The decision not to place the franchise tag Landon Collins had New York Giants fans up in arms. The team has plenty of holes and it’s no secret that losing Collins would add another hole in the Giants defense.
With the upcoming free agent class having many options to replace Collins in the defensive backfield, it likely gave the Giants more comfort in parting ways with the three-time Pro Bowler.
Veteran Eric Weddle was a part of that free agent until news broke Friday that Weddle was set to join the Rams. Prior to that, Weddle’s name also came up connected to the Giants.
Weddle spent three years with the Baltimore Ravens before being released earlier this week.
Not long after the Giants’ connection to Weddle surfaced, Adam Schefter reported that Weddle was headed to join the defending NFC champion Los Angeles Rams.
It does appear, at least from their interest in Weddle, that the Giants are seeking to replace Landon Collins via free agency. In addition to Collins, the free agent safety class includes: Tyrann Mattieu, Earl Thomas, Adrian Amos, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Lamarcus Joyner and Tre Boston.
The Giants were also allegedly interested in right tackle Marcus Gilbert prior to him being traded to the Arizona Cardinals.
New York, of course, did end up making their offensive line stronger on Friday when they traded linebacker Olivier Vernon to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for guard Kevin Zeitler.
The move to trade away Vernon cleared roughly $1.5 million dollars in cap space. The Giants have a lot of holes, especially on the defensive side of the ball they will look to spend on in free agency.
The Giants seem active in both free agency and trade talks. They are going to need to find a way to revamp the defense going into 2019.
