The Giants season is over. Mathematically, there is almost no way for the Giants to crawl back into playoff contention despite how god-awful the NFC East has been this year. Over the past four years, the New York Giants have destroyed the twilight years of Eli Manning’s career with an o-line made of Swiss cheese and yellow penalty flags. But now, the Giants are nearing the end of their rebuilding window. They have some great young talent at high value skill positions. They need to capitalize now before Shepherd, Engram and eventually Barkley get off their rookie contracts and start looking for better deals. But they need to act fast to capitalize on the skill positions they have right now despite the continuing issues at O-line. Derek Carr may be the perfect solution.
What About Eli?
For the record, I am a Giants fan and Eli is and will most likely forever be my favorite player to ever touch the field in the NFL. His two superbowl runs put him firmly alone in his own strange field as a wildcard at QB in this new pass happy league. But thanks to 4 years of near record setting sacks and quick release times his internal clock is fried. You can see it whenever he has the ball for more than 2 seconds he starts to get antsy and mistimes his throws. I will never utter a bad word about Eli or his career, but the Giants have to move on. With Oakland currently blowing up seemingly their entire roster and Carr openly coming out against tanking, Gruden may be willing to part ways with the QB.
Why Not The Draft?
Currently, this years QB draft class is a graveyard for game ready talent. At best the prospects going into this years draft are considered “projects” by many. The Giants need a capable starter from day 1, the longer the Giants wait the more likely it will be that they lose a big name player like Beckham to greener pastures. The QB situation in New York is pretty dire, but I still believe that New York made the right decision taking Barkley with the number 2 pick. And this year, its looking increasingly likely that they will have another top 5 pick. If the Giants are willing to trade potentially a second rounder and some assets, they could grab Carr from the Raiders and focus on fixing their league worst offensive line through the draft. Speculation is growing that Gruden isn’t quite sold on Carr as his future QB and he is unlikely to trade him to division rival Denver. New York seems like the best bet for Carr. Meaning they have some leverage to get a good deal for Carr.
Worst Case Scenario?
We trade for Carr and he doesn’t work out, the Giants would be in no worse a position than if they stick with Eli. Although, Carr is young enough that another team might still be willing to give him a shot after his stint with the Giants, giving the Giants some trade value. At worst, the Giants will be shopping for a QB in 2020 which is expected to have a much better draft class than this year. On the other hand, if the Giants can add some pieces to their offensive line through the draft and free agency this summer and pick up Derek Carr they may have a shot at the NFC East. A young QB with a great arm and two of the most explosive offensive weapons in the NFL would be a terrifying group to play against. The Giants need to go in on Carr.
