Weighing the Pros and Cons of New York Giants' Top Free-Agent Targets
The start of the 2015 free-agency sweeps is less than a week away, and it should be an interesting and busy one.
The New York Giants have no doubt put together a list of potential free agents they are planning to contact about a potential partnership, and it is anyone’s guess right now as to which specific players they’re coveting.
As with any player acquisition, there are usually pros and cons that have to be considered in determining if the investment in that player is worth the money said.
With that said, let’s look at five pending unrestricted free agents who could be on the Giants’ radar during free agency and weigh those pros and cons in determining if the player is indeed a good fit.
S Devin McCourty
1 of 5
Not even the super-secretive Giants can deny that they need to add some depth at safety to their team. The problem is the safety class in the draft is not widely regarded as deep if one is looking for an instant starter.
Meanwhile, the free-agent crop, while a little better, could potentially dry up quickly given the supply vs. the demand.
Atop of the veteran free-agent crop is Devin McCourty, who surprisingly was not franchised by the New England Patriots.
Pros
McCourty, the top free safety on the market, is only 27 years old, so it would certainly make sense that if the Giants plan to give a multi-year deal to a starting safety, they do so with a player who is well under 30 years old, as that will help in potentially lessening the cap hit.
McCourty is also from the Giants' backyard. He hails from Nyack, New York, and played his college ball at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Cons
Other than money—and again there are ways to structure the contract so that it doesn’t chew up a large part of the Giants’ already limited cap space—the only con against signing McCourty is whether he has promised the Patriots to bring any offer he receives back to them to match.
Final Verdict
If the Giants are going to spend any kind of big money this year, McCourty should be at or near the top of the list. Before anyone disagrees, remember that the Giants defense last year surrendered 62 big pass plays of 20 or more yards, tied for third-most in the NFL.
If the Giants are going to stick with building their defense from the outside in, they need to add a solid safety who can play center field. McCourty would be a perfect fit.
OL Orlando Franklin
2 of 5
The Giants’ starting offensive line is four-fifths of the way completed, barring any setbacks related to injury.
Weston Richburg will be the center, and Will Beatty will be the left tackle. Geoff Schwartz is projected to be the right guard, and Justin Pugh will be the left guard or the right tackle, depending on what transpires over the next several weeks in free agency and the draft.
As the Giants like their offensive linemen to be versatile, one such player who could be plugged in as a starter at either left guard or right tackle is Orlando Franklin of the Denver Broncos.
Pros
If you are talking about a hulking offensive line prospect who can impose his will in both run and pass blocking, Franklin is your man.
According to Pro Football Focus, as Denver’s starting left guard, Franklin was the Broncos’ best overall offensive lineman in 2014 by a mile, finishing with a 7.6 grade in run blocking and an 8.0 grade in pass blocking.
When the dust settled, the durable Franklin allowed just one sack and just 11 quarterback pressures, a rather impressive showing.
Cons
Franklin isn’t going to come cheaply. According to Over the Cap, the top left guards in the NFL are averaging upward of $6 million per year.
The same holds true for right tackles, with the top-10 paid players at that position averaging $6 million per year.
Then there is the mater of the draft. If the Giants believe that Brandon Scherff, who should be on the board when they draft at No. 9, is more of a guard, do they grab him and plug him in or do they wait until the second round or later to find value for the offensive line?
Final Verdict
The Giants are in a win-or-else mode this year. While it would probably make sense to grab a young prospect and let him grow with fellow youngsters Pugh and Richburg, the Giants might not have any choice but to plug in a proven veteran at this position.
With Eli Manning advancing in age at 34 years old, protecting him is a high priority, as is getting a stalled running game going once again.
If the Giants are looking to spend on a couple of guys, an offensive lineman with Franklin's versatility and performance history should be a no-brainer.
WR Randall Cobb
3 of 5
General manager Jerry Reese isn’t due to speak to the media again until April, just before the draft, but it will certainly be interesting to see if he changes his tune regarding receiver Victor Cruz.
For those not aware, Reese has maintained since the end of the season and most recently at the combine that the team isn’t putting all of its eggs in one basket when it comes to Cruz’s return from a torn patellar tendon suffered last October.
While Cruz is progressing in his rehab—he told Giants.com reporter John Schmeelk that he’s targeting a return to training camp—until he actually gets out there on the field and starts moving around, it’s impossible to determine if he’ll look anything close to the receiver he was prior to the injury.
If he isn’t close to being what he once was, the Giants' receiving game might be in trouble, which is why they could be eyeing Green Bay wide out Randall Cobb in free agency.
Pros
Close your eyes and picture a Giants receiving corps consisting of 22-year-old Odell Beckham Jr., 23-year-old Rueben Randle, 28-year-old Cruz and 24-year-old Cobb.
That kind of receiving power is one any quarterback would love to have. Such an arsenal of receivers would force opposing defenses to have to pick their poison as far as who to leave in single coverage.
Last year Cobb, who finished with a career-high 1,465 receiving yards, came into his own as defenses paid more and more attention to fellow wide out Jordy Nelson.
Line Cobb up on the same field as a healthy Cruz, Beckham and Randle, and if you are into fantasy football, good luck in trying to guess which of those receivers to start in your lineup.
Cons
According to Pro Football Focus, the 24-year-old Cobb is the third-best free-agent prospect at receiver, with a 12.3 grade.
It also helps his case that those receivers ranked ahead of him, Dez Bryant of Dallas and Demaryius Thomas of Denver, were franchised by their respective teams.
Given his age and his production, Cobb should be a hot commodity on the market and thus a luxury acquisition that the Giants probably won’t be able to afford.
Final Verdict
If the Giants are looking for a contingency plan for Cruz, they are probably better off either looking at a second-tier free agent or even the draft, where the receiver class has some decent depth.
New York has far too many other pressing needs that are more clearly defined as opposed to the situation at receiver, where Cruz may or may not be his old self.
Spending to land a potential No. 1 receiver like Cobb when they already have a No. 1 in Odell Beckham Jr.—a receiver who, by the way, would be making a fraction of what it might take to land Cobb—is not the best use of their salary cap dollars, regardless of the talent level.
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RB C.J. Spiller
4 of 5
At last month’s combine, general manager Jerry Reese admitted that the team is interested in finding a scatback type of runner in the mold of the now-retired David Wilson to complement the Giants' running game.
With ESPN’s Adam Schefter having reported that the Buffalo Bills are set to acquire running back LeSean McCoy in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles next week once the new league year begins on March 10, such a move clearly spells the end of running back C.J. Spiller’s time in Buffalo.
Pros
With a free-agent running back class that will be filled with bigger and more productive names such as DeMarco Murray of Dallas, Justin Forsett of Baltimore, Reggie Bush of Detroit and potentially Adrian Peterson of Minnesota, the supply-demand scale tips in favor of the teams.
As a result, players such as Spiller, who per Over the Cap made $3.498 million in base salary alone last season, will have a hard time convincing their next employer to agree to a paycheck that comes close to that base salary.
Cons
Spiller has a rather lengthy injury history. According to KFFL, he has appeared on past injury reports with hamstring, knee, shoulder, quad and ankle ailments.
In 2014, he missed seven games due to a shoulder injury, which landed him on the temporary injured reserve list.
While his health history could make him an affordable option for a team willing to take a flier on his skills, the Giants have had injury issues of their own regarding their running backs, as last year, Rashad Jennings, one of their top free-agent acquisitions, struggled with knee and ankle ailments.
Final Verdict
This year’s draft class appears to be loaded at running back, so much so that it doesn’t really make sense to spend cap dollars on a veteran who has some mileage on his legs and who had a disappointing and injury-filled 2014 season in which he rushed 78 times for 300 yards and no touchdowns.
If the Giants are looking to split the lion’s share of the carries between Jennings and Andre Williams, it makes more sense for them to pass on signing a veteran running back.
Rather, they should try to get a young prospect either on Day 3 or after the draft to compete with Orleans Darkwa and Michael Cox.
DT Ndamukong Suh
5 of 5
The Giants need some defensive line help—on that point, everyone seems to concur.
However, what people can’t seem to agree on is whether defensive end or defensive tackle is the greater need.
At end, the team designated Jason Pierre-Paul as its franchise player, a key move. However, it’s not yet known who will be lining up on the other end now that the Giants cut Mathias Kiwanuka, last year’s starter, last month.
At defensive tackle, the Giants have a young stud in Johnathan Hankins, who per Pro Football Focus, was their best run defender and their second-best pass rusher, behind Robert Ayers Jr.
Alongside of Hankins, it will be either veteran Cullen Jenkins, who took a pay cut to avoid being terminated, or Jay Bromley, last year’s third-round pick, who will presumably line up alongside of Hankins in the starting lineup.
Jenkins’ career is winding down while Bromley, per PFF, only played in 113 snaps on defense, hardly enough to make a determination as to whether he is ready for a larger role this year.
The Detroit Lions declined to franchise defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who figures to be the top free-agent defensive tackle in this year’s class.
According to Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News, the Giants are considering throwing their hat in the ring for Suh’s services.
Pros
Suh is a very special, one-of-a-kind athlete—if you need proof of that, just pull out the tape of the NFC Wild Card Game this year when he destroyed Dallas offensive lineman Zack Martin with ease.
Although Suh was PFF’s third-highest graded interior defensive lineman (behind Aaron Donald of the Rams and Gerald McCoy of the Bucs), Suh is very much an impact player who plays with a nasty streak and who can easily draw the double- or triple-team blocks which can free up someone else on the pass rush.
Cons
As solid of a prospect as Suh is, he comes with quite a few negatives. First, he was penalized 10 times last season, and not necessarily of the garden variety either. In fact, Suh nearly missed the NFC Wild Card Game as he was facing suspension for having stepped on Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ leg.
Given Suh’s history, there is no telling if his next unsportsmanlike conduct penalty will result in a suspension. If that were to happen, he becomes useless to whatever team he is on.
Then there is the issue of money. While Suh’s contract demands aren’t known, as one of the top interior defensive linemen, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume he wants to be paid accordingly.
That’s not good news for a Giants team with bigger holes to fill at safety, offensive line and linebacker, and with a shade over $10 million in cap space thanks to the $14-plus million allocated to franchise Pierre-Paul.
Final Verdict
Suh is going to get his big payday from a team with cash to burn, but that team isn’t going to be the Giants.
Instead, the Giants will probably give Bromley a chance to unseat Jenkins for the starting job alongside of Hankins.
Remember, every Giants defensive tackle drafted on Day 2 going back to Barry Cofield was redshirted his rookie season. In his second season, the player made his way into the starting lineup (see Cofield, Linval Joseph and Hankins as examples).
The Giants didn’t spend a third-round pick on Bromley to have him play limited snaps in a rotation. Thus, to spend a fortune to land Suh doesn’t appear to have much of a chance of happening.
All salary cap and contract information is via Over the Cap unless otherwise noted. All stats via Pro Football Focus, unless otherwise noted.
Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced. Follow me on Twitter @Patricia_Traina.
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