Earlier in August, a report from ESPN said that New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning wants to be the highest-paid player in the NFL. According to Spotrac, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the highest-paid NFL player for the 2015 season. He has an average salary of $22 million as part of his five-year, $110-million contract extension he signed last April 2013.

Manning responded a day later during a Giants practice session via ESPN. "The reports are all wrong. That's never been said, it's never come out of my mouth, I've never said it to my agent, I don't know where people are getting their information," Manning disputed.

The 34-year-old quarterback is entering the final year of his contract while his draft classmates, San Diego's Philip Rivers and Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger signed new contracts. According to ESPN, the Giants and Manning have already made some progress but they might wait until after the season.

However, a report from NJ.com said that the Giants and their two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback are close to an agreement on a new deal that has the possibility of happening before their season opener on Sunday night against the Dallas Cowboys.

Manning would want something close or better to the deals received by Rivers and Roethlisberger. According to reports from Spotrac, the two signed both four-year contracts worth $84 million and $87 million, respectively.  

During his interview with NJ.com, Manning gave no details on the current situation of his contract talks with the Giants. "Again, my focus is on getting ready, playing at a high level. Now it's all about getting ready for Dallas."

He also had an interview with WFAN and said that he does not plan on having a contract talk during the season. "I'm not a big fan of negotiations going on during the season. I'm hoping if this thing is going to get done, it's going to get done very quickly. I would think both sides would want to do it that way and not have these talks continue on," Manning told WFAN as quoted by News Day.

Manning also did not provide any updates, saying, "No updates. There's been some talking, but my focus is still on the Cowboys. I'm not going to make that a distraction."

The Giants will face the Cowboys at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas this Sunday. Eli Manning will go head to head with Dallas quarterback Tony Romo.