New York Giants benefiting from quiet offseason

Unlike their NFC East rivals, the New York Giants are enjoying the end of a quiet and drama-free offseason heading into training camp

No news is good news, so teaches the old adage, and that is the case with the New York Giants as of the middle of July. Despite attempts made by certain individuals to convince the public wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was a nuisance for skipping voluntary practices, Beckham and the Giants appear to be on the same page this summer. Sure, Beckham may make headlines whenever he is spotted out with a supposed significant other, but that he is apparently physically ready for the preseason is only a positive for all involved.

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The Giants have the most proven and most trusted quarterback in the division in two-time champion and two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning. There’s no controversy regarding team ownership. Head coach Ben McAdoo is respected by players and not anywhere close to a figurative hot seat. New York’s offense improved, on paper, with the addition of veteran wideout Brandon Marshall. The club’s defense should be as good as it was last fall. In short, the Giants are pretty boring at the moment.

That’s a negative only for personalities yearning to talk about the Giants on sports talk radio and those looking for the franchise to generate clicks during this quiet portion of the football calendar. After all, there are only so many ways one can criticize the Giants for not addressing the left tackle position and trusting Ereck Flowers will improve and develop into a dependable starter. The reality with that situation is we’ll only begin to know what Flowers is or isn’t roughly one month from now.

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Take a spin around the rest of the NFC East, and you’ll see things aren’t so calm for the other three franchises. The Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins are all dealing with different aspects of drama at the moment, and each of those teams could be downed by inside forces that have nothing to do with the Giants or with any other opponents on their schedules.

We start with the Cowboys, if only because “America’s Team” won 13 games last season and sit as the uncrowned champions of the NFC East in the eyes of some who believe editions of Madden resemble real-life football. As Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports recently explained, second-year Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliott is struggling to avoid off-the-field issues as successfully as he evades would-be tacklers during games.

Elliott may or may not be facing up to a two-game suspension because of multiple alleged incidents. It has been widely reported he was involved in an altercation at a bar last Sunday. We learned on July 18 he was pulled over earlier this year due to supposedly driving 100 miles per hour. And to think some out there believed a talented young superstar (OBJ) skipping voluntary workouts was a crime.

Meanwhile, it seems somebody forgot to tell Philadelphia head coach Doug Pederson to not offer bulletin-board material for other clubs. For reasons that make sense to literally nobody, Pederson recently thought it wise to compare the 2017 Eagles to the Green Bay Packers teams from the 1990s, specifically the roster led by Hall-of-Fame quarterback Brett Favre that won a Super Bowl championship.

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Pederson, of course, doesn’t have Favre in his prime playing under center. He, instead, has second-year quarterback Carson Wentz. Wentz could potentially evolve into the best signal-caller in the NFC East, but it’s not a stretch to suggest he isn’t at that level quite yet. Wentz tossed 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in his debut NFL season, and he very much so looked like a rookie adapting to life in the pros throughout 2016.

Last but certainly not least is the never-ending circus that is the professional football club that plays home games in the nation’s capital. As Deadspin’s Barry Petchesky wrote, the Redskins recently elected to publicly throw Kirk Cousins under the bus after Cousins and the team couldn’t come to terms on a long-term contract past 2017, and it seems the 28-year old already has one foot out the door before taking even a preseason snap for the Redskins this summer.

Things have gotten so bad with this situation that it makes sense for the Redskins to trade the best quarterback the club has featured this decade. Regardless of what the franchise would retrieve in any potential transaction, the turmoil caused by those running the Redskins clearly isn’t going away between now and the holiday season. In short, the Redskins are a gift that keeps on giving for the other three teams in the NFC East.

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Giants players can unofficially win the summer by doing the bare minimum over the next seven weeks. Show up to practices, stay healthy, don’t get into trouble and make it to September as a unified squad looking to do more than qualify for a playoff spot. Don’t worry about the rest of the NFC East right now, Giants, as those teams are doing plenty of favors for Big Blue.