New York Giants: Davis Webb can’t win job this December
By Zac Wassink
There’s no scenario where rookie quarterback Davis Webb can become the full-time New York Giants starting quarterback this holiday season.
Fans of the New York Giants deserve to feel angry about the state of the franchise this holiday season. The Giants are without a head coach and general manager. Former head coach Ben McAdoo disrespected and benched two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, an unforgivable sin that may have resulted in owner John Mara unceremoniously showing McAdoo the door before last Sunday’s home game against the Dallas Cowboys. In short, the Giants have never been worse in the 2000s than the club is in the final quarter of the season.
Those still susceptible to outward emotional responses about a 2-11 team that is well on its way to the worst overall record in the NFC have turned their furor toward interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo and his decision to keep Manning in the lineup ahead of rookie quarterback Davis Webb. In the eyes of some supporters and also analysts and journalists who touch upon the subject on a weekly basis because there’s little else to write about the club ahead of Christmas, Webb must play so the Giants know what the franchise has or doesn’t have in the third-round pick. They need to see where Webb is with three games to go on the schedule.
No they don’t. They really don’t. In fact, Webb’s status, whatever it is roughly one week ahead of the official start of winter, doesn’t matter all that much, if at all. In some way, a Giants backup quarterback hasn’t been more insignificant since before the fall of 2004 when Kurt Warner was forced to step aside for a then-rookie who, truth be told, largely failed to impress outside of a handful of moments.
Spagnuolo won’t be with the Giants next fall. Simply stated, he’s not the guy, and leading the Giants to three straight wins, something he isn’t going to do because of an abysmal roster lacking talent on both sides of the ball, wouldn’t change that. A new front office is coming for the first time in over a decade, and ownership will look to make a splash with a noteworthy coaching hire if such a personality will take the gig come January.
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Think whatever you will of the QB prospects set to enter next spring’s draft. Perhaps you believe Josh Rosen is the best option and will be available once the Giants are called to the podium. Maybe you think Baker Mayfield can be a franchise savior. Sam Darnold or Lamar Jackson may be your favorite. The Giants will be in a position to select one of these young signal-callers, and those running the club months from now will become smitten with at least one of those QBs between now and the first night of the draft.
It’s unfair to Webb, in a way, because he was always meant to be a project for what was advertised to be a winning team. The idea made all kinds of sense at the time. McAdoo and former general manager Jerry Reese took a flier on a 22-year-old with third-round talent who could learn behind a champion QB and work within a system meant to feature multiple play-makers prior to potentially taking the field in 2018 at the earliest. That, of course, didn’t happen.
At this point, playing Webb over the final three weeks of the season serves no purpose. He isn’t auditioning for the job because he has nobody to audition for ahead of January. No new group selected by Mara and company will risk their jobs, and possibly their careers, on Webb based upon three games when they can grab a recognized name and potential star with a top-two draft pick. It’s not happening.
Let’s also remember the New York offense is a disaster. The offensive line is a sieve. You’d need a roster sheet to know the names of those playing a wide receiver. Any quarterback, whether it be Manning, Webb or somebody else, would be lucky if targets averaged only one drop per quarter. It’s not a stretch to suggest playing Webb, who clearly isn’t ready for in-game action in the eyes of coaches who kept him third on the depth chart behind Geno Smith, who did little when given a chance to play weeks ago, would be a disservice to the rookie.
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Davis Webb isn’t the next Manning or Phil Simms — at least he isn’t this Christmastime. Stop making him out to be in columns and blog posts and sports talk radio hits. It’s actually unfair. A time will come when coaches currently not working for the Giants will evaluate Webb, Manning and a quarterback to be drafted. Until that time comes, let Manning finish the lost season under center. It’s what is best for all involved.