New York Giants have intriguing offseason ahead

The New York Giants are a team stuck in neutral. With Eli Manning signed for one more year, the Giants have their quarterback for 2019. Although, the question remains, is it time to start grooming his successor?

In one way, the answer is an obvious yes. Last year, the New York Giants held the second-overall pick and could have selected Sam Darnold out of USC. Instead, they took running back Saquon Barkley. Barkley has already proven to be a tremendous talent. However, Darnold may well end up being a star for the Jets in a way that haunts Big Blue.

This year, the Giants don’t have that clear solution at quarterback in the draft. This class isn’t what we saw a year ago. Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State will likely be the first signal caller taken off the board. Picking at the sixth spot, would general manager David Gettleman go for Haskins? It’s doubtful when New York could instead take a defensive player. As well as that, they could even take an offensive tackle with upside for immediate impact?

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If New York doesn’t go with Haskins in the first round, it almost seems wasteful to go any other route this offseason in terms of quarterback. The free-agent class is without a Kirk Cousins situation — as is the case most years. Teddy Bridgewater is intriguing but he hasn’t played a meaningful game in three years. Beyond him, it’s just a bunch of names like Ryan Tannehill and Joe Flacco, who are not going to provide you with anything more than what you already have in Manning; a declining veteran.

Should Gettleman and the New York Giants decide to wait on replacing Manning, they could walk into a better situation come the 2020 draft. Justin Herbert out of Oregon is an intriguing senior who could very well be a franchise guy, and Tua Tagovailoa from Alabama is a can’t-miss prospect in the eyes of many scouts and executives. The risk, of course, is that the Giants aren’t able to land either guy, and then are stuck without Manning or a promising youngster.

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For a team not used to picking in the top 10, the Giants have to figure out a concrete plan of attack. Gettleman now enters his second offseason with the team, and while New York has some building blocks in Barkley, Odell Beckham Jr. and others, it’s a franchise in disarray. Haskins’ arrival would certainly provide direction, but the Giants have to understand whether that’s the path they’d like to take with a better crop of quarterbacks coming in 2020.