A GIANT MISTAKE 

BY MIKE RIFKIN

Monday was the opening of the tampering period of NFL Free Agency. All contracts will remain unsigned until the start of the league year Wednesday, but teams can announce that they came to terms with a player. If you need a Quarterback in this market, you could have one.

The New York Giants are a team in desperate need of a quarterback, but have gone about this process all wrong. The Giants are leaning towards the veteran Quarterback route and waiting on decisions from Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson. Now, this wouldn’t be a problem a decade ago, but in the year 2025 it’s a problem. Rodgers is 41 years old and two years removed from an Achilles tear, and Russell Wilson will be 37 in November and hasn’t looked right since leaving Seattle. But the real problem with signing either one of these guys, is that it just kicks the Giants need for a Quarterback down the road another year, and even if the Giants draft Cam Ward or Sheduer Sanders with the third overall pick, none of the experts claim either one is a generational talent, even if they sit behind Rodgers or Wilson. But, here’s the thing: wouldn’t Rodgers or Wilson want to lead a Super Bowl Contender? The Giants are not a contender ( and not that close to being one either.) 

So, what should the Giants have done? Well, the Giants should have done what the team they share MetLife Stadium with did. The Jets signed former Bears and Steelers Quarterback Justin Fields to a two year 40 million dollar contract. Fields will reunite with former Ohio State teammate Garrett Wilson with the Jets. So, if you’re the Giants why not take the chance on a 26 year old? When the Bears traded up in the first round of the 2021 draft to select Fields, it was the Giants who they traded with. 

Whether it was going to be Fields, Rodgers, Wilson or one of the two rookies the Giants are looking at lightning in a bottle for their next Quarterback. But if you hit with Justin Fields, he has the upside to be the Quarterback of your team for the next decade, and if he is a success for the Jets, not only will Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen regret it, but they’ll have a long time to think about it when they’re on the unemployment line after they get fired. Fields to the Jets could be a Giant mistake for the other team at MetLife stadium.