Where We Would Like to See Jimmy Garoppolo Land
We are currently in the dog days of the NFL offseason. NFL Twitter is dead. Everyone is anxiously awaiting Week 1. Jimmy Garoppolo’s unclear future is the only thing keeping us alive. With the news he is coming back from surgery ahead of schedule and will be ready to play in August, the speculation has begun on where he should be this season. Our answer: The New York Giants.
Give Up on Daniel Jones
Since drafting Daniel Jones in 2019, the Giants have gone 12-25 (in games he has started). He has struggled to stay healthy in those 3 years, only playing more than 12 games in a season once. Health isn’t the only thing plaguing his career though, his penchant for turning the ball over has made it nearly impossible to believe he can be a successful NFL starter. Jones has fumbled the ball an astonishing 36 times so far in his career and also thrown 29 interceptions (Pro Football Reference). He’s only thrown for more than 12 touchdowns once and had a TD/INT ratio of 1.1 in 2020. Meaning for every touchdown he threw, he had an interception ready to back it up. All of this is not said to harp on Daniel Jones. He seems like a good guy who was unlucky on draft night. He was taken way too soon and thrown into the fire too fast with a failing organization. Could Jimmy G. be the savior? We think so.
Al Davis Said It Best
It might have been hypocritical to rag on Daniel Jones for his inability to stay healthy when we are comparing him to a guy like Jimmy Garoppolo. In San Francisco, Jimmy has only been available for 62% of their games since he arrived before the 2017 season. His record on the field when he is available is the reason the Giants need to acquire him. In his 5 seasons in SF, he has a record of 31-14 (Pro Football Reference). Garoppolo has also succeeded in the playoffs, with 2 wins over Aaron Rodgers, a Super Bowl appearance and one overthrow away from a ring. You might say he didn’t have to do anything to win most of his playoff games. Maybe you’re right, but ask yourself what did Tom Brady have to do to beat the Rams 13-3 in Super Bowl LIII? If Tom has taught us anything, it’s that the stats don’t matter at the end of the game, the score does.
Cheap Talent
The recent quarterback contracts have made building the rest of a team almost impossible, short of hitting on all your draft picks or signing veterans to team friendly deals. When one player on a roster of 53 is making 50 million, there are going to be holes. A player like Jimmy G. allows a team to have a good quarterback and fill the rest of the roster with talented players as well.
If I were to guess his next contract’s yearly cap hit, it would be in the realm of 30-35 million dollars. This is a 15-million-dollar difference compared to guys like Mahomes, Rodgers, and (almost) Josh Allen. NFL teams can do a lot with an extra 15 million dollars.
Don’t Worry About the Draft
If the Giants keep Daniel Jones as their starter this year, they will likely land in the vicinity of 4-6 wins. We have them at 3-14, admittedly too low, but it’s hard to project a team of this current caliber to upset better teams. If it’s 5 or 6, they will not be in a position to take one of the top 2 or 3 quarterbacks coming in next year’s draft class. Even if they were to somehow only win 4 games and get a top 2 pick, do they really want to contend with the current bust odds? From 2015-2019, there were 16 quarterbacks taken in the 1st round. Of those 16, only 5 weren’t busts (*I’m not including 2020-present as it is too early to tell for those guys). You want to keep risking your future on a 31% chance? I’d rather take the cheaper, proven veteran and build around him.
Jimmy is the Answer
Maybe it’s because I haven’t watched a real NFL game in 5 months, but I believe Jimmy Garoppolo can take the Giants to the playoffs and God willing, the Super Bowl. The Giants had a solid draft in April, picking up Thibodeaux, Neal and Robinson. If Toney and Barkley can stay healthy and they grab another stud with next year’s 1st round pick, we could be talking about the Giants as 2023’s dark horse.