The 2020 free agency class is particularly deep at the quarterback position, and as such, the NY Giants should have the opportunity to add a quality one for a modest investment.
With Eli Manning officially retired, backup quarterback is now a position of need for the NY Giants as the team heads into the off-season. Daniel Jones’ play in 2019 has Big Blue fans fired up, but he’s always only going to be one play away from needing to come off the field.
As I’ve discussed on here many a time, Alex Tanney cannot continue to hold a roster spot on this team as he doesn’t represent a real possibility of quality quarterback play. In year two, Danny Dimes should not need to have a mentor on the roster that adds nothing in terms of actual ability to the roster, so it’s time for the team to move on and find a guy that could actually hold things together in the event of an injury.
Luckily for the NY Giants, this is one of the deepest free-agent quarterback classes in recent memory in terms of both starters and backups. It’s surely going to be a buyer’s market, and if Dave Gettleman is smart he’ll land a capable backup for a very small investment.
While the Giants do have a decent amount of cap space, spending any significant portion of that on a backup QB would be a tough pill to swallow with all of the holes currently on the roster. The team also is short on draft picks, so going the cheap route in a deep available QB class seems to make the most sense.
Gettleman’s trademark during his time as the Giants GM has been culture and veteran leadership, but really this move needs to be about finding the best possible quarterback to back up Daniel Jones. If that guy is a terrific leader, all the better, but he needs to be able to flat out play in a pinch first and foremost.
I’d much rather see the team go to the free-agent route than investing one of it’s few draft picks in the position, especially with how the last two mid-round picks Big Blue spent on quarterbacks went. The Giants burned a 2017 third-rounder on Davis Webb and a 2018 fourth-rounder on Kyle Lauletta to get a combined two seasons out of the signal-callers.
Here are three backup quarterbacks on the free-agent market that make a lot of sense for the NY Giants in 2020.