New York Giants: Keeping Landon Collins a must

New York Giants safety Landon Collins isn’t a perfect product in the secondary, but now is not the time for the club to move on from him.

The New York Giants are close to once again competing for a playoff spot. Don’t take my word for it. ESPN’s Jordan Raanan touched upon the subject for a piece published on Jan. 8. While Big Blue finished the 2018 campaign with a 5-11 record, the club lost its fair share of heartbreakers, and also made history in the process.

In summary of Raanan’s piece, the Giants became the first NFL team ever to lose each of their final two games by one point. That was a theme as eight of the G-Men’s losses were by seven points or fewer. However, things often turn around in this situation for such teams. As Raanan notes, eight of the last 10 teams to suffer the same fate won at least four more games the following season.

At the risk of sparking traumatic memories for members of the Giants faithful, let’s take a spin down Memory Lane and quickly revisit the season. A muffed punt cost New York a final possession in a 20-15 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Graham Gano hit a 63-yard field goal to give the Carolina Panthers a two-point win over the Giants in Week 5.

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The Giants should’ve beaten the Philadelphia Eagles on Nov. 25. Those last games against the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys, both one-point defeats, were winnable. A handful of plays made the difference between New York going 5-11 and the team’s Week 17 roster ending the year with at least eight victories.

You may be asking what any of this has to do with safety Landon Collins, not yet mentioned in this piece and a couple of months away from potentially entering free agency. The 24-year old who has become a perennial Pro Bowl defensive back led the Giants in tackles despite the fact he played in only 12 games before requiring surgery to fix a partially torn labrum.

He’s out of contract, but the Giants technically hold the rights to his immediate future up through the beginning of March.

As Paul Schwartz of the New York Post wrote in late December, the franchise tag that would keep Collins with the Giants for next season would cost “about $11 million.” Unlike future former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell, Collins appears prepared, albeit not thrilled, to play under the tag. The Giants applying the tag would also give the front office more time to negotiate a proper second contract with the player the prior front office drafted in 2015

Collins isn’t perfect. He isn’t the best safety in the NFL. The topic of the Giants possibly moving him to linebacker (“Moneybacker” for those who like the term) will be revisited each season he’s with the franchise unless he magically becomes better at covering receivers downfield and in one-on-one situations, which isn’t happening. Everyone who has followed his career knows what he is and isn’t at this point.

So, what is he? He’s a starter and a team captain who provides some stability for a locker room that began Week 17 of the 2018 season with 15 players who were with the team in 2017. He’s not the pass-rusher the Giants desperately need heading into free agency, but he is, at worst, one of the best defensive players on what was a disappointing unit throughout the second half of the year when the Giants could have won six of eight outings.

In short, this team requires upgrades on defense with Collins on the roster. Letting him leave in free agency would create yet another hole in a lackluster secondary. Every decision general manager

Dave Gettleman and his office make from the time he can officially use the franchise tag to the first night of the 2019 NFL Draft should be about building a 53-man group capable of winning no fewer than nine games next fall. Debate whether or not the Giants should use the sixth overall draft pick on a QB on your own time.

The process of the Giants rebuilding the roster began well before the 2018 season and continued up until the trade deadline. Not retaining Collins for another year, as long as he’s willing to play under the tag, makes no sense for the franchise at this time. Gettleman, head coach Pat Shurmur and all working for the club behind the scenes face difficult decisions this offseason. What to do with Collins is a no-brainer.