Giants suck, which sucks more for Jets
The Jets made all the right moves to Suck For Sam, but it’s the Giants who instead are Sucking For Sam. This has to make Gang Green Nation nauseous. It would add to the painful narrative of the sad-sack history of the Jets that just when they were positioned to finally draft a franchise quarterback, the players and coaches didn’t buy into tanking and screwed it up by winning four games and should make it five on Sunday in Tampa.
Now it could be their big brother Giants who get either USC’s Sam Darnold or UCLA’s Josh Rosen, allowing them to transition from two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning to another potential franchise quarterback, although there’s talk that Darnold could stay at USC for his third year of eligibility.
Other than 40-year-old Tom Brady playing like’s he’s 30 until he’s 50, can it get any worse for the Jets that in the first year since Manning arrived, the Giants are this completely wretched and need a QB in a strong quarterback year?
The Jets have been looking for a quarterback since forever. It’s just not fair.
The Giants could have their future face of the franchise fall right into their 1-7-andcounting lap.
Was it fair that the Colts made the playoffs every year from 2002-11 with Peyton Manning, but then when he missed the 2012 season because of his fourth neck surgery, they finished 2-14 and got Andrew Luck, who made the playoffs his first three seasons before injuries ruined his last two seasons?
The football gods really do have it in for Gang Green. The front office stripped down the roster, but the players and coaches, all fighting to keep their jobs, didn’t buy into tanking. What was viewed as the worst roster in the league was not supposed to overachieve at 4-5 and realistically could have been 7-2 if they didn’t blow back-to-back 14-point leads against the Patriots and Dolphins and give up a fourth-quarter lead against the Falcons.
There was a no-brainer ESPN report Wednesday that said Giants co-owner John Mara gave the organization a directive several weeks ago to start looking closely at the top college quarterbacks. Duh. If Jerry Reese and his lieutenants needed to be instructed by Mara to scout Darnold, Rosen and Wyoming’s Josh Allen and the rest of a strong group, that would be just another reason to fire Reese. If Mara didn’t take it for granted that they had figured that out on their own, it doesn’t say much for his faith in them.
Anyway, as upsetting as it’s been for Big Blue Nation to stomach this season that began with legitimate Super Bowl expectations, the Giants at least selected the right year to stink. The last time they picked in the top five was 2004, when they drafted Philip Rivers fourth overall in a prearranged deal and immediately traded him to the Chargers for Manning, whom they had picked first overall. It’s become clear this season that the road is coming to an end for Manning, whether it’s this year or next, and the Giants have to find his replacement.
They have not picked higher than ninth in the last 13 drafts. They have never positioned themselves to draft a successor to Manning, even with the rumblings that they loved Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes this year. It was the Chiefs who traded up to get him.
Reese took Ryan Nassib in the fourth round in 2013, but he never played a meaningful snap. He took Davis Webb in the third round this year, the first time Reese has drafted a quarterback with the intention he possibly could take over for Manning.
Davis has not been active for a game. Presumably, Ben McAdoo will continue to start Manning to keep his streak alive — he ties Peyton for second place among QBs with his 208th-consecutive start this week —and get Webb playing time over the last eight games when it’s not a blowout. If Webb turns out to be the real deal, if the Giants feel they can make that determination with a small sample, then it will allow them to fill another need with their first pick.
The game in San Francisco on Sunday has major implications. If the Giants lose to the 49ers, who are 0-9, it would be another humiliating moment in a humiliating season, but it could get them the second pick in April. Let’s face it: The Browns are not winning a game. If the Giants and 49ers finish 1-15, it would come down to the strength of schedule tiebreaker, but perhaps San Francisco will win some games with Jimmy Garoppolo.
Even if the Giants or Browns are picking first and the 49ers are picking second, you can count on Cleveland doing something stupid and trading the pick, or the Niners, because of the Garoppolo trade, perhaps taking Penn State running back Saquon Barkley or moving down in a trade with the Giants. The 49ers moved down one spot in the 2017 draft to Chicago’s spot with the Bears taking Mitchell Trubisky. Chicago gave up thirdand fourth-round picks in this past draft and a third-round pick in 2018. So, what happens to the Jets? The more games they win, the further down they move in the draft order. As I’ve said, Josh McCown is playing so well, it’s a shame he’s 38 years old and with his eighth team rather than being 24 and an ascending player. I just don’t think Christian Hackenberg or Bryce Petty will ever be the Jets’ starter except by default. I don’t think the Jets believe either of them is their QB of the future.
McCown is the Jets’ 13th different starting quarterback since Manning took over for the Giants in the 10th week of his rookie year. During the 208 games, here’s who has started for the Jets: Mark Sanchez (62), Chad Pennington (32), Geno Smith (30), Ryan Fitzpatrick (27), Brett Favre (16), Brooks Bollinger (9), Kellen Clemens (9), McCown (8), Vinny Testaverde (4), Petty (4), Michael Vick (3), Quincy Carter (2) and Greg McElroy (1).
Can it get any more painful for Gang Green Nation than Darnold playing for Big Blue?
You’ll never catch Mike Maccagnan bungee jumping, sky diving or dangling over a ravine. He’s not hanging with the Sherpas on Mount Everest or Volcano boarding (yes, that’s a thing), either. The Jets general manager’s sense of adventure likely includes analyzing pad levels on the All-22 on a Friday night. He’s not exactly an adrenaline junkie. The organization’s riskaverse head of football operations has taken the safe route for three years, but it’s time for a strategically aggressive move in the coming months to land a franchise quarterback. It’s time to swim with the sharks. Maccagnan’s resume is sprinkled with low-risk, high-reward deals. Some failed. Some were short-term solutions that served their purpose. In fact, the Jets GM has never traded away a premium draft pick (first three rounds) in his tenure. The heftiest draft capital was a 2017 fourth-round pick that he gave Washington to select offensive tackle Brandon Shell in the 2016 fifth round. Maccagnan dealt fifthround picks for Brandon Marshall and Ryan Clady (and got back seventh-rounders from the Bears and Broncos, respectively). He ultimately doled out a sixth-rounder for Ryan Fitzpatrick. He stockpiled draft picks last year by trading back four times and trading out once for an additional 2018 fifth-round pick. Safe, safe, safe, safe, safe, safe, safe and safe. The 4-5 Jets have exceeded expectations on One Jets Drive and every other street in America, but Maccagnan can no longer ignore the elephant in the room as he finishes his third season on the job: It’s time to make a real commitment to a potential franchise signal caller this offseason. “We’re preparing as we normally do with the college draft process and eventually with pro free agency,” Maccagnan said Wednesday. “Then we’ll sit down and analyze that at the end of the season and figure out where we want to go with that.” Maneuvering for a franchise quarterback isn’t for the faint of heart. Consider the price tag for the Rams and Eagles before the 2016 draft. The Rams gave up two firstrounders, two second-rounders and two third-rounders to the Titans to make the gargantuan leap from No. 15 to No. 1. (Los Angeles also got back Tennessee’s 2016 fourth- and sixthrounders). The braintrust in La-La Land went for it after identifying Jared