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.
1. Aj McCarron
Aj McCarron broke into the league with the Bengals as a fifth-round pick in 2014 as a quarterback that many were divided on. A two-time national champion, most felt that McCarron was a system QB that benefited from the talent around him while at Alabama.
Through the first six years of his career, it’s been hard to dispell that notion. Unfortunately for McCarron, he was never really going to have a chance to start as Andy Dalton was already entrenched as the starter and a very productive one at that.
The former Alabama star did make his mark in the 2015 season when he won 2/3 games down the stretch and brought the Bengals back from down 15-0 in a playoff game against the Steelers and hitting AJ Green with the go-ahead touchdown late before Jeremy Hill fumbled with less than two minutes to go to blow the game.
Since then, McCarron hasn’t gotten much of a shot to show what he can do again. He signed a 2/$10M contract with the Bills in 2018 and it looked like he was going to be a bridge starter while Josh Allen got some experience under his belt, but a pre-season injury derailed that. He was traded to Oakland at the end of that pre-season and released after the season.
If the NY Giants do want to sign the 29-year-old, it shouldn’t cost all that much. McCarron signed on with the Houston Texans last year for 1 year at $3M, and that’s likely around what it would cost Big Blue in 2020. With about a dozen other quarterbacks available with legit experience, McCarron should be there for the Giants if they want him, and the team could do a lot worse.
2. Blake Bortles
The main question the NY Giants should be asking when evaluating potential backup QB’s this off-season is ‘can this guy come in and win us a football game?’. To me, the answer to that question when looking at Blake Bortles is an easy yes. Did he pan out as a #3 overall draft pick? No, but that’s not the context we’re currently discussing him in.
Bortles also possesses a somewhat similar skill set to Daniel Jones in terms of their athleticism, so him coming in for Jones wouldn’t change all that much as he has a big arm and can run read options (should that be something that’s installed into this offense, which has been rumored). Bortles has thrown 103 TDs to 78 Ints in his career and has racked up 1,775 rushing yards and 8 more TDs on the ground.
Even more importantly, Bortles has three career playoff games under his belt. Not many are expecting Big Blue to make the post-season in 2020, and if they did and Daniel Jones that would be catastrophic, but that type of experience doesn’t typically hit the open market for the affordable price Bortles should sign for.
The former Jaguar signed on with the Rams for just $1M to play in 2019, and although he’ll likely want more in 2020, he’s surely not going to break the bank. Money doesn’t appear to be a huge factor for Bortles at this point as he made a boatload on his rookie contract with Jacksonville, although he may be looking for more of a shot to be a starter than he’ll get with the Giants.
This would be a terrific signing, though.
3. Mike Glennon
Mike Glennon’s NFL career has been one filled with many highs and lows. The former NC State QB broke into the league with Tampa Bay in 2013 as a third-round pick and the third QB selected in the draft and was thrust into action in Week 4 when the team decided to bench former first-rounder, Josh Freeman.
Glennon went on to make the PFWA All-Rookie team as he threw for 19 TD’s and just 9 picks in his rookie season. A coaching change in year two derailed his promising start, and even though the Bucs reportedly turned down multiple trade offers for Glennon he struggled to work his way onto the field over veteran Josh McCown.
After Jameis Winston was drafted, his fate was all but sealed and his time in Tampa came to an unceremonious end. However, things quickly looked promising for Glennon once again when the Chicago Bears threw a massive 3/$45M contract offer at him in 2017 free agency, as it appeared he would be their starter for years to come. The team went on to puzzlingly draft Mitch Trubisky just a few months later, making the signing useless for both the team and Glennon.
Since then, he experienced a similar situation with Arizona in 2018 when he signed on with them only for the team to draft Josh Rosen as he only ended up spending one year with them, as well. He was paid well for his time, as he’s racked up almost $30M for being a mostly career backup.
If the NY Giants want to sign the 30-year-old QB, it’ll likely cost them somewhere around the $2M it costed Oakland to sign him as their backup for 2019. That would seem to be a worthwhile investment for a somewhat proven QB, and Glennon should be near the top of the team’s wishlist come free agency.