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Pro Football Talk is reporting that the New York Giants were one of seven teams to put in a waiver claim on former New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers defensive end Kony Ealy.
The New England Patriots made waves this weekend when they waived Ealy. Cutting a player is common this time of year, but what is shocking is that New England just traded their second-round selection to the Carolina Panthers for Ealy and the Panthers’ third-round choice this spring. They attempted to set up another trade to try to recoup some of their loss, but nobody bit.
The Giants never had a realistic chance to be awarded Ealy — waiver claims are awarded in roughly draft order, or the reverse record from the previous year. For the Giants to be awarded a player, no team with a record of 22nd or worse would have had to put in a claim. Ealy was ultimately awarded to the New York Jets.
But even with with those slim chances, it’s not surprising that the Giants put in a claim.
General manager Jerry Reese hasn’t given a press conference on the topic, but we’ve all heard his cliches enough to know what he would say:
“We want to upgrade every position.”
“We investigate everything. Again, we keep all of our options open.”
“We will keep all of our options open. We still believe he has a chance to be a good football player for us.”
Raptor’s View
It’s interesting that the Giants would want to add a player at a position as stacked and crowded as their defensive line. But also not terribly surprising.
The line is already great, so why would they want to add another player? Well, for one, Ealy is still young at 25, with a prototypical build with good size, long arms, and elite short-area quickness. The images of his dominant performance in Super Bowl 50 -- only overshadowed by Von Miller’s — is likely still fresh in the Giants’ mind.
They know they need to rotate their defensive ends more and find some rest for Olivier Vernon and Jason Pierre-Paul. Adding a player like Ealy would do that.
With a massive number players set to hit the waiver wire and free agency market this weekend, it might not be surprising to see the Giants look for a pass rusher to add to their defense.