Should Giants Be Buyers or Sellers at Trade Deadline?

The November 1 NFL trade deadline is fast approaching, and action around the league is likely to start heating up in the coming days.

But will the New York Giants be a part of the wheelings and dealings? That remains to be seen, but that hasn't stopped people from crafting their best-case trade scenarios.

Bryan DeArdo of CBS Sports proposes the Giants trade for Dolphins tight end Mike Gesicki in exchange for a second-round pick. Notes DeArdo:

Acquiring Gesicki makes a lot of sense, especially given Daniel Bellinger's recent eye injury that is slated to keep him out indefinitely. A New Jersey native, Gesicki has proven to be a highly productive player when given the opportunity. The five-year veteran caught 13 touchdowns over a three-year span while eclipsing the 700-yard receiving mark in consecutive seasons.

The problem with the proposed trade is--you guessed it--salary-cap related. Gesicki signed a 1-year, fully guaranteed $10.931 million contract with the Dolphins, which, if traded to another team, must go on their books for 2022.

Assuming the Giants were to make this trade by next week's deadline, they'd be on the hook for at least $6.072 million of that fully guaranteed salary--unless, of course, they'd be able to work something out with the Dolphins, whereby Miami would pay the bulk of that salary.

And even if that were to be the case, the Giants, who per the NFLPA public cap report, have $2,920,483 of cap space left and very few, if any, options to get more operating capital to get through the rest of the year, are unlikely to make such a costly move.

A Scenario That (Sort of) Makes More Sense

At this point in the calendar year, if the Giants are going to make any trades, they would have to shed players (and salaries) and acquire draft picks.

The problem is the Giants right now have very few fringe players who are likely to draw anything of significant value in a trade.

Receiver Kadarius Toney has been mentioned as a potential trade candidate, but until he can get healthy enough to pass a team's physical, that probably isn't going to happen. Toney hasn't been on the field since Week 2 and doesn't look like he's going to practice to be ready for this weekend's game against the Seahawks.

Even if Toney were healthy enough by the deadline to pass a physical, the Giants, as they showed with Saquon Barkley, are probably not going to give up on Toney just yet until they have had a chance to see what he can do in this offense.

The only realistic trade scenario for the Giants is to move receiver Darius Slayton for a draft pick. Slayton, who has 166 receiving yards and a touchdown on 11 catches, isn't signed beyond this year and is unlikely to be a part of the team's long-term plans.

Slayton has been up and down for the Giants ever since an impressive rookie campaign. At the cost of $53,611 per week (thanks to agreeing to a salary reduction before the season), Slayton would cost an acquiring team approximately $536,111 in this, the final year of his rookie deal.

In terms of the 2023 projected rookie salary pool, that amount would be the equivalent of a seventh-round pick that the Giants could look to have upgraded to a conditional sixth should Slayton be re-signed by the acquiring team. (The Giants currently don't have a sixth-round pick in next year's draft.)

The Packers are thought to be in the market for a receiver since Randall Cobb is on IR, Christian Watkins is dealing with a hamstring, and Sammy Watkins is just returning from IR. NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported that the Packers are hoping to find a receiver still on his rookie deal.

Schultz also added that he'd "be surprised" if the Giants traded Slayton given the current state of the Giants' receivers.That Slayton has also seen a significant uptick in his offensive snaps over the last three games would also work against any argument to trade him.

So What Will the Giants Do?

In all likelihood, the Giants will stand pat at the trade deadline, as trading away draft picks isn't in the best interest of a team with a lot of rebuilding still to do. But if they get a solid offer for Slayton from a team willing to "rent" him for half a year before deciding whether to give him a new contract, it's hard to imagine general manager Joe Schoen not jumping at that opportunity.

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