairing — they resulted in prolific production over the first three years of Beckham's career — they could move on from Vernon with a tiny fraction of the potential public backlash of losing either Manning or Beckham.

Vernon's contract includes $8 million in dead money — more than Manning's — if he is released in 2019. By comparison, that number for Vernon was $28 million in 2017 and is $24 million in 2018. But pass-rushers can be nearly as expensive to find in free agency as quarterbacks, so replacing Vernon would be no easy task.

Vernon has a team-high 15 sacks since signing a five-year free agent contract in 2016.

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The Landon Collins complicating factor

Another Giants' salary cap space dent is going to be made in 2019 by safety Landon Collins, who is on the books for $1.94 million in 2018, the final year of his rookie contract.

Unless the Giants are going to let the two-time Pro Bowler leave in free agency, they likely have to commit about $12 million per year over a long-term extension or take the franchise tag option. In 2018, the franchise tag for a safety was $11.28 million.

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Jason Behnken | AP

2018 Salary cap hits

Here are the 10 non-quarterbacks with the highest salary cap hits in 2018, according to spotrac.com. Each player is sorted by team and grouped with his team's highest-paid quarterback. The quarterback's salary cap hit ranking among others at the position is included in parentheses.

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1) Chiefs

DE Justin Houston: $20.6 million

QB Pat Mahomes: $3.73 million (36th)

2) Buccaneers

WR Mike Evans: $18.25 million

QB Jameis Winston: $8.06 million (25th)

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3) Eagles

DT Fletcher Cox: $17.9 million

QB Carson Wentz Wentz; $7.27 million (28th)

4) Cowboys

OT Tyron Smith: $17.54 million

QB Dak Prescott: $725,848 (65th)

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5) Jaguars

DE Calais Campbell: $17.5 million

QB Blake Bortles: $10 million (22nd)

6) Lions

DE Ezekiel Ansah: $17.14 million

QB Matthew Stafford: $26.5 million (2nd)

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7) Cowboys



DE Demarcus Lawrence: $17.14 million

QB Dak Prescott: $725,848 (65th)

8) Panthers

DT Kawann Short: $17 million

QB Cam Newton: $21.5 million (13th)

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9) Giants

DE Olivier Vernon: $17 million

QB Eli Manning: $22.2 million (10th)

10) Cardinals

WR Larry Fitzgerald: $16.85 million

QB Sam Bradford: $10.62 million (21st)

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Here are the crazy escalators in Odell Beckham's contract

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David Zalubowski | AP

2019 Salary cap hits

Here are the 10 non-quarterbacks with the highest salary cap hits in 2019, according to spotrac.com. Each player is sorted by team and grouped with his team's highest-paid quarterback. The quarterback's salary cap hit ranking among others at the position is included in parentheses.

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1) Broncos

Miller: $25.12 million

Keenum: $21 million (17th)

2) Steelers

Brown: $22.16 million

Roethlisberger: $23.2 million (10th)

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3) Eagles

DT Fletcher Cox: $22 million

QB Carson Wentz: $8.48 million (26th)

4) Chiefs

Houston: $21.1 million

Mahomes: $4.47 million (33rd)

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5) Giants

WR Odell Beckham: $21 million

QB Eli Manning: $23.2 million (10th)

6) Buccaneers

WR Mike Evans: $20 million

QB Jameis Winston: $20.92 million (19th)

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7) Cardinals

LB Chandler Jones: $19.5 million

QB Sam Bradford: $25 million (9th)

8) Giants

DE Olivier Vernon: $19.5 million

QB Eli Manning: $23.2 million (10th)

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9) Chiefs

WR Sammy Watkins: $19.2 million

QB Pat Mahomes: $4.47 million (33rd)

10) Chargers

DE Melvin Ingram: $18.62 million

QB Philip Rivers: $23 million (13th)

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Pat Shurmur's unique tactic for building trust with Giants stars

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WATCH: Giants make Odell Beckham NFL's highest-paid WR

Ryan Dunleavy can be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy.

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