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Breaking Down The Athletic's Outside-the-Box Trade Idea for New York Giants

The Athletic gives one trade idea for each of the league's 32 NFL teams and their idea for the Giants is really outside the box.
Patricia Traina|
Breaking Down The Athletic's Outside-the-Box Trade Idea for New York Giants
Breaking Down The Athletic's Outside-the-Box Trade Idea for New York Giants

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With the NFL trade deadline three weeks away, The Athletic’s Bo Wulf offered some trade ideas for all 32 NFL teams, including a curious one for the New York Giants.

The idea: Trade for Bills running back Zack Moss.

(In his idea for the Bills, Wulf would be for them to acquire Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey, which would presumably make Moss expendable.)

In suggesting Moss to the Giants, Wulf writes, “They can offload Moss to his former offensive coordinator, and Brian Daboll could have a backfield option to help keep Saquon Barkley fresh amid his resurgent season.”

It's probably safe to say that Wulf’s scenario isn’t going to play out as described. Of all the position groups on the Giants, running back is probably the least needy at the moment, not just because Saquon Barkley looks like Saquon Barkley again, but because there are injuries at wide receiver and cornerback that are more pressing.

Further, the Giants added Matt Breida, who had a year in Brian Daboll’s system up in Buffalo, to the roster in the off-season to fill the very same role Wulf is proposing for Moss.

Although Moss, who has 91 yards on 17 carries this season, has a little better rushing average per carry than Breida (4.1 to 3.9) in nearly as many carries, the move based on stats alone so far would be a lateral one for the Giants, who by the way only have $3,612,753 in cap space available to use on practice squad elevations and signings.

Wulf doesn’t propose what the Giants should trade to get Moss. (He does, however, suggest the Giants trade receiver Kadarius Toney to the Bears, another move I have a hard time seeing if Schoen and Daboll are sticking to the plan of evaluating what they have on the roster before making any long-term decisions is true.)

Wulf’s proposal might make sense if the Giants are planning to move on from Barkley—and given how he’s performed, that would be a big if. Even if the Giants were to franchise Barkley after this year, they’d be looking at $12.696 million to retain him while continuing talks to reach a more cap-friendly deal.

The bottom line is that the Giants, at 4-1, still have holes on the roster. For them to start trading away assets for another running back so long as they have a healthy Barkley and Breida in the backfield doesn't make much sense.

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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