The New York Giants went into the season with a favorable quarterback situation. Led by highly-paid franchise quarterback Daniel Jones with proven veteran Tyrod Taylor behind him, Brian Daboll and the Giants’ coaching staff felt great about their quarterback room. Now, everything has changed.
When Jones first went down with a neck injury, New York had no reason to panic. Tyrod Taylor had a winning record as a starter and his familiarity with Daboll’s offense made him a perfect fit. After playing well and then suffering a serious rib injury, Taylor went on injured reserve right as Jones returned.
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It was at this point before Week 9 that the Giants should’ve handled their backup quarterback situation more seriously. New York knew Taylor wouldn’t return for weeks and Tommy DeVito proved in his fill-in appearance that he wasn’t even a quality backup quarterback. Instead, New York rolled with what it had.
Now that Jones is out for the season following an ACL tear, it’s time for the New York Giants to seriously address a quarterback room that should’ve been handled a week ago.
John Wolford, Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad
There certainly isn’t a quarterback out there who would save the Giants’ season. Instead, finding a functional NFL quarterback is amount maintaining some form of competitive integrity. New York is essentially tanking as long as DeVito is out there. At a minimum, they need to find someone who can challenge him for the starting job.
- John Wolford career stats: 58.7% completion rate, 1-5 TD-INT, 6 yards per attempt, 59.2 QB rating, 2-2 record
While Wolford’s numbers aren’t impressive, he has been highly sought-after by NFL teams. After Matthew Stafford’s UCL injury, the Los Angeles Rams tried to sign the veteran quarterback off the Buccaneers’ practice squad. However, just as the Minnesota Vikings learned after pursuing Wolford following Kirk Cousins’ Achilles injury, he won’t go just anywhere. New York could be better positioned, however, by offering Wolford the opportunity to replace DeVito as the starter and try and prove himself on a trial basis.
Colt McCoy, free agent
Since being cut by the Arizona Cardinals before the regular season, Colt McCoy hasn’t landed work with another NFL team. That likely has a lot to do with his age, as the 37-year-old quarterback is far past his prime. Yet, he played fairly well in 2022.
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In four appearances across the 2022 season, including three starts, McCoy averaged 195 passing yards per game and posted a 76.6 QB rating. He also proved to be pretty accurate, completing 68.2 percent of his passes and finishing with just a 2.3 percent interception rate. McCoy, who has an 84.5 QB rating across 16 games since the 2020 season, is a better starting option than DeVito.
Trevor Siemian, New York Jets practice squad
Trevor Siemian signed with the New York Jets practice squad with the hope there would eventually be an opportunity to receive a look as the starting quarterback. Instead, Jets’ head coach Robert Saleh has continued to stick by Wilson. At this point in the year, the New York Giants can offer Siemian what he wants and he wouldn’t have to move.
Siemian isn’t a starting-caliber NFL quarterback by any means, but he can at least do the simple things. From 2021-’22, he posted an 86.9 quarterback rating with a 12-4 TD-INT line, averaging 6.3 yards per attempt and 167.3 passing yards per game. That’s good enough for Daboll to at least trust Siemian to operate as a point guard for the Giants’ offense, meaning New York wouldn’t become one-dimensional the moment a game kicks off. Starting Siemian wouldn’t guarantee the Giants win more games, but the offense would at least be functional.
Carson Wentz, free agent
Carson Wentz has been waiting for an opportunity all year and there won’t be a better one than this. The New York Giants are the only NFL team who could offer him a starting job and considering where he’s now at in his career, playing for them might be the only way to prolong his playing days.
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Wentz isn’t a good starting quarterback, but he is easily the best option available. Even with a 2-5 record last season in Washington, Wentz averaged 219.4 passing yards per game with an 80.2 QB rating. Those numbers are even more impressive with the content of how bad the Commanders’ play-calling was in 2022.
Signing Wentz and immediately starting him would at least provide Saquon Barkley with a chance to finish off the season strong. While that might not seem like much, the Giants should want to do right by a player who has carried this offense through more bad times than any star player should.
