Might as well start another "mega thread" for tossing all the offseason/draft rumors and such....
The whole Eli thing will be answered by March 17th - he's due a roster bonus of 5 mil. If they are going to completely cut ties it'll be before then.....if they pay it, he'll be the QB to start 2019. I don't think Eli will take a paycut....the only remaining question will be if they Giants extend him to lower the cap hit.
Vernon will be the other big roster decision I think. Dude just can't stay healthy, but at the same time he's the only pass rusher they have. He'd be 8 mil in dead cap or 19.5 against it. If they give him 1 more year he'd be 4 mil in dead cap. I'd be stunned if they kept BOTH Vernon and Eli....I think 1 probably ends up determining the other. My guess? Vernon is gone - this draft has a ton of pass rushers and the FA market actually has some solid talent there too.
Ogletree is another potential out with 5 mil in deadcap vs. 11.5 in salary, but I think he stays. Jenkins is 14 mil vs. 7 mil not enough savings for what he brings to the field for me, but I guess there's always potential there...I know plenty of folks think he's ripe for it.
Needs (forgetting QB for the moment):
Pass rush / OLB
Free Saftey
RT
G
C
I know folks will point to CB as well, but I'm okay with Jenkins, Haley (slot/nickle), and giving Beal the shot.
If they aren't going with a tackle @ #6 then I'd skip it this draft and try to find the answer in FA. I think Taylor and Williams are the only starting tackles in this draft. I'm not a fan of Little. Both those guys would be well served starting on the right side too.
If Allen is there @6 you take him. However I think there's a number of good pass rush LBers/DE types that will still be around in round 2...so if they go QB or OT its still a spot that can be addressed with the depth of this draft.
A key for the Giants will be to figure out how to best leverage their horde of late round picks. Find some potential cap hits on other teams and leverage 5-7 type picks for them....you can probably fill G/C with moves like that for guys who are making a little much to be backups on teams moving in different directions. Think reverse Brett Jones this time around. I think most of the OL talent in this draft is just not as exciting as last year. So they might have to do a lot of work on the market.....
Safety is another area in this draft that only has 1-2 high end guys but to me is loaded with guys who could go anywhere from 3-5...I think they can go the cheap route and address that there with maybe a cheap vet fill in for insurance.
My take on the QB situation is if they don't love Haskins, Lock, or Jones enough to take them early in this draft...then just keep Eli. If they love one of those guys, then cut Eli right from go and brace for impact by signing a cheap stop gap - Fitz, Bridgewater, Taylor, someone because I don't think any of them are day 1 guys and honestly in this draft possibly not even year 1 guys.... I don't want Eli here as the mentor...I think it leads to an ugly situation no matter what. Team Icons have not transitioned well to the next gen. Combine with this QBs is going to be really interesting. Haskins looked really good in the rose bowl. Jones was very impressive in his bowl win, but still has numerous concerns. I love Lock's arm, but he still makes some odd choices and I'm not sure how much of a leader his is - team seems to love him, but he's an "oh gosh" silent type - he's some weird combo of Eli (personality) and Jay Cutler (arm / decision making) right now.
The whole Eli thing will be answered by March 17th - he's due a roster bonus of 5 mil. If they are going to completely cut ties it'll be before then.....if they pay it, he'll be the QB to start 2019. I don't think Eli will take a paycut....the only remaining question will be if they Giants extend him to lower the cap hit.
Vernon will be the other big roster decision I think. Dude just can't stay healthy, but at the same time he's the only pass rusher they have. He'd be 8 mil in dead cap or 19.5 against it. If they give him 1 more year he'd be 4 mil in dead cap. I'd be stunned if they kept BOTH Vernon and Eli....I think 1 probably ends up determining the other. My guess? Vernon is gone - this draft has a ton of pass rushers and the FA market actually has some solid talent there too.
Ogletree is another potential out with 5 mil in deadcap vs. 11.5 in salary, but I think he stays. Jenkins is 14 mil vs. 7 mil not enough savings for what he brings to the field for me, but I guess there's always potential there...I know plenty of folks think he's ripe for it.
Needs (forgetting QB for the moment):
Pass rush / OLB
Free Saftey
RT
G
C
I know folks will point to CB as well, but I'm okay with Jenkins, Haley (slot/nickle), and giving Beal the shot.
If they aren't going with a tackle @ #6 then I'd skip it this draft and try to find the answer in FA. I think Taylor and Williams are the only starting tackles in this draft. I'm not a fan of Little. Both those guys would be well served starting on the right side too.
If Allen is there @6 you take him. However I think there's a number of good pass rush LBers/DE types that will still be around in round 2...so if they go QB or OT its still a spot that can be addressed with the depth of this draft.
A key for the Giants will be to figure out how to best leverage their horde of late round picks. Find some potential cap hits on other teams and leverage 5-7 type picks for them....you can probably fill G/C with moves like that for guys who are making a little much to be backups on teams moving in different directions. Think reverse Brett Jones this time around. I think most of the OL talent in this draft is just not as exciting as last year. So they might have to do a lot of work on the market.....
Safety is another area in this draft that only has 1-2 high end guys but to me is loaded with guys who could go anywhere from 3-5...I think they can go the cheap route and address that there with maybe a cheap vet fill in for insurance.
My take on the QB situation is if they don't love Haskins, Lock, or Jones enough to take them early in this draft...then just keep Eli. If they love one of those guys, then cut Eli right from go and brace for impact by signing a cheap stop gap - Fitz, Bridgewater, Taylor, someone because I don't think any of them are day 1 guys and honestly in this draft possibly not even year 1 guys.... I don't want Eli here as the mentor...I think it leads to an ugly situation no matter what. Team Icons have not transitioned well to the next gen. Combine with this QBs is going to be really interesting. Haskins looked really good in the rose bowl. Jones was very impressive in his bowl win, but still has numerous concerns. I love Lock's arm, but he still makes some odd choices and I'm not sure how much of a leader his is - team seems to love him, but he's an "oh gosh" silent type - he's some weird combo of Eli (personality) and Jay Cutler (arm / decision making) right now.
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