Mark my words, this will go down as the biggest mistake made by the New York Football Giants since they let Tom Coughlin walk to promote what I can only describe as a New Jersey used car salesman posing as the Giants 2014-15’ Offensive Coordinator, Ben McAdoo.
Week 16, Giants @ Washington, both teams at 3-11 battling for one of the NFL’s worst records to secure the best possible pick in next Thursday’s 2020 NFL Draft. This game started with a beautiful 23 yard pass from Daniel Jones to Sterling Shepard. The Giants backed up their next drive with a Saquan Barkley 67 yard run right after Dwayne Haskins marched Washington down the field with ease on the Redskins first drive. This was clearly going to be a high scoring shootout from the start. By halftime, Jones had racked up three touchdowns along with 200+ yards with the Giants leading 28 - 14. The second half started with a Dwayne Haskins injury to his left ankle. Case Keenum became the starter for Washington. Knowing the draft implications that the outcome of this game would have paired with the lack of exposure I had to Jones and Barkley in Daily Fantasy, when Haskins went down I was pissed! I thought no way does Keenum rally his team back in the 4th quarter of a must lose game. But sure as shit, the 4th quarter included two rushing touchdowns, one by Adrian Peterson and the other by Case Keenum to tie it up with 29 seconds left in the game. On the first overtime drive, Jones and the Giants marched the ball 66 yards on 11 plays ending the game with a 3-yard pass from Jones to Kaden Smith to win 41-35. Both teams lost their week 17 game.
Now, why did I just recap a Week 16 win by a Giants team making them 4-11 on the year. I’ll tell you. Both teams entered this game 3-11 which had them tied for the 2nd pick in this Thursday’s NFL Draft. Obviously because of this Week 16 loss to the Giants, Washington was awarded the second pick and the Giants dropped to 4th overall. Big deal? Yes, it’s a fucking big deal! Maybe we didn’t know to what extent this would affect the Giants at the time, but now we do and it doesn’t look good. Ohio State defensive end Chase Young is in my opinion the most NFL ready player in this year's Draft. He totaled 16.5 sacks with six fumbles for the Buckeyes last season. Young also lead the team with 32 solo tackles while tallying 14 assisted tackles. The 6’5 265 lbs Junior is expected to have double digit sacks his rookie season. And guess what? He’s not making it past the 3rd pick. I fully expect the Bengals to go with a Quarterback. I am not going to speculate which one although it does seem to be Joe Burrow but more importantly, they will NOT be taking Chase Young with the first overall. That leaves the Washington Redskins with an easy pick with Chase Young at number two. Now remember, the Giants have two toys they love to use: Daniel Jones and Saquan Barkley. Both players love to run and will need the space to do so if the Giants want to be successful next season. The Giants have needs at Defensive End as well as Offensive Tackle so, hypothetically they would have easily taken Chase Young if they had the number two. But now at number four, the most recent reports are that the Gmen would be willing to trade down. According to Yahoo Sports,
“Gettleman said at that point that he was open to trading and he stuck to that line during a Friday conference call. Gettleman said, via multiple reporters, that he will “seriously entertain” a move out of the No. 4 spot next Thursday. With serious needs on the offensive line and all over the defense, adding to the 10 picks the team already has wouldn’t be a bad idea and there may be some good offers if teams want to move ahead of the Dolphins at No. 5 in hopes of landing a quarterback.” Yahoosports.com
With the Detroit Lions sitting in the hole at the moment and looking to trade down, the Giants chances of selecting Chase Young are all but gone. It’s also worth mentioning that the Redskins will be facing the Giants at least twice a year as they are in the same division. Jones already has problems fumbling the ball totaling 11 lost fumbles (18 fumbles total) in 2019 which led the league. Now add a premier pass rusher in Chase Young to the mix and we have a problem.
Allowing Washington to lose that Week 16 affair against the Giants is going to have major repercussions. If it wasn’t enough for Washington to solidify Chase Young, Detroit then makes it known that they want to move down and there goes the Giants big pick. At this point moving down is the only move they really can make. Forcing a 4th overall pick is a questionable move and honestly all the Giants want/need is protection for Jones and Barkley meaning Offensive Tackles all day. With that said if I was the Giants GM, I would much rather select Chase Young in the first round and grab my OT later but unfortunately the Giants don't have that choice anymore after winning their ever so important 4th game last season in Week 16 against the 3-11 Washington Redskins. It would have been nice to enter the season with the next great defensive end paired with potential pro-bowlers in Jones and Barkley. But instead, a 2019 Week 16 win now has the Giants looking to trade down to likely select a DE or OT (If they don't take Simmons at 4).
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