ESPN: The New York Giants Offensive Trio Is Average

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell recently ranked the NFL’s best offensive triplets all the way from the Cleveland Browns on up. Barnwell chose the team’s three “most useful and important skill-positions” with the quarterback as a mandatory selection. It’s worth noting that he considered a typical season in terms of injuries – a factor that will be addressed later.

So where did the New York Giants, ranked 8th in total offense in 2015, stack up against the other 31 teams? Barnwell has them smack dab in the middle of the pack at 16.

Here’s Barnwell’s writeup:

QB Eli Manning, RB Shane Vereen, WR Odell Beckham Jr.
“If this were rankings of the best offensive combinations in football, the duo of Manning and Beckham would be in the top 10. In adding a third player, though, the Giants can’t keep up. Vereen is the best in a group of bad options. Rashad Jennings? Will Tye? Second-round pick Sterling Shepard? If Victor Cruz could come back from knee and calf injuries to look like his former self, he would form an excellent third wheel, but even if he makes it back into the lineup for the Giants in September, it will have been nearly two years since Cruz contributed. Chances are that he won’t be the same player. If that’s the case, the Giants will have an enormous drop-off between Beckham and the rest of their offensive weaponry.”

At least Barnwell admits that Manning and Beckham are a stellar combination, but the addition of a third player drops them in the rankings. The third option does drop off significantly. While Giants fans appreciate Vereen’s contributions, he’s not even the starting running back. Vereen never topped six carries and only had over 50 yards in a game once. Vereen was 2nd on the Giants in receptions besting Rueben Randle, which is a problem in itself, but didn’t eclipse 500 yards receiving. Vereen is a versatile player and crucial in the Giants offense, but certainly not game changing when talking about offensive triplets.

Ideally, that third slot will be filled with the 2013 version of Victor Cruz who had just under 1,000 yards receiving. But again, Cruz hasn’t played an NFL game since October of 2014 and there’s no guarantee he will play this year, although it’s looking good so far. Knock on wood.

Shepard may have an outstanding season, but he has yet to play an NFL game, so it’s easy to understand Barnwell’s hesitation there. As for Will Tye, who had a breakout rookie season filling in for Larry Donnell, he hasn’t even earned a role in the starting lineup.

So the real issue with Barnwell’s ranking is how big of a drop the Giants triplet made in the ranking. The teams ranked immediately ahead of the Giants, the Washington Redskins, the San Diego Chargers, the Indianapolis Colts and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, I’d argue have weaker trios than the Giants. The strength of the Manning-Beckham combination is superior to, let’s say, Philip Rivers to Keenan Allen even with the addition of Melvin Gordon to their trio.

Elsewhere in the NFC East, the Redskins, as was mentioned, ranked one slot ahead of the Giants at 15. The strength of their ranking rests solely on Kirk Cousins repeating his extremely efficient campaign from 2015 in his second year as a full-time starter. If he can come close to that production, DeSean Jackson and Jordan Reed are two formidable receiving threats.

The Philadelphia Eagles are ranked pretty much right where they should be: 30th. Sam Bradford, Ryan Mathews and Jordan Matthews don’t exactly strike fear into the hearts of opposing defenses. Bradford likely won’t be on the field by the end of the season. Quite a drop off from the days of LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson.

And then there’s the Dallas Cowboys ranked all the way up at 6th. While I have no doubt the Cowboys may have a potent offense, Barnwell claims he factored injuries into the equation. Over the last six seasons, Tony Romo has missed 24 games for the Cowboys. Last season, Romo played in just four games. If injuries are factored in, one would have to believe the Cowboys would have dropped further in the rankings. Speaking of injuries, Dez Bryant is recovering from a foot injury that has been debilitating to many receivers and is still limited.

And their third in the triplet Ezekiel Elliott, like Sterling Shepard, has yet to play a game in the NFL. While one can assume that a running back taken 4th in the draft will have an easier transition and more production than a second-round wide receiver, it’s still a huge leap of faith that Elliott will round out a trio that ranks 6th best in the NFL.

So Giants fans, what say you?