The NFL trade deadline is three weeks away. Should the New York Giants be buyers or sellers between now and the Nov. 4 deadline day?
How about “active participants”?
There are reasons to believe the Giants could, and should, try to both buy and sell over the next few weeks.
Selling
Adam Schefter of ESPN listed three Giants — quarterback Russell Wilson, running back Devin Singletary, and offensive lineman Evan Neal — as potential trade candidates.
Wilson, deposed as the team’s starting quarterback by rookie Jaxson Dart, makes obvious sense. If, and from this vantage point it is a big if, there is a team out there that believes the soon-to-be 37-year-old 14-year veteran would be an upgrade for them.
It was clear Thursday night when Wilson had to enter the game against the Eagles for a couple of plays that the fan base, which booed his ugly incomplete pass, is done with him. Maybe Brian Daboll foolishly trying to get into the medical tent while Dart was being tested for a concussion, is an indication Daboll is done with Wilson, too.
The cap-strapped Giants would get minimal, but much-needed cap savings, from trading Wilson. He has a $2 million base salary, which breaks down to $117,647 per week (thanks to SI’s Patty Traina for doing the math so I didn’t have to). That means the Giants would save that amount times however many weeks were left in the season if Wilson were traded.
Singletary is the Giants’ third running back behind Cam Skattebo and Tyrone Tracy. Approaching the deadline, there seem to be a handful of running back-needy teams around the league. Trading Singletary and bringing Dante ‘Turbo’ Miller to the active roster would certainly please the Miller supporters in the fan base.
Doing the same math on Singletary’s $4.75 million base salary, if traded the Giants would save $279,411 against the cap for each week Singletary was not on the roster.
Neal, of course, has been inactive for all six games this season. After moving him from tackle to guard, and not being impressed enough to start him over Greg Van Roten or activate him over Aaron Stinnie, the Giants clearly have no use for him.
Unless something stunning happens, there are 11 games left in Neal’s disappointing, sometimes turbulent, Giants career. The Giants should, obviously, get something for him if they can.
Buying
The Giants have a rookie quarterback they are trying to support. As nice as his contribution against the Philadelphia Eagles was, Lil’Jordan Humphrey cannot replace Malik Nabers. No one the Giants could acquire in a trade at this point really could, but the Giants need to do whatever they can within reason to give Dart pass-catching weapons that will help his development and give the Giants an opportunity to make more splash plays.
Schefter lists Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, and Brandin Cooks of the New Orleans Saints, Jakobi Meyers of the Las Vegas Raiders, Allen Lazard of the New York Jets, and Tyler Lockett of the Tennessee Titans as receivers he believes are available.
The Giants shouldn’t even think about the 33-year-old Lockett or the 32-year-old Cooks. Lazard isn’t better than what they have.
Meyers, 29 and coming off the only 1,000-yard receiving season of his career, is interesting. Olave, 25, and Shaheed, 27, whose speed the Giants saw first-hand on that Week 5 87-yard touchdown catch and run, might be the best targets.
Price, of course, is a major issue. The Giants do not have a 2026 third-round pick after the move up to select Dart, and GM Joe Schoen would seem highly unlikely to be willing to surrender his second-round pick.
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