Will Wayne Gallman end up making the 2020 NY Giants

Runningback Wayne Gallman has had his shares of ups and downs during his three-year tenure with the NY Giants. Could that relationship finally be coming to an end before the 2020 season starts?

Wayne Gallman always had the cards stacked against him since joining the NY Giants. First off, the GM that hired him, Jerry Reese, was fired just one season into the runningbacks career. In turn, new GM Dave Gettleman had no preconceived connection to Gallman whatsoever.

Then draft night rolled around and Gettleman chose to select perhaps the most electrifying ‘back to come out in the draft since Adrian Peterson. From there, Gallman was delegated to the clear #2 tailback, playing behind a guy who is now the face of a franchise and a classic three-down back.

While Gallman didn’t light the world on fire as a rookie in 2017, he surely looked competent and it had to be a major blow to him to realize he wouldn’t be seeing the field very often barring injury. As fate may have it, Saquon Barkley actually would sprain his ankle in Week 3 of the 2019 season, but Gallman got hurt himself shortly after that and wasn’t able to capitalize on the opportunity.

So, now we’re in a place where Gallman is heading into the last year of his rookie deal while putting up just 276 rushing yards on 80 attempts (3.45 average) with the big plays coming few and far between — not an ideal place to be with a brand new coaching regime rolling into town, and the GM that drafted him long gone.

I don’t think many are doubting Gallman has the skills to be a solid scat-back, change of pace runner in the NFL, but he’s going to have to stay healthy and dedicated if he hopes to stick with the NY Giants in 2020 or beyond.

Who could take Gallman’s roster spot?

Even since I saw the NY Giants signed runningback Javon Leake out of Maryland, shelling out $75K to land his services (the third-highest guaranteed amount given out by Big Blue), I’ve been super excited about the possibilities of him making an impact on this team.

In my mind, he’s the biggest singular threat to Wayne Gallman’s roster security as he is explosive as they come and adds being a terrific return man to his resume. Leake was stuck behind Anthony McFarland Jr. at Maryland (a 2020 fourth-round pick), but still put up some insane numbers.

Leake held a career yards-per-carry average of 7.9 while scoring a touchdown on every 8.5 rushing attempts — numbers that are straight-up unheard of. He also added another 3 touchdowns in the kick return game.

Jonathan Hilliman will be in the mix as well, although I don’t see him as a threat to overtake Gallman. He may end up on the practice squad again, but he didn’t show much in 2019.