There’s no question the NY Giants should be sellers at the trade deadline, but NFL insiders believe Dave Gettleman may struggle to find buyers for players he may be shopping
The NY Giants are an injury riddled, rudderless submarine sinking fast to the depths of the NFL this season.
As the NFL trade deadline looms, embattled general manager Dave Gettleman and the NY Giants should absolutely be sellers, fielding phone calls for any and all players with some sort of trade value.
The problem is, Gettleman’s phone might be fairly silent in coming weeks.
“They don’t really have any tradable players,” an NFC personnel executive tells FanSided. “I’m not saying some guys on that roster don’t have positives, but there’s no one that you’d bang the door down for and no one who fits a need for a team contending but with players at a certain position on season-long IR.”
The Giants would likely love to get out from under some tradable contracts to create cap relief in 2022, but doing so might be a heavy lift.
New York is 1-5, with a minus -10.5 point-differential and with the NFL’s 15th toughest remaining schedule that includes games against the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs, playoff bound Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Chargers, among others ahead. There’s little that can be done to salvage what seems destined to be the NY Giants’ fifth consecutive losing season.
Here’s a look at four players the NY Giants should be shopping, and how likely a trade for each is
TE Evan Engram
Few players on the NY Giants roster might benefit more from a change of scenery than Engram, but New York may have missed the opportunity to move on from the 2020 Pro Bowler.
Multiple league sources suggest that the Arizona Cardinals’ acquisition of Zach Ertz took one of the possible suitors for Engram out of the market.
As one source points out, it would be difficult for a team to justify trading for Engram as he is set to become an unrestricted free agent next spring, so there’s no incentive to give up an asset in return for a deal.
Last fall, the NY Giants turned down trade overtures for Engram, and given the limited market that seems to have developed in recent weeks, maybe that was a mistake.
However, one team to watch, from league conversations, is the Buffalo Bills, who just lost Dawson Knox to a broken hand and could miss multiple weeks.
WR Darius Slayton
Similar to Engram, the market for Slayton could be slim, at least in part because few contenders are dealing with injuries at the wide receiver position.
Meanwhile, Slayton has missed two games due to a hamstring injury and has only caught seven passes for 127 yards and a touchdown through his first three games of this season.
“Slayton is probably the one guy on their roster that I’d think teams would call on,” an NFC North scout tells FanSided.
A former fifth-round draft choice, Slayton has shown he has game-altering speed, but it is likely best suited to be a team’s No. 2 or No. 3 wide receiver, something the NY Giants have all but admitted by going out last offseason and spending $45 million guaranteed over four years on Kenny Golladay and drafting Kadarius Toney in the first round of this spring’s draft.
Given the NY Giants’ sudden depth at wide receiver, Slayton is more of a luxury piece for this current roster and would likely be more valuable as a chip to acquire a future draft choice.
2) S Jabrill Peppers
This has been one of the more disappointing seasons of Peppers’ career.
Peppers entered the 2021 season aiming to have the kind of performance that springboards him into becoming one of the highest-paid safeties in the NFL this offseason, but that hasn’t come close to materializing.
Through the first six weeks, Peppers has played in just 49.5 percent of the NY Giants’ defensive snaps, which is a stark decline from his role in 2020 when he appeared in 38.5 of New York’s defensive snaps.
Some inside the league believe that there is a market for Peppers, but don’t believe a team will part with much more than a Day 3 NFL Draft pick. Especially, because similarly to Engram, Peppers is in the final year of his contract and any team that acquires him would want some sort of assurance that he would re-sign.
4) NT Austin Johnson
Defensive line is one of the deepest positions on the NY Giants roster, and teams across the league certainly value consistent play along the trenches.
Already this season Johnson has shown an ability to generate front-three pressure on the quarterback, producing a pair of sacks and seven total pressures.
Pro Football Focus gives Johnson a 62.4 pass-rush grade.
Johnson just might wind up being the kind of player, who plays a key position, that a contender might part with to acquire.
Matt Lombardo is FanSided’s National NFL Insider and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday. Email Matt: Matt.Lombardo@FanSided.com.