A veteran QB could be available for the Giants at a ‘discount’

There’s no worse place for a team to be than stuck in the middle. If you’re not good enough to compete for a championship nor bad enough to vie for a game-changing top draft pick, then where are you?

Mediocrity has been the cornerstone of the New York Giants for years now. Since 2019, the team has averaged about seven wins per season, and they’ve made it to the postseason only once. Not coincidentally, the Giants have mostly been led by quarterback Daniel Jones over that timeframe.

After a few decent years and then one good one, it looked as though Jones would be the proverbial “franchise” quarterback most teams are always searching for. The Giants signed him to a four-year, $160M extension, and everything seemed right in Big Blue land.

But of course, that didn’t last long. After a poor six games to start the 2023 season, Jones tore his ACL and was done for the year. It’s also possible he may be done on the Giants, or at least as their starter.

Rumors have swirled for a while now that New York regrets giving Jones that extension. And because they hold the sixth pick in the draft — which could be top-heavy with QBs — there has also been a lot of speculation that the team will draft yet another franchise quarterback.

Former Giant Brandon Marshall thinks the Giants should go another way, namely by targeting a free agent QB.

“If you are the Giants, you may want to go get Kirk Cousins, but Kirk Cousins may not want you. Or Kirk Cousins may get a better deal somewhere else. So now what is Plan B, Plan C, Plan D? ... Now Russell Wilson, he's free and you could potentially get him for a super ... discount.”

While Wilson is an upgrade over Jones, the Giants need more than a better signal caller to turn the team around. Their offensive line was terrible in 2023, and it looks as though Saquon Barkley is on his way out.

As the Denver Broncos did with Wilson, the best move for the Giants may be to cut bait with Jones and eat the money. Then they could sign Wilson to a short-term deal and draft a quarterback that could potentially take over for him in the near future.

With over $32M in cap space and seven picks in the draft — including four in the top 70 — the Giants could dramatically reshape their team this offseason. 

The right moves could propel them into the upper echelon — or they could result in yet another season stuck in the middle.