The First-Place Giants Should Be Trade Deadline Buyers

The reality is that, and he didn't deny this.

John Harbaugh called Amy Adams Strunk, the owner of the Titans, uh, to ask about Jeffrey Simmons.

He says he left a voicemail which was unreturned.

Um, you know, I, I don't know the reality of the situation.

We know that he's been on a hunt, uh, for interior DT presence, especially after they traded Dexter Lawrence, but like the idea of the Giants as a buyer at the trade deadline now they just extended Greg Newsom yesterday.

Um, I believe that creates some immediate cap relief if they're trying to, uh, allow themselves, allot themselves themselves some flexibility, um.

Should they be buyers?

Yeah, well, let me clear up.

Like, I, I can clear up what happened there too, like a little bit.

Like I did come across this in my reporting last week, um, before it was public, and it's interesting because it was really sensitive when I heard it because it's considered, um, I think what John Harbaugh did .

It was great for the Giants, but it was considered a little bit of a faux pas in the way it was executed in that, Joe Shane had already called Mike Borganzi and was told no on Simmons, and then John Harbaugh called the owner, which is, I think, a little bit of like , all right, what are you trying to do here?

You know, like, I think you know how you would feel if you're the Titans front office and that happened.

So I think that that's like uh why Why that like one like looked a little funky, you know, and so, um, but I, I do think it shows like where the Giants see themselves right now and like, despite the fact that they They don't have Jackson Dart for the rest of the year.

Um, they're confident that they can compete with JJ McCarthy as their quarterback, which is a sentence.

I don't think any of us thought we would be saying about the Giants six weeks ago for a variety of reasons.

Um, and you know, what's fascinating about it, what's fascinating about it to me too, is They've been on the hunt for defensive tackles, right?

So, um, and, and, and very much like looking at the end of camp, and then over the last couple of weeks, Simmons is not the only defensive tackle they've made a call on.

Do you know what the next question to that one would be?

What?

Why don't you just keep Dexter Lawrence?

Well, that's what I was just gonna ask you, right?

And like, so, and, and, and I don't think it's that it's not, it's not totally fair to just say that, but like, because that was a contract situation and like it just, it did not, you were at the very ground floor of your program and you're trying to go into the offseason program with good vibes and make sure that everybody's on the same page when you get to OTAs in May and all of that different stuff, but, you know, I It's more or less like that's what you're trying to replace right now .

Uh, the question I think is, would you rather have had Given Dexter Lawrence a raise, or would you rather have Mauinoah on a rookie contract, right, right.

And that's a fair question.

And then you can also say that was the 10th pick in the draft.

If we were trading for Simmons and we think we're gonna be good the next couple of years, maybe you're talking about the 23rd pick this year and the 25th pick next year or whatever it is.

And you put those two together, and then all of a sudden, it's like, well, yeah, that's pretty even when you're talking about trading about, about getting the 10th pick, and, oh by the way, Simmons is a better player than Lawrence.

Now, this always interested me because, you know, I think it's a question that I think about from time to time when it comes to the trade deadline, you know, do these GMs have preferred partners because it, it, you know, it, it, it's one of these things where like Jeffrey Simmons, they're saying no, they're saying no, they're saying no.

When the Giants called, was Burganzi just like, hey, you're not even in our stratosphere in terms of an offer?

I mean, like, this is sort of fascinating.

So, Over the last year and a half, so Borghazi becomes the general manager in January of 25.

And Salah becomes the head coach in January of 26.

Over that, what would it be like 2022 month period, right?

Like since it, like it's been a steady stream of calls at every one of the checkpoints on Simmons, right?

So they've gotten calls, they got calls in March, they get calls before the draft, they get calls at the cutdown, they get calls at the deadline, and my understanding is more than half the NFL has called on Jeffrey Simmons to see if there's a way to get him out of there.

He is that great a player.

He is relatively unique like he is.

I, I always, I, I've said this a lot, Connor, um, and this is why I was so over the top on Thursday when we were reacting in the moment to the trade.

I think this type of player is more rare than a great edge rusher and harder to game plan against.

There's no question about it.

It's not even a debate.

And, and to me it's sort of similar to the tight end versus receiver dynamic, right, on offense, where I think a great, uh, I think a great tight end can actually be more valuable to an offense than a great receiver, and it's hard to find a truly great one who can do both, who can both block and And, and, and, and, and catch the ball at a really high level and like Rob Gronkowski to me was more valuable than Julio Jones, and they're both great players, they're both Hall of Famers, but I think like it's just the effect that a guy like that can have in every facet of the game is huge.

Why aren't the numbers as high for a great tight end?

Because there aren't as many great players pushing the market up.

It's the same thing with defensive tackle.

So in a way.

Like with the Trey McBride, for example, you're getting this deep discount just because there aren't a ton of great tight ends to push the market up.

George Kittle, you're getting a great deal, and it's the same thing at the tackle.

Anyway, so, here's why.

Here, I like, like I, I do think it's important that we talk about why exactly he was, why exactly this went down the way that it did.

Those calls kept coming.

And the Titans kept saying no.

And here's the thing, if you're the Titans, and you want to keep Jeffrey Simmons, and he's the face of the franchise, what you can't have happened.

is you can't look at have it get out that you're open to trading him.

You can't have that get out.

And so what you can never do is you can never make the first offer, right?

And this is a mistake that those teams made is they just took no for an answer, right.

Like, what's Borgganzi gonna say in that, in that, in that, in that situation?

Well, you know, if you give me two first-round picks in a second, no, you, you can't say that.

Because the minute you say that, you risk that thing, that, that, that thing getting out, and now you've got a bleep storm on your hands, right?

So what it took was two things.

Someone actually making an offer, which all those teams that called, no one made a, uh, uh, no one made an offer to him over the last 22 months on, on Simmons before the Bears.

It's so, it took someone making an offer and someone opening that conversation rather than just taking the Titans no for an answer, and it took trust between Borgonzi and whoever the other general manager was.

And that's why this worked the way that it did.

And so I think the lesson, and I made this point with Justin Herbert, the Chargers aren't trading Justin Herbert, all right, so we can shut that down right now.

It's not happening.

All right.

Like I, I, it's just , I, I would be floored if the, the, the Chargers traded Justin Herbert, you know, but I did a video earlier.

I like, I, I, there was a video clip of me earlier in the week, and I think some people misconstrued it.

Like they aren't trading him, but if you're another team , like if you're the Browns, you're the Vikings, like.

If I really like him, like, just call and offer 3 1st round picks, you know what I mean?

Like, and like, at least then the conversation starts rather than, do you guys, would you guys be open to the idea of talking about Justin Herbert?

The Chargers can't say yes to that, you know what I mean?

So, and that's a matter of putting yourself, and this is what Ryan Pouls did really well, that's a matter of putting yourself in the posi like having the empathy to like put yourself in the position of the other general manager where you're sitting there and you're saying to yourself, how am I thinking if I'm him.

So this is just really a like, I mean, and I don't want to say a bad job, but it's like, so it's simply because Joe Shane didn't call and be like two first round picks like like you know what I mean like that well and then and then and then and then and then when the next phone call is from the head coach to the owner.

Like , do you think the Titans are then gonna trust the Giants if they call back?

Probably not, right?

So like, I, I think that's all, those are all pieces to the puzzle, you know.

John Harbaugh with big, I'm gonna call the manager energy on that one, right?

I mean it's worth a swing, right?

Like it's worth a swing.

I, I, I don't know.

I don't know what they thought that was gonna do, um, you know, and I, a little bit of a, you know what swing, you know , you're throwing it on the table a little bit, you know, right, right.

So, but, but I think like that like to me.

It's the relationship, it's Ryan Powles knowing his friend.

It's Ryan Bowles like having the gumption to say, yeah, I'm willing to, I'm, I'm, I'm willing to go to two first-round picks on this.

And, you know, like they, Uh, The, the Miles Garrett trade was the, was sort of the model for it.

Now, a lot of those things shifted, right?

So like, rather than a 2 and Jarrett versus in the following year, it was a 1 in the following year.

And then that 3, that was, that's, that was 3 drafts away, now it's a 42 drafts away, and the, the, the, the, the, the Bears wound up getting the kickback, right?

Like they wound up getting a kickback, but like you start to add all those things up and Um, It's, I, I think it was a sensible trade for both sides, but it doesn't happen unless, like you said, Ryan Poles is willing to put his, you know what, on the table.

And like, you know, it's like, I'm, I, I like, I'm willing to go this far to do it.

So if you wanna have a conversation, we can have a conversation, but I'm not gonna put it on you to tell me what it's gonna cost.

So let's go back to the central question very quickly.

Should the Giants be doing this?

Should the Giants be looking at this, and here I'll, I'll make the case for yes.

Because I, I think that there's a, I think it's a.

I would I think there's two levels of it.

I think you go out and you, you're going and getting like defensive tackle help with a mid-round pick, I think you're OK doing that.

Um, a big swing, like a, a big, like I think it has to be for a truly great player if you're gonna do that, and Jeffrey Simmons is a truly great player, so that would have been a worthy swing.

I, the one thing that gets like, just trying to think beyond, and like just trying to think beyond the Um, the wins and losses, right?

And what it means for the rest of the year.

I would say, the way all these teams have to think is like, do we have our core in place for the next 4 or 5 years?

And do we have the guys that we're gonna build around for the next 4 or 5 years, where we won't need first-round picks to go and bring those guys in, right?

And I look at the Giants and I think they're sort of there, you know, like if you look at their roster, they've got Malik Neighbors, they've got Andrew Thomas, they've got Francis Mauinoah, they've got Brian Burns, who will be coming off an ACL is a little older.

They have Abdul Carter, they have Arvel Reese, Deonte Banks has found new life on playing for Harbaugh.

So, you start to look at it and it's like, I don't know if they really need, uh, like, and some of these teams, like you look at them and they're like, yeah, they're gonna need the first-round picks.

Some of the teams that are contenders.

I, the Giants, like, I, I think the roster is underrated, and I think that they're, I think they could like legitimately look at it and say, these picks are movable for us because we already know who we're giving huge contracts to over the next 2 or 3 years.

Do you find, and I , I'm, yes, because it's a program building moment for Harbaugh where you want some of these young guys like Scatabo, and you know, I don't know if Cam Scadabo is part of the team long term, but, uh, if, if Dark can get back for the playoffs, neighbors, uh, you want some of these guys, Maanoa, Arvel Reese, yeah.

You want them in the playoffs and you trade for Jonathan Taylor.

Why not?

I mean, it's not, I, I don't think.

Do you give them, do, do you give the, do you give the Colts the McCaffrey Hall?

Which I think was like a 2, a 3 and a 4 this year and a 5 next year.

Like, no, no, so let me take those one at a time.

The, the first thing is, you know, I think there is a risk of happening to the Giants.

What happened to happening to Harbaugh, what happened to Brian Dabable, where they arrived in the playoffs a year ahead of schedule.

They misreacted.

To the roster, um, and started bringing in guys like Darren Waller, kind of really baking the cake, sort of like what happened with the commanders too, exactly what happened to the commanders, which I got crushed for, by the way, and I was totally right about, um, uh, I don't know if anybody there wants to apologize, um, but, uh, you know, you run the risk of that happening, uh, but the difference obviously is that Daniel Jones in, in the contract that you had to give him based on the circumstances.

Versus the fact that you've got some flexibility with McCarthy and Dart, and they're still on the rookie deals, and you still have time to figure that out.

You don't have to commit, uh, pot commit just yet on that.

So, I, I think it's slightly different and you have Harbaugh at the helm, instead of a Giants regime that I think was trying to prove itself, whereas now you're paying a coach $20 million a year, this guy knows he's not going anywhere.

I don't think that you have to necessarily worry about that as much.

The second part of this is, I don't think that, I think Taylor is helpful to them.

I don't think he's McCaffrey, and this is not a knock on Taylor.

He's a phenomenal running back.

But McCaffrey, you paid that hall because he of what he does as a receiver, what he does as a Just a player in the backfield that you're gonna line up in 100 different ways to force, yeah, when you break the huddle, you have no idea where he's going.

Yeah, and I think that that is a different base value than, than, than McCaffrey to spin it forward now.

But if you have to, so, so how much less though, because I mean like that that was a uniquely structured deal.

It wasn't a one, right, but it was basically you want the points to add up, right?

You want the points to add up to a one, But You know, the idea, and you, you have to decide, and this is what's interesting for teams, right?

You have to decide what a 2nd round pick, a 3rd round pick, a 4th round pick is really worth to you.

If I were the Giants, I'd almost rather give up a 1 than give up what the what the 49ers gave up.

Because, because I don't think that the Giants need, again, like I think the Giants kind of have their core in place.

I think what the Giants are gonna need more over the next 3 or 4 years is role players and so like, yeah, and I, and I don't, and I, and so I just think like when I look at it and then you look at like over the next few years kind of where they're gonna be going and if they do wind up paying the guys that we're talking about, right, like neighbors gets a deal and You know, and, and, and Carter gets a deal, and then eventually, Reese and Maui Noah get deals, and maybe Banks sticks around and he gets a deal, right?

If, if you're gonna pay those guys, Then what you're gonna need is like a second guard, you know, a, a rotational defensive tackle, a starting safety, right?

Like, and, and, and I, I think there's gonna be a greater need for that than there's gonna be for another premium player, you know, cause when you start paying all those guys, if you wind up paying your quarterback, like, now all of a sudden, what you need is you need to be, you need to be balanced around them.

And I think volume of picks does that, does the job with that.

Would you give up a one for Taylor?

I would have a hard time.

I don't think's got a lot of mileage on his legs.

He's a great player.

My, my, my history with him is well documented.

I thought he was a better college player on balance than Saquan Barkley was.

I said people thought I was crazy for saying it.

I think Saquan's a great talent, no question.

Saquan's a really good player, but Taylor at Wisconsin was unbelievably consistent, and that's what we've seen with him as a pro.

I love Jonathan Taylor as a player.

I, I just, it would still be hard for me.

He's in his 7th year.

He's a running back.

That would be what would be hard about it for me is like, OK, like, is this gonna last for another 3 or 4 years?

No, and I think the, the last point in the Giants, and then we'll move here, is that like, Harbaugh did a good job managing this room, and I think he got a spark out of Scatabo and out of Singletary, and out of Tracy, that he wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

And I'm not saying that you have to roll with these guys, like, someone like Pollard might be a more interesting.

Look for them, right?

That's a 7th round pick, a 6th round pick, a 7th round pick for Pollard, and it gives you, I think Pollard is gonna cost more than that, but you think so?

Yeah, I think Cup Pollard would be like a 4 or 5.

Like, I don't think that, I think the Titans are gonna ask for more.

Like I think, I, and I don't know if they'll get.

And they know the market, right?

But I think it's for teams that need them.

Yeah, I think for the Titans it's really like we got, we really have to evaluate our quarterback, you know, and like having a running back is having a running back, having Calvin Ridley is gonna help us evaluate our quarterback.

And so if we , if, if we're gonna materially make that more difficult on ourselves, you gotta make it worth our while.

Uh, Harbaugh's got to go full, um, Mike McAnon when he became the GM of the Jets and brought back Revis and Cromartie.

You just got to call the Eagles and get Saquan back, you know, and then all of a sudden you are, uh, you're a hero, uh, a conquering hero.