Giants news, 1/7: Nick Foles a Giant? Is that a realistic possibility?

Good morning, New York Giants fans!

Perhaps the NFC East isn’t so bad after all.

Looked down upon as a division filled mediocrity this season, the NFC East now has two of the four NFC teams still in the playoffs. That, of course, is because the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles each won over the weekend.

You can look at those victories as a good thing because they represented the division. You can also look at them as a bad thing because the Cowboys and Eagles again showed what the Giants are up against as they try to work their way back into the ranks of the perennial contenders.

Let’s get to some headlines

Giants after Eli Manning: How last 10 Hall of Fame QBs were replaced | From Joe Montana to Peyton Manning | NJ.com

I keep reminding those who can’t wait for Eli Manning to be out the Giants’ door how difficult it is to replace a franchise quarterback. This post makes my point. That doesn’t mean the Giants shouldn’t move on if that is what they believe is right, or that they don’t need to get serious about their future at quarterback. It just means that a franchise quarterback doesn’t always get immediately replaced by another franchise quarterback.

Nick Foles expected to be in demand this offseason | NFL.com

NFL.com says the Eagles are expected to have “a quality trade market” for St. Nick this offseason. That certainly isn’t going to be harmed by Sunday’s come-from-behind victory over the Chicago Bears.

The idea of Foles, who turns 30 later this month, as the Giants’ starting quarterback is one that strikes the fancy of many Giants fans. After watching Foles on Sunday, Steve Serby of the New York Post jumped on that bandwagon.

I don’t blame him, but let’s live in reality for a second.

Foles carries a $20.6 million cap hit in 2019, money that becomes guaranteed on March 18. As much as the city of Philadelphia loves Foles and Foles loves the city and the team, the Foles-Carson Wentz dynamic probably isn’t sustainable forever.

The Eagles, though, are sitting on a gold mine with Foles in terms of the potential return they could get in a trade. It would be foolish to simply cut him and walk away from the high draft picks they could acquire in return, and the Eagles are not foolish.

If the Eagles trade Foles, the Giants have two problems.

First, does anyone really believe Philadelphia would trade St. Nick within the division? I certainly don’t. Secondly, the Giants need a lot more than a quarterback to contend. Can they really trade away what would probably be multiple picks in the top half of the draft, especially handing them to a division rival, to get a quarterback? I don’t think they can.

John Harbaugh: Lamar Jackson is Ravens' future, Joe Flacco 'will have a market | Yahoo sports

That brings us to another veteran quarterback who will be on the market this offseason. Giants fans reacted overwhelmingly negatively when we broached the idea recently that Joe Flacco could be a possibility to be a placeholder quarterback for the Giants should they move on from Eli Manning.

I’m certainly not endorsing Flacco or pushing the idea that he should be the temp if the Giants move on from Manning. Flacco to the Giants rather than Foles just seems more realistic both because of the potential cost and because it’s unlikely the Eagles would deal with the Giants.

Here is Ravens coach John Harbaugh when asked about Flacco’s Ravens-less future:

“Joe can still play,” Harbaugh said. “Joe’s going to have a market, a lot of teams are going to want Joe. Joe Flacco is a great talent, he’s a better person, he’s the best quarterback in the history of the Ravens … He’s going to be just fine.”

In case you missed it

• Jeff Roberts has been detailing some of the greatest games and moments in Giants’ history. He will continue to do so through the Super Bowl. Need to catch up? Do that here.
• We started position-by-position review with a look at tight end. More of those are headed your way this week.
• Lots of great questions in the most recent Big Blue View mailbag. Have a question of your own? E-mail it to bigblueview@gmail.com.

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