With a lack of substantial cap space, a weak free agent class and draft crop, New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman is going to have to get creative to solve his quarterback woes.
In any event, Josh Rosen of the Arizona Cardinals is an intriguing option, in light of the fact that his team went through a coaching change this off-season. Let’s not sugarcoat things, the New York Giants are not in a good place at the quarterback position. If you were to rank Big Blue’s QB room 1-32, you would be hard pressed to have them any higher than 30. In what could be a down draft year for signal-callers, Big Blue may have to get creative if he does want to find a long-term answer this year.
To make matters worse, QB is far from the only problem the New York Giants have. To be fair, the entire roster is in flux, with very few young studs to hang any hats on. The salary cap situation is not much better, as the G-Men have a solid amount of dead money on the books with not nearly enough open cap space needed to address all their roster issues.
As we’ve seen in the past, with the Seattle Seahawks for example, one way to get your team out of salary cap hell is to find a young stud QB on a rookie contract while you fill out the rest of the roster over time. Last year’s No. 10 overall pick, Arizona Cardinals’ QB Josh Rosen, offers up a unique opportunity for the New York Giants to attempt to maneuver.
Rarely does a team make a coaching change a year after selecting a QB in the top 10, but that’s just how bad things were out in the desert last year. To make this tricky possible trade even more real of a scenario, new Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury has been gushing over Oklahoma QB Kyler Murray for quite some time now. According to the New York Post, the former Texas Tech head honcho even went as far as to say he would select Murray No. 1 overall.
Well now, he has his chance.
It’s worth noting that Kingsbury has already back-peddled tremendously off those comments, since being introduced to his new gig, as he tried to clarify this self-inflicted controversy.
Per the New York Post:
"“Our feelings toward Josh haven’t waned or changed.”"
Despite the attempted change-of-heart, it would still behoove the team’s front office to kick the tires and try to get a potential deal in the works before Eli Manning’s roster bonus is due next month.
Is Rosen all he’s cracked up to be?
Despite having a new coach in town, it’s no secret that if things had gone even reasonable well in Rosen’s rookie season that he likely would be untouchable in trade talks. Fortunately for the Giants, the former UCLA standout’s ‘freshman’ campaign could not have gone much worse.
The 6-4, 220 lbs. signal-caller sported a pathetic 49.1 Pro Football Focus grade, good for 37th overall for ranked quarterbacks. The former UCLA Bruin was also dead last in the league in QBR for qualifying starters, had just 11 TDs against 14 INTs, and completed only 55 percent of his passes.
There simply is no way to put a positive spin on those numbers.
Nevertheless, when you watch the tape and evaluate just how bad the offensive line and skill position players he had around him were, those numbers become somewhat understandable. Rosen stood tall in the pocket all year long, was not afraid to take hits and made a few big plays on throws NFL scouts drool over.
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He is a prototypical pocket passer, something that the New York Giants brass likes, and he can hit every throw on the route tree with ease.
Watching just a small amount of his film, it’s hard to miss just how smooth he is in the pocket. A former elite tennis player, his lateral quickness underlines a sneaky athletic type that can consistently avoid a pass rush. Being tall, he can hang in until the last possible second and still deliver big time throws even while being hit.
Rosen also has a rare knack for disguising his play action extremely well, which would bode well in head coach Pat Shurmur’s offense. The bottom line is, had he stayed in school and came out in the 2019 NFL Draft, he’d likely be the unanimous top QB on the board and certainly in strong consideration for the Giants at No. 6.
With that value in mind, if Gettleman could take advantage of the regime change in Arizona and pry him away for far less than he’s worth, it seemingly would be worth the gamble.
What would it cost?
The major issue in working out a potential deal would obviously be the compensation going back to Arizona. More than likely, they are going to want a ton back for a guy they invested so heavily in less than a year ago. If they ask for any first-round pick, this year’s or next, Gettleman should just hang up the phone.
However, anything short of a first-round pick and the discussion should continue. This deal only makes sense for the New York Giants if they can take advantage of the regime change in ‘Zona and steal him away for less than he’s worth. Let’s not forget that Rosen was reportedly high on the Giants’ board last year, and one his his main selling points is that he’s a big city kid that’s not afraid to play on a big stage.
A package consisting of this years second (No. 38 overall), one or two of the three 2019 fourth-round picks the Giants own, and next year’s number three (this year’s was spent in the supplemental draft on Sam Beal) could be a good starting point. With Arizona’s roster being so depleted, they could feel it makes sense for them. Especially if Kingsbury wants to bring in a QB who more fits his style (Manziel/Mayfield/Mahomes), which I strongly believe to be the case.