New York Giants: Should Kyle Lauletta be cut this offseason?

The New York Giants clearly aren’t all-in on quarterback Kyle Lauletta this December. Will he even be on the roster next September?

The hottest take about New York Giants quarterbacks this holiday season actually doesn’t have to do with Eli Manning. Truth be told, reasonable Giants fans understand Manning will likely be with the club in 2019 as long as he agrees to a restructured deal that gives the franchise some salary cap relief. The career path of rookie Kyle Lauletta is far more surprising than whatever the Giants will or won’t do with Manning past this season.

Perhaps we all should have seen this coming. After all, Pat Shurmur and his staff had zero patience regarding Davis Webb, the project from the days when Jerry Reese and Ben McAdoo were with the organization who never received a chance to start for the Giants before the team sent him packing. The same seems to be occurring with Lauletta, taken with a fourth-round draft selection earlier this year.

Shurmur gave Lauletta the keys to the offense for mop-up duties versus the Washington Redskins on Dec. 9, and the rookie nearly wrecked the car. He failed to complete any of his five passes. He tossed an interception. He didn’t look ready to face Alabama let alone a pro defense. His debut went worse than anybody could have feared.

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Five passes don’t define any career. Manning had his fair share of disasters over the first four seasons of his New York tenure until he caught fire in January 2008. Most of the time, a coach of a 5-10 team would happily start a rookie signal-caller for a meaningless Week 17 showdown. Shurmur, instead, recently demoted Lauletta behind career backup Alex Tanney.

Think whatever you will about Lauletta’s (alleged) driving practices and a supposed run-in with the law that occurred during the campaign. Such off-the-field matters didn’t prevent him from receiving snaps against the Redskins. This is not a standard punishment. It’s almost as if Shurmur is indirectly and unofficially telling anybody who will listen that Lauletta will never be the guy with the Giants.

Many Giants fans were downright perplexed when Shurmur and company dismissed Webb before the start of the season. Some still are. Remember that no team added Webb to its active roster before the New York Jets placed him on their practice squad. Shurmur has committed mistakes since August, but cutting Webb doesn’t make the list as of the final day of the year.

The coaching staff has seen plenty of Lauletta since the draft. Shurmur has an idea of what Lauletta is and isn’t without watching him play against the Dallas Cowboys. With that said, protecting Lauletta, if he isn’t ready to go, should no longer be on the table. He’s had enough time with the playbook. Who cares if he takes some hits and a defeat during a lost season? Isn’t any risk involved worth the teaching moment?

It isn’t if Shurmur no longer views Lauletta as an investment. That’s clearly the case as of the typing of this sentence. Whether or not it will change by March has yet to be seen, but Shurmur appears to realize his quarterback room needs an upgrade even if Manning is atop the depth chart when the new NFL year opens. Maybe that upgrade is a free agent such as Teddy Bridgewater or Nick Foles, or perhaps its a rookie taken with a first-round pick.

Arguably the main reason Shurmur has his current position is that he’s known as a QB guru for his work with the likes of Foles and Case Keenum. It’s his job to locate Manning’s successor. Failing to do so will result in his termination, which could come as quickly as next season’s Black Monday if the Giants once again finish below .500. This means the fanbase must trust the coach if he decides tutoring Lauletta is no longer worth the effort or time.

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Not playing Lauletta when nothing but draft order is on the line for the Giants seems silly to those of us who don’t work for the franchise. It also tells fans he’s the next Webb and the next Ryan Nassib. The first order of business past this season may involve the Giants seeing if any coaching staff thinks it can make something out of Lauletta so much that it would send a draft pick Big Blue’s way for the quarterback’s services.

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