This Giants-Bills trade for Josh Allen would rock the NFL before draft night
By Doug Rush
The Buffalo Bills decided to send shockwaves around the NFL with the deal that saw Stefon Diggs traded to the Houston Texans. The NY Giants could be bold if they want to see if the Bills are in a potential rebuilding phase.
For the last three months, we’ve speculated about the Giants looking into getting a quarterback with their No. 6 overall pick. So in this case, let’s flip the narrative and instead of looking at quarterback prospects, why not look at one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Yes, we are suggesting the Giants try and trade for Josh Allen.
The Giants trading for Josh Allen would be great news for Brian Daboll
Granted, the conversation would have to involve more than just the No. 6 overall pick given we are talking about one of the best quarterbacks in the league with Allen, but that pick the Giants hold is where the trade talks would have to start. As we have done in the past in other trade proposals, using the Matthew Stafford for Jared Goff trade structure may be the framework of where a deal would get done, so here’s the trade proposal we are offering:
- The Giants acquire Josh Allen.
- The Bills acquire Daniel Jones, No. 6 overall in 2024, a 2025 first-round pick, a 2026 second-round pick and a 2024 third-round pick.
That was most of the framework of the trade that the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions used back in 2021 that sent Stafford from Detroit to the squad he ended up winning a Super Bowl with. With this proposal, given how good Allen is, we gave Buffalo the 2026 second-rounder as well. In this case, yes, the Bills would be going from Allen to Jones, like the Lions did at the time going from Stafford to Goff. However, they’d also have the No. 6 overall pick to work with, a high trade commodity and worth a lot to a team that acquires it. It would also give the Bills a second first-round pick as well in the 2024 NFL Draft, as they already have No. 28 overall to their name.
The first question some will wonder is why should the Bills consider this? Well, why did the Bills decide to trade off Allen’s best pass-catching target in Diggs and let the other one walk in free agency in Gabe Davis? Granted, the 2024 NFL Draft has a lot of wide receivers, but trading off a top wideout and letting another one walk is a major gamble unless you’re ready to admit defeat and rebuild the team. Buffalo has been a playoff team for the last few seasons, but they haven’t had anything to show for it with the exception of several heartbreaking defeats.
The next question, one we’ve gotten all over social media since we floated the trade offer, is can the Giants take on Allen’s current contract, which is a six-year, $258 million deal? With Allen’s contract as is and with the Giants current salary cap space as is, probably not. Re-works would have to be done to Allen’s deal, plus re-structures to other Giants players as well. It would be a lot of work to move money around, but for a quarterback with the level of play that Allen provides, you’d want to make it work if you’re Joe Schoen and the Giants.
Sure, the Giants could just draft a quarterback and get them on the rookie contract scale and hope for the best with the future. However, are any of the quarterbacks in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft as good and have the proven track record that Allen does? Nope.
Yes, maybe one or two of them could have better careers, but it isn’t guaranteed. Allen is considered one of the best players in the league and if there is a remote chance that Buffalo would consider blowing it all the way up and starting over completely with the trade of Allen, then it’s something the Giants would absolutely have to consider.
For the Giants fan base that has been begging for the team to upgrade at quarterback since the early stages of the 2023 season when Jones started to struggle and then got hurt, an upgrade from Jones to Allen would be a massive one for the G-Men. If nothing else, a phone call from Schoen to his old buddy in Brandon Beane to see if he’d even consider it should be made.
If Beane quickly hangs up - hey, Schoen called and tried. However, if Beane is the slightest bit interested in talking about something happening, then Schoen should put the trade offer we mentioned above on the table.