5 reasons Giants won’t trade for Jimmy Garoppolo
In recent days and weeks, there’s been a stir when it comes to San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, his health and his future.
It’s essentially a foregone conclusion that Garoppolo gets trades, and one frequently discussed destination happens to be the New York Giants. That fodder began with a column from former New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum.
The Giants strike me as another team that could, or should, pursue Garoppolo. The team did not pick up current starter Daniel Jones’ fifth-year option, and he is set to hit the open market next March. Bringing in Garoppolo would make sense in a way because they do not seem to have a contingency plan. And as such the mid-round conditional pick cost for Garoppolo might be worthwhile.
The Giants have a variety of receiving weapons and one of the most talented running backs in the league. They also recently added Kayvon Thibodeaux to a young and budding defense. Garoppolo may fit their competitive timeline more comfortably as the Giants wade through a weak NFC East. If the Giants feel that bringing in a veteran bridge quarterback such as Garoppolo to shepherd a future draft pick into his starting role is worthwhile, they may try to pounce at the opportunity to acquire Garoppolo a year early.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell previously evaluated a potential Giants-49ers trade for Garoppolo, while retired Giants quarterback David Carr also got in on the action.
“I initially thought Brian [Daboll] would make a move for Mitchell Trubisky when he was available because you don’t necessarily know what you have in Daniel Jones,” Carr said. “Now with Jimmy, I think the issue is his shoulder. No one really knows. I think what teams are going to do is wait until the first or second preseason game — if Jimmy gets in for San Francisco — and just kind of see. Like, does he look healthy? And then I think that’s when you might see the Giants make a move.
“Jimmy G can win some games for somebody. He absolutely still can play at a high level — he won a lot of games in San Francisco. I think the only issue is just his health. If he’s healthy, then very possibly the Giants can make a move.”
Colin Cowherd also seemed to imply that the Giants were “the leader in the clubhouse” for Jimmy G, but the reality is that he was just tossing things up against the wall as part of a recent trend.
Ultimately, there are more reasons for the Giants to avoid a Garoppolo trade than there are logical reasons to acquire him. And here’s a look at the five biggest.
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Giants have depth at QB
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After last year’s humiliating disaster at quarterback, incoming general manager Joe Schoen made it a point to shore up the position. In doing so, the Giants added veterans Tyrod Taylor and Davis Webb to the roster.
Taylor came in on a substantial two-year, $11 million contract that essentially makes him impossible to move or release. And given Daniel Jones’ injury history, Taylor is a very important piece to the overall puzzle.
In addition to Taylor, the Giants also brought back Davis Webb, who has familiarity with both Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll. He had opportunities to get into coaching this year but instead opted to re-join his former Buffalo mates to help move things forward in East Rutherford.
Neither Schoen nor Daboll are going to walk back their word to Webb. He’ll be around all year.
Health concerns
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Jimmy Garoppolo underwent a shoulder surgery in March and only just recently resumed throwing. However, expectations are that he won’t be fully cleared until mid-August and potentially a bit later. Out of the gate, that puts him at risk of potentially starting the season on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list or, at the very least, potentially missing Week 1.
Even in a best case scenario, Garoppolo won’t be a full go until the final week and a half of training camp and the final week of the preseason. That’s hardly enough time to ramp up, familiarize himself with the offense and be ready to start (assuming that’s the goal of any potential trade).
This scenario might work if Garoppolo is viewed as nothing more than a backup, but we’ll touch more on the issues with that later.
Late in the game
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As noted previously, Garoppolo is overcoming shoulder surgery and won’t be cleared until mid-August at the earliest. But even if he were healthy today, he’d have missed the Giants’ entire offseason program — OTAs, minicamps and meetings.
While Garoppolo does have a brief history with Daboll, he does not have a history with offensive coordinator Mike Kafka. He obviously hasn’t seen the Giants’ playbook and would have zero understanding of the offense.
By the time any potential trade is completed, Garoppolo would already be very much behind the eight ball. There would be no chemistry or rapport with his receivers, running backs or offensive line.
Daniel Jones
AP Photo/Mark LoMoglio
The Giants may have declined Daniel Jones’ fifth-year option but that’s not as significant as some would like to believe. It was a smart business decision that doesn’t necessarily mean DJ has no future in East Rutherford — there was just no sense in guaranteeing him a bunch of money right now.
Beyond that, the support Jones has received from owner John Mara, Schoen and Daboll isn’t a dog and pony show. There’s a reason why multiple GMs, coaches and coordinators continue to stick with this guy.
Whatever happens with Jones after 2022 remains to be seen, but the Giants are genuine when they say he’ll be their starter come Week 1 (barring injury).
Salary cap
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We’ve arrived at the final point and, undeniably, the biggest reason why the Giants will not trade for Jimmy Garoppolo: Money.
Garoppolo is entering the final year of a five-year, $137.5 million contract and is owed a base salary of $24.2 million. His cap hit accounts for $26.95 million, which would be the Giants’ second-biggest cap hit overall if he were acquired.
Meanwhile, the Giants have just $7.75 million in salary cap space (per Spotrac). They would need to clear almost $20 million in additional space in order to afford Jimmy G or work on a long-term contract extension to knock down his 2022 number. That’s certainly not going to happen.
Even if the Giants wanted to bring Garoppolo in on his current deal, they have no means to create the necessary space. Releasing Daniel Jones (for those who want to make that argument) would leave the team with $8,180,836 in dead cap while creating just $185,000 in space. Trading Jones — assuming there were any takers — would leave $4,171,192 in dead cap and create just $4,194,644 in space.
The numbers just don’t add up any way you slice it.
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