The NY Giants failed to meaningfully address the pass-rushing department this offseason, so here are three last-minute options still available.
One of the major criticisms of Dave Gettleman’s spending of the NY Giants’ war chest of free agency money was that he didn’t pick up an elite pass rusher; something just about everyone expected him to do.
Instead, the GM went with a pass rush by committee approach that features mostly young players with potential, but who have yet to prove themselves in the NFL (save for Kyler Fackrell’s one awesome year).
Although I would have liked to see some of that $80M+ allocated towards a top edge rusher, there’s a solid argument to be made that the market was skimp and, as such, all the solid pass rushers were overpriced (see: Jadeveon Clowney).
Where I won’t kill him is when it comes to not addressing the position in the draft; this was the worst edge class I can remember in quite some time, if ever.
So now here we are, almost in July, with a small amount of cap space left to spend and still lacking pop along the edge.
Funny enough, I’m going to completely change my tune of only bringing in young guys that fit the rebuild and advocate for the NY Giants signing one of three edge rushers that are all actually over the age of 30 — the total opposite of everything I said I wanted the team to do pre-offseason.
But, things change, and although the pass-rushing group has potential, it could surely use some sizzle in the form of a proven veteran that may have something left in the tank.
I’ve left Markus Golden off this list because I’ve already advocated for the NY Giants to sign him so much, and due to the fact that he actually has already been offered a tender.
Here are three pass rushers that could fit our budget and could really end up helping the unit as a whole in 2020.
1. Ezekiel Ansah
Another edge rusher I’ve done some campaigning for, singing Ezekiel Ansah would be a true wildcard move. A rarity in that he’s the only player on this list that I advocated the NY Giants to entertain signing before free agency opened up, Ansah’s age is a bit deceiving.
Although he’s 31, Ansah didn’t even begin playing football until he was 21 – simple math, he’s only got 10 years of the physical hardships that come with playing football under his belt. Even better, he’s a physical freak that was once a top-five draft pick, has made an All-Pro team, and has 50 career sacks to his name.
The NY Giants do not have anyone with that resume in their pass-rushing department right now, so they should take a look at Ansah who would probably come on the cheap. Seattle took a gamble on him last year that failed, as he produced only 2.5 sacks despite signing a $9M deal.
However, this is a player that produced over 7.5 sacks in four out of his first five years and had 12 sacks as recently as 2017 before the wheels started to come off.
When you really look at it though, it has only been two hard-luck years removed from that terrific season, where non-career threatening injuries took a toll on him in 2018 and 2019.
I mean, this is a guy that was thought highly enough of to receive the franchise tag from the Lions in 2018 and just turned 31 less than a month ago.
At this juncture of the offseason, he’s probably not looking for much money and he could turn out to be a real find for Gettleman to add some juice to the current committee.
2. Everson Griffen
Easily the best player on this list of potential future NY Giants, Everson Griffen still being a free agent has more to do about money than anything else. That’s what will make him the most difficult for Big Blue to acquire, as he just opted out of a deal that would have paid him $12.9M in 2019.
Yet, at this point in the free agency period (if you can even still call it that) I’d be shocked if he got anywhere near that – not that he doesn’t deserve it. I mean, the guy made the 2019 Pro Bowl for Pete’s sake.
In fact, the 32-year-old has made the Pro Bowl four times in his career, including an All-Pro nod. There are questions of scheme fit when it comes to the NY Giants’ suspected base 3/4 defense, but if defensive coordinator Patrick Graham will be as ‘multiple’ with his scheme as he says he will be, you can easily find a spot for a player as talented as Griffen.
Another reason that he could still be unsigned is his mental health issue that went on during September of 2018. However, the issue seems to have been addressed as Griffen has been a model citizen and teammate since the reported incident.
While Everson Griffen may have made a major mistake by opting out of his lucrative contract, his flaw could be the NY Giants’ gain if they can find a way to fit him under the cap at a reasonable rate.
3. Cameron Wake
If you were waiting for the point where this article went off the rails a bit, here we are. Yes, I’m seriously advocating for the NY Giants to take a look at a 38-year-old pass rusher, although it goes against everything I preached leading up to the offseason.
But Cameron Wake is not your average 38-year-old football player, and even though his 2019 season with the Titans didn’t go as planned due to injury, he still showed he can play at a pretty high level when he was out there.
The Titans were so confident in his abilities at age 37 that they threw a three-year, $23M contract his way -it’s almost unheard of for a player that’s not a quarterback to make that kind of money at that age, and you better believe there was good reason for it.
The Titans looked like geniuses after week one when Wake sacked Baker Mayfield 2.5 times to enter the rare ‘100 career sack club’, but those would wind up being his only sacks as a member of the team.
Still, his metrics were very much in line with a solid pass rusher as he added 13 pressures to his stat line in only 9 games.
So while the NY Giants signing Cameron Wake would obviously have to be a short-term deal, we’re talking about a guy that racked up 100 sacks in the NFL despite not entering the league until he was 27 (he played in the CFL prior).
He’s built like a brick wall, and he only missed 2 out of a possible 48 games in the three years leading up to 2019, so injuries shouldn’t be too much of a concern.
Cameron Wake at the vet minimum or close to it? I’m in. What’s the risk?