NFL trade deadline: 5 Giants thoughts | Dump Golden Tate, Kevin Zeitler? Buy-low targets

The Giants are 1-7 after losing to the Buccaneers on Monday night, and now they’re running out of time to add assets for the future. Clearly, this isn’t a team with designs on making the playoffs this season, even in a putrid NFC East.

The trade deadline is on Tuesday at 4 p.m. The Giants already dealt outside linebacker Markus Golden to the Cardinals last week, but if general manager Dave Gettleman was waiting to see the outcome of Monday’s game before making any decisions, that time has passed.

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If the Giants are smart, they’ll start thinking about 2021, and whichever players on their roster are not part of those plans should be made available in trades. No, Gettleman shouldn’t be adding any players of note, like h confusingly did last year with Leonard Williams.

So, what will the Giants’ final hours before the trade deadline look like?

Here are five final thoughts on this year’s trade deadline:

Is Dave Gettleman, Joe Judge or somebody else at the wheel?

There is an assumption in league circles that Gettleman is a dead man walking. Co-owner John Mara is unlikely to fire him midseason, though, so that decision is more likely to come down toward the end of the season or after Week 17. So, what does that mean for Tuesday’s deadline?

That remains unclear. Letting Gettleman, if he’s a lame-duck general manager, run the trade deadline wouldn’t be the smartest approach.

Coach Joe Judge and assistant general manager Kevin Abrams — who both will still be in the organization beyond 2020 — would be better served running things if the Giants plan on trading away any players for draft assets … which is exactly what they should be doing.

The Giants need to be thinking about the future.

And Gettleman isn’t part of that.

Get rid of Golden

For the second straight week, wide receiver Golden Tate scored an impressive touchdown catch. Also for the second straight week: Tate did nothing else.

When Tate scored on Monday, he looked at the camera and yelled “throw me the ball!”

Enough is enough with Tate, who has been an utter disappointment both on and off the field since signing as a big-money free agent in 2019. The Giants should be finding another team willing to try and deal with a player that has failed at his last two stops: Giants, and with the Eagles.

He relatively productive in 11 games last year. His stats over a full season would’ve projected out to 71 catches for 983 yards and nine touchdowns … But he didn’t play a full season, and he shouldn’t finish out Year 2 with this team. It was a bad idea signing him to such a rich contract ($37.5 million) in 2019, and the Giants should be trying to salvage whatever they can in the form of draft picks, even if that only turns into a sixth-round pick.

Tate is only on pace for 47 catches, 465 yards and four touchdowns, so his stock has reached an all-time low. The Giants don’t exactly have a group of young receivers waiting in the wings behind him, but they’d be smart to scour practice squads around the league to try and unearth Travis Fulgham-esque young receivers that can make an impact.

Right now, nobody on the Giants’ roster or practice squad — outside of starters Darius Slayton and Sterling Shepard, at least — looks particularly promising. Yes, Tate is better than the others.

But the Giants only have five picks in 2021 with no compensatory selections coming through. It’s time to reload, and rebuild, the wide receiver corps, and get rid of his bloated contract.

Kevin Zeitler: Stay or go?

The Giants didn’t plan to start rookie Shane Lemieux yet, but Will Hernandez’s absence (due to COVID-19) thrust him into the starting lineup at left guard. By all accounts, he played as well as could be expected, and helped spring a rushing touchdown.

Was that enough to give the Giants he can be a full-time starter for the last eight games?

That will factor into the Giants’ thought process on Tuesday when they decide whether to trade veteran right guard Kevin Zeitler, who has a $14.5 million cap hit in 2021.

If they can get a fourth- or fifth-round pick, it might be worth pulling the trigger.

Other possible Giants trade candidates

The Giants should be trying to find whatever value they can out of players they don’t need beyond 2020. Some are more valuable than others. Who are (or should be) candidates to be dealt on Tuesday?

– TE Evan Engram: By all accounts, the Giants don’t plan on trading their inconsistent tight end, but there would be interest in him if they started taking calls. Some teams that make sense: Bills, Cardinals, Colts, Ravens

– DT Dalvin Tomlinson: He’ll be a free agent this offseason and if the Giants don’t intend to re-sign him, it’s worth exploring. He’s one of the Giants’ best players. Possible fits: Bills, Seahawks, Bears, Patriots.

– RB Wayne Gallman: He’s shown some flashes in spurts this season, but the Giants clearly don’t think that highly of him since Alfred Morris (eight) only had four less carries than Gallman. But he’s a fine rotational back, which has use for teams in need of depth. Possible fits: Eagles, Browns, Bears.

– OT Cam Fleming: Rookie Matt Peart is ready to start, and the Giants won’t be benching Andrew Thomas. Fleming has been average (at most) this season, but is a veteran swing tackle that might interest offensive line-needy teams. Possible fits: Ravens, Chargers.

Possible buy-low targets

No, the Giants shouldn’t be trading real assets for players this year, like Gettleman unfathomably did for Leonard Williams in 2019. That doesn’t mean the Giants can’t look into player-for-player swaps or deals involving late draft picks for young players that have fallen out of favor elsewhere.

It’s worth trying to unearth a winning lottery ticket.

Here are some options:

– WR John Ross (Bengals): Cincinnati doesn’t do many in-season trades, but Ross has been a massive disappointment since going ninth overall in 2017, doesn’t play for them now and publicly asked for a trade recently. If he was actually moved, it likely wouldn’t take much, and the Giants should be trying to unearth talent at wide receiver. At the least, Ross (4.22 40-yard dash) is fast and could add the threat of deep passes for Jones, which doesn’t currently exist outside of Darius Slayton.

– CB Josh Jackson (Packers): Jackson hasn’t lived up to his second round billing just yet and Green Bay has a serious need at wide receiver (Golden Tate?). Jackson is still only 24 and would still be an obvious upgrade over players like Isaac Yiadom and Ryan Lewis as the starter opposite James Bradberry.

– WR Dante Pettis (49ers): The speedy wideout hasn’t played much the last two years, even as San Francisco has dealt with a multitude of injuries at wide receiver. It likely wouldn’t take much to get him.

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Zack Rosenblatt may be reached at zrosenblatt@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.

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