With 38-year-old Eli Manning entering the final year of his contract, the New York Giants are at a crossroads at the quarterback position.
It’s become one of the hottest debates in sports these days. Giants general manager Dave Gettleman says he has a plan and at the same time, has given Manning a huge vote of confidence.
The way we see it, there’s four possible outcomes to this conundrum but none of them are ironclad solutions.
Extend Manning’s contract and wait
Okay, but how long will this go on for? Manning is still in excellent health and has shown flashes of his old self from time to time, but the Giants need to finish the offensive line rebuild and balance out their offense if he is going to have any type of success.
Many fans are unhappy that the Giants are allowing Manning to play this season at his full salary and cap hit. What will they do if Eli has an up year and Gettleman decides he’s worth extending?
Right now, Manning is the Giants’ best option for 2019, unless they can find the right player in the next few weeks to be groomed behind him to take over during the season or next year.
Trade with Arizona Cardinals for Josh Rosen
The Cardinals are said to be taking Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray, the Heisman Trophy winner, with the first overall selection on April 25. That will supposedly make Rosen available. Several teams already are showing interest, the Giants included.
The current bid is reportedly a second round pick. Arizona is rumored to asking for more than that. The rumor mill has the Washington Redskins, the Giants, the Los Angeles Chargers and the New England Patriots as the four most likely landing places for Rosen.
There is still a possibility that the Cards hang onto Rosen until they are certain Murray is going to pan out. He may not be available until the midseason trading deadline.
Select a quarterback in the upcoming NFL Draft
This is the most likely scenario of the four. With three picks in the first 37, it is widely believed Gettleman will use one of those picks on a quarterback.
The question is who are the Giants high on? It appears they have backed off a bit on Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins with the No. 6 pick. Rumors have them higher on Missouri’s Drew Lock these days. They could also go with Daniel Jones of Duke, who has been a protege of sorts of the Mannings over the years. There’s also West Virginia’s Will Grier, who is rocketing up the draft order.
Gettleman might have to use one of his first rounders to snag one of these players and he may think none of them are worth it. He could also take mid-to-late round flier on Buffalo’s Tyree Jackson, a 6-foot-7 kid with a cannon arm and 4.6 speed.
Select a quarterback in next year’s NFL Draft
There’s no question next year’s quarterback class is a better bunch. There’s at least five top prospects to choose from: Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa, Jake Fromm of Georgia, Oregon’s Justin Herbert, K.J. Costello of Stanford and Washington’s Jacob Eason.
The only problem with waiting for next year is just that — it’s next year. If the Giants stink again this season, they’ll be in position to select the one they want. But nothing is ever guaranteed.
This option may come to fruition, but Gettleman can’t count on that. What he can do to safeguard himself just in case the Giants are drafting in the middle of the round is to start collecting some draft capital for next season.
