The New York Giants pass such has not been what it needed to be the past few seasons. To be fair, the club has not invested in pass rushers via the draft, instead trying to put together a patchwork unit through free agency.
In 2020, they will rely on two drafted linebackers (Lorenzo Carter and Oshane Ximines) maturing into top-tier players and whoever else general manager Dave Gettleman can find on the open market, which may or may not include one of their own free agents — Markus Golden, the team’s leading sacker in 2019.
ESPN analyst Bill Barnwell suggests the Giants might get a pass rusher as a result of a chain reaction of events that stems from the Chicago Bears landing Tom Brady.
Barnwell states the Bears would need to clear some salaries in order to onboard the future Hall of Famer, and linebacker Leonard Floyd could be had for a late-round pick.
To free up cap room, the Bears need to move on from their former first-round pick, who has $13.2 million in unguaranteed salary left on the final year of his rookie deal. A Giants team desperate for pass-rushing help sends a late-round pick to the Bears for Floyd, whose sack total has dropped each season since a seven-sack campaign in 2016.
The story goes that the Giants, under Jerry Reese at the time, coveted Floyd in the 2016 NFL Draft. He was a highly regarded pass-rushing threat with a bright future at Georgia.
The Giants had the 10th overall selection in that draft and were out-maneuvered by both Tennessee and Chicago. The Titans traded up to No. 8 to select offensive tackle Jack Conklin, another reported Giants target. The Bears then swapped picks with Tampa Bay to grab Floyd at No. 9. The Giants ended up taking cornerback Eli Apple at No. 10.
After his rookie year, as Barnwell mentioned, Floyd disappointed in the next three. He has been basically durable, starting all 16 games in 2018 and 2019, so injuries are not the reason for his failure to ascend.
You can see the Giants’ potential attraction to Floyd. Gettleman has drafted a Georgia defender in each of his two drafts with the Giants (Carter, DeAndre Baker), but he’s not worth more than fifth rounder at this point.
Floyd is signed through 2020, however, as the Bears picked up his fifth-year option last season, but the Giants may not be willing to trade another draft pick for an impending free agent after getting eviscerated for Leonard Williams trade.
Meanwhile, Barnwell also predicts the Giants make Jadeveon Clowney the first pass rusher to receive $25 million or more per season.
With Clowney looking to play for a winner, New York needs to pay over the odds to persuade the 2014 No. 1 overall pick to solve its edge-rushing problem. Clowney gets a five-year, $125 million deal with $75 million guaranteed over the first three years. It’s a record annual salary and three-year guarantee among edge defenders.
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