Giants Blog 10-16-19

The Giants play in what has turned into the weakest division in football.  Between hosting the Cardinals this weekend and the surprisingly inept play of the Eagles and Cowboys, The Giants should be tied for second, only one game out of first place in the NFL at least by Sunday night with most intra-division games still coming. This will inevitably leave the Giants thinking about the playoffs.  With the Lions and Packers as the only two very good teams still on the schedule, it’s not a crazy thought. However, the Giants should not forget the game plan.  This is a team that was not built to compete in 2019. They are -intelligently- eating a ton of dead cap space this year and have piled into good young talent and draft picks setting themselves up for a future.
 
The NFL trade deadline is quite early which typically, but not always is limiting of the trade market. However, to the degree that trades are possible the Giants should look to be sellers. 
One of my readers suggested he thought that Eli Manning would be traded. It would be amazing if that was possible, but it is incredibly unlikely. There would still be over $8m left on his contract for this year and there are limited teams looking to pay that. Also, most teams without a QB are out of contention for a playoff spot, and others have had surprisingly high production by backups. Lastly, QB, more than any other position, is hard to integrate into a new team. They need to know the offense and have studied the playbook for weeks. Barring an unexpected injury over next week or two I see it as unlikely that the Giant’s would find a trade partner who would pull the trigger on this trade.
 
Janoris Jenkins remains a small possibility with certain teams needing significant help at CB. The peters and Ramsey traders show both the need for QBs as well as get rid of potential suitors. Given the drafting the Giants have done at this position and the amount he is owed next year, he will almost certainly not be a part of next year’s team anyway. He looked awful for part of the season and much better over past few weeks, so it’s unclear if anyone would pull the trigger on this.
 
The most trade-able asset the Giants have is Markus Golden. He is on a one year cheap “prove it” contract and he has proven it. He appears to be back to 2016 form when he had 12.5 sacks (currently on pace for 13).  Many teams could use a pass rusher. One team being the Chiefs, who have the best QB in football and a defense who has stopped no one. This is at least partially due to a pass rush which has produced less than 2 sacks per game in 2019. They have serious Superbowl aspirations and should give up real assets for this (at least a 3rd round pick).  The Giants should not delude themselves into thinking they can have a successful year and hold on to assets if they get a reasonable offer.
 
As far as this coming game is concerned, while I normally believe the running back position is over rated and hence the absence of Barkley is over rated; A, Barkley is special and B, more importantly, with Gallman also out, the Giants were forced to play Hilliman, who wasn’t even particularly good at Rutgers. The drop-off from 1-3 was so big that no QB could have scored with both no running game and their top WR and TE out.  While Shepard will likely still be out, Engrams returns along with Barkley against a defense that is not ranked very high.
 
The defense didn’t look too bad against New England. They looked horrible against the Vikings but that was at least in part due to having third string middle LBs there. As much as I’m not a fan of Ogletree the drop-off to the off the street Nate Stuppar was so big that the defense looked worse than it is.  With a reasonably healthy defense and mostly healthy offense the Giants should be able to beat a Cardinals team that has played better than many expected -although I’d point out that beating the Falcons is not really the accomplishment that people think. They are a horrible team.

 I expect the Giants to win by a touchdown.

-Ari Glass