4 New York Giants who should be on the trade block after another gutting loss

The New York Giants didn’t enter the 2024 campaign with the highest of expectations, but the fan base had one particular game circled on their calendars. New York’s Week 7 matchup featured their NFC East rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, coming to town. Sure, any rivalry game is important to win, but this one felt a little extra special. Saquon Barkley was set to make his return to MetLife Stadium for the first time since signing a deal to join the Eagles this past offseason.

With a win, the Giants could’ve shown Barkley that he made the wrong decision to join Philadelphia. As far-fetched as a win against a talented Eagles team might’ve seemed before the season, Philadelphia had not looked great this season and just narrowly beat a Cleveland Browns team at home that the Giants beat on the road earlier this season.

Unfortunately, nobody, with the exception of Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns, showed up for the Giants. Barkley ran wild all afternoon, and the Eagles won 28-3, dropping the Giants to 2-5 on the year.

With the team being 2-5 and looking as bad as they did on Sunday, it’s clear that this is not a playoff team or one that will be all that competitive. At this point, as has become an unfortunate tradition for Giants fans in October, the team has to look ahead toward the NFL trade deadline and the 2025 NFL Draft. These four players should not be on the team past the deadline as they look to add more draft capital and give more playing time to younger players who might fit into the team’s future plans.

If there is a strength of this Giants team, it’s their defensive line. GM Joe Schoen has prioritized it, and the results have shown. Even in this game, while most of this Giants team was overmatched, Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns combined for eight tackles and three sacks. They’ve combined for 11 sacks on the season, and former first-round pick Kayvon Thibodeaux has another two on his ledger.

Lawrence, Burns, and Thibodeaux are locked in through the 2026 campaign at least and are all young stars. The Giants already have Burns and Thibodeaux coming off the edge, which makes Azeez Ojulari nothing more than an extra piece in New York.

Ojulari is far from a household name but is a useful player. While he’s outshined by the likes of Burns and Thibodeaux, he entered Sunday’s action with three sacks while playing in only 43 percent of New York’s defensive snaps. He tacked on another one in Sunday’s loss.

The 24-year-old is set to hit free agency at the end of the season, and, chances are, the Giants won’t pay him what he’s going to demand on the open market. With that in mind, trading him to a team in need of some pass-rush help can net the Giants something halfway decent in return.

Darius Slayton is in his sixth NFL season, all six have been spent with the Giants. During his long tenure with the team, Slayton has been a solid weapon for Daniel Jones to turn to. He’s a good deep threat and has recorded 700+ yards in four of his first five seasons.

There’s nothing wrong with Slayton, and he’s a nice third receiver to have, but New York has little to no reason to play him right now. The Giants have Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson ahead of him on the depth chart, and they drafted Jalin Hyatt in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft for a reason.

Giving Hyatt more opportunities in Slayton’s spot feels like a no-brainer, especially with Slayton set to hit free agency at the end of the year. He’s done good things with New York and is a security blanket of sorts for Jones to turn to, but Jones shouldn’t be with the team past this season anyway. Getting rid of Slayton for anything they can and giving a younger player like Hyatt a real chance to prove himself is more valuable than playing Slayton on a bad team going nowhere and watching him depart in the offseason when the Giants (hopefully) add more talent.

Finally, with the Giants down 28-3 in the fourth quarter, Brian Daboll made the decision to bench Daniel Jones. This almost certainly won’t be a long-term decision, as it’d be shocking to not see Jones start their Week 8 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but still, with Jones’ injury history and inability to perform up to par under center, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Giants’ backup get some time.

Drew Lock came in to replace Jones in the fourth quarter and, like the quarterback he replaced, could generate nothing. Lock completed just three of his eight passing attempts for six yards. Having more attempts than passing yards is never a good look. New York’s banged-up offensive line didn’t help matters, but do we not already know what Lock is at the NFL level?

In parts of five NFL seasons, Lock entered Sunday’s action completing 59.7 percent of his throws for 5,283 yards and 28 touchdowns to go along with 23 interceptions. He’s fine to be a backup, but it’s pretty clear that at 27 years old he’s not a future player for this team.

I’m not going to sit here and say that Tommy DeVito is the answer at quarterback either (he almost certainly isn’t), but he did show slight promise toward the back end of the 2023 season on a Giants team that was out of it. His chances of being part of New York’s future even as a backup feel greater than that of Lock’s, especially with Lock being on a one-year deal.

Whether Lock would generate any interest on the open market remains to be seen, but trading him for anything you can, especially with DeVito looking more intriguing, makes a lot of sense.

If the Giants weren’t going to win this game, at least having Barkley’s replacement, Devin Singletary, show up, would’ve been a nice consolation prize. Unfortunately, as his 16 yards rushing on five attempts would indicate, Singletary was a no-show.

Singletary’s rough day wasn’t close to all his fault. He was coming off an injury, the game script didn’t favor him, and it’s not as if the Giants’ offensive line was any good. Still, does the 27-year-old Singletary serve much of a purpose on this Giants team, especially when Tyrone Tracy is on the roster?

Tracy, a player New York selected in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, has averaged 4.4 yards per carry on 47 rushing attempts. Singletary has averaged 3.9 yards per carry on 56 attempts. Tracy has 11 receptions for 99 yards while appearing in just 42 percent of New York’s offensive snaps compared to Singletary, who has 10 receptions for 72 yards while appearing in 71 percent of the offensive snaps. Singletary has played more, but Tracy has been the more efficient football player on the ground and in the air.

This isn’t to say Tracy should be considered their running back of the future, but why bother with Singletary when they have Tracy, a better player right now, on the books for four cheap years? Singletary is a fine running back, but Tracy is better, younger, and cheaper while being on the books for longer. Trading Singletary for a draft pick to open more time for Tracy and even Eric Gray makes sense for a rebuilding Giants team.