The New York Giants could do right by some within the fan base by trading for quarterback Josh Rosen. Is that a good enough reason to do it?
You may have heard New York Giants fans aren’t the happiest bunch of NFL supporters these days. With a blessing from team ownership, general manager Dave Gettleman dealt superstar wide receiver and proven MVP candidate Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cleveland Browns.
What’s more, 38-year old quarterback Eli Manning is back for at least one more season ahead of a draft not filled with an abundance of league-ready signal-callers in the eyes of scouts, observers, and customers. It’s rough times for the blue portion of MetLife Stadium.
Odds are, you’ve taken a break from the league if you’re unaware of the rumors hovering over the status of Arizona Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen. New Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury is smitten with to-be rookie Kyler Murray, so much so that we’ve entered the portion of the silly season where mock drafts are projecting the Cardinals will draft Murray either before or after jettisoning Rosen to a different franchise.
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This is where the Giants come in. Following the transaction with the Browns, New York possesses more than enough assets to make a move for Rosen if the Cardinals are, in fact, serious about giving up on the second-year pro after a single lackluster season.
The asking price varies per rumor and per day, but the actual value shouldn’t matter to Gettleman if he views Rosen as both the best young quarterback available at the moment and also somebody who could replace Manning, perhaps as quickly as September.
As with most matters in life, this situation is not black and white. To begin with, Arizona holds all of the cards (pun somewhat intended) and power in negotiations with every organization. Rosen has no say where he’s traded, if it comes to that, and he is in no position to hold out or force those running the Cardinals to do anything.
The Cardinals could, realistically, draft Murray, keep Rosen and spark a good old-fashioned controversy. Arizona needn’t be in a hurry unless an offer which cannot be refused arrives.
None of this touches on the reality that nobody, literally nobody, knows what Rosen will or won’t be in the NFL. One could locate multiple highlights from his rookie season for one of several chosen narratives. He was nowhere near as polished as Rookie of the Year Baker Mayfield. He was hardly as poor as certain detractors would lead you to believe. He also wasn’t in the best of situations considering the supposed talent around him and those who made up the coaching staff at the time.
How would Rosen react to becoming an Arizona castoff after 14 meaningful appearances? How would he handle what is often a relentless New York media far different from any group he’s ever experienced?
Is he so talented and/or filled with such promise that the Giants should willingly and immediately ship the sixth overall draft pick out west to have him either compete with Manning right away or sit and learn from the two-time Super Bowl MVP, if only for a few months, before he’s given the keys to the offense?
Rosen would represent hope for New York fans, and he’d give such concerned individuals a reason to believe Gettleman and his staff actually have some sort of plan in mind, even if that plan ultimately blows up in everybody’s faces. A famous sports adage teaches front offices making decisions after listening to fans end up sitting with the fans. As true as that’s proven to be in the past, there’s little question the Giants have a history of responding to fan outcry, even if a certain radio show host isn’t pulling strings behind the scenes.
It doesn’t take serving as an insider, somebody working for the organization or even a conspiracy theorist to believe the Giants didn’t select a real successor for Manning with the second pick of last year’s draft in part because of how fans reacted to the greatest quarterback in franchise history being benched in favor of Geno Smith the previous fall.
Is there enough fan support behind the notion of trading for Rosen that the Giants would pull the trigger on what could become a blockbuster trade? However Giants fans feel about the matter, they’d do well to speak up so their voices are heard.