Let the bloodletting begin. With the Nov. 3 trade deadline still 11 days away, the 1-6 New York Giants have begun shedding their roster of expensive veteran players.
On Friday, the team announced they had traded outside linebacker Markus Golden to the Arizona Cardinals for a 2021 sixth round draft pick.
We have traded Markus Golden to the Cardinals for a 2021 draft pick
Details: https://t.co/nVRSdKE2vQ pic.twitter.com/IUrJLTnbko
— New York Giants (@Giants) October 23, 2020
Golden led the Giants in sacks with 10.5 last season and then entered free agency only to find that his market was stale. The Giants tendered Golden and his rights reverted back them in July as Golden went unsigned. The Giants inked Golden to a one-year, $3.75 million deal but had technically replaced him free agency with Kyler Fackrell.
Golden played in each of the Giants’ first seven games this season, including a start in the Giants’ victory last Sunday against Washington. He had 10 tackles (four solo), 1.5 sacks, four quarterback hits and one pass defensed on the season.
With Lorenzo Carter sidelines for the season with an Achilles injury, Golden played 27 defensive snaps recording one tackle – a five-yard sack of Carson Wentz – and also was credited with two quarterback hits in the Giants’ 22-21 loss to the Eagles in Philadelphia on Thursday night.
Golden returns to Arizona, where he began his NFL career as a second-round pick out of Missouri back in 2015. He played four seasons with the Cardinals before signing as a free agent with the Giants in 2019.
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