It’s not a hyperbole to say that this is the most important offseason in New York Giants history. After a stunningly succesful 2022 campaign, Joe Schoen and the Giants front office have countless decisions to make. With $44 million (for now) in cap space, Schoen will have to figure out how to disperse that to upgrade the Giants roster in hopes to build off the strong 2022 season.
Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley are free agents, but the widespread expecation is that both will return to New York in 2023. To truly upgrade the roster, Schoen is going to have find marginal upgrades, something he thrived at in 2022.
One position Schoen could look at is the running back position. If Schoen can sign a strong backup RB, it will take a lot of pressure off of Barkley. There are a ton of free agent running backs who could be fits, but plenty that we don’t like. Here are four RBs the NY Giants should stay away from in free agency:
4. RB Matt Breida
The 27-year-old running back had a decent 2022 season as Barkley’s primary backup, rushing for 220 yards and one touchdown on 54 attempts. Breida also hauled in 20 passes for 118 yards. Despite playing sparingly in 2022, the veteran running back posted career lows in yards per rush and yards per reception in 2022.
The most concerning aspect surrounding Breida: his extensive injury history. Breida has only played a full season of football in two out of his six NFL seasons, part of the reason he has played on four different teams the last four years. Breida’s slender 5-10, 190-pound frame makes him succepitble to future injuries.
Barkley is an injury prone running back, making his backup a very important job. It makes very little sense to have his backup also be a player with significant durability concerns. We think Schoen and Co. should look elsewhere.
3. RB Raheem Mostert
Similar to Breida, Raheem Mostert has an insane injury history. Over the course of his eight-year NFL career, Mostert has managed to play just one full season. The veteran running back was the Dolphins primary starter and played in 16 games in 2022, rushing for 891 yards and three touchdowns on 181 attempts, while adding 31 catches for 202 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite posting career-highs in rushing attempts, rushing yards and receiving yards, Mostert was not very efficent in 2022 posting a career low in yards per rush, and the second lowest yards per reception in his career.
As a former starter who will likely transition to being a backup this offseason, Mostert will surely cost more money then the typical backup running back. The Giants still have multiple holes to fill, so it would make more sense to invest money into a potential impact player, not someone like Mostert.
2. RB Jeff Wilson Jr.
Mostert’s backfield mate in Miami this season was Jeff Wilson Jr. and he will be a popular running back in the free agent market. After playing for more than five seasons in San Fransisco, Wilson was traded to Miami shortly before the 2022 trade deadline, and finished the season strong, posting 392 rushing yards in eight games as a Dolphin.
Similar to Mostert, as a former starter, Wilson will likely command a hefty salary in the offseason. Additionally, Wilson offers very little as a pass-catching running back, something that is heavily featured in the Giants offense.
Wilson has just 216 receving yards the past three seasons. In comparsion, Barkley had 338 receiving yards in 2022 alone. A backup running back in the NFL ideally features very similar qualities to the starter, and Wilson is very different from Barkley.
1. RB Boston Scott
How on earth could the Giants sign Boston Scott? If you combine the Philadelphia Eagles running back’s postseason and regular season stats, he has has 1,304 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns in his NFL career. Well, 11 of those 18 touchdowns are against Big Blue, which is insane and ridiculous.
In nine career games vs. the Giants, Scott has 90 carries for 446 yards. An unreal 34 percent of his yards and 61 percent of the touchdowns in his career have come against the Giants. Which begs the serious question, does he have any value when he is not playing the G-Men?
Scott also does not add a lot in the receiving game. In 2022, the running back caught just five passes for 15 yards. Scott’s very tiny 5-6 frame is also a concern. With all that I mentioned above, plus the fact Giants fans hate him, and the fact his first name is Boston, this all means that Schoen should not even consider him this offseason.
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