Josh Rosen trade rumors: Would Giants give up 37th pick? Maybe not

If the New York Giants want Josh Rosen, their offer to the Arizona Cardinals is apparently going to have to start with the 37th overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft.

Multiple sources have indicated that the Washington Redskins have already put an offer on the table for Rosen that begins with their second-round pick in this draft, 46th overall. The Redskins also have an extra third-round pick and could offer some combination of one of those picks and mid-round assets in 2020 to sweeten the deal.

That would indicate that a deal starting with the Giants’ third-round pick, 95th overall, would likely be a non-starter. Would the Giants give up the 37th pick and other assets, or go so far as to give up the 17th overall pick if the Cardinals do indeed make Rosen available?

As we have said multiple times here at Big Blue View, that ultimately depends on how sold the organization is on Rosen as the long-term heir to Eli Manning.

ESPN’s Jordan Ranaan has been adamant that the Giants are not “in love” with Rosen, whom they passed on in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Patricia Traina, writing earlier for Big Blue View, also doesn’t appear to believe that the Giants are salivating at the idea of bringing Rosen to East Rutherford.

In revisiting last year’s quarterback situation, since neither Allen or Darnold is expected to be available via trade—and again, we still don’t know if Arizona is going to make Rosen available--would the Giants “settle” for Rosen if he’s available and if they feel they need to start grooming Manning’s successor now?

Logic would dictate Gettleman would not do an about-face by going with a quarterback that the team is believed to have had not graded ahead of Allen and Darnold.

In addition, if the Giants brass feels like Manning still has another couple of years left in him, there might be more of a comfort level kicking the can down the road again to where Manning will end up finishing out the 2020 season on a one-year contract extension while a 2020 draft picks comes in and learns from him.

If the Giants are going to make a strong push for Rosen they had better be all in. The Giants would be creating an instant quarterback controversy since Rosen already has a year of — albeit unsuccessful — NFL experience under his belt.

There would be immediate calls from some in the fan base — and the media — for Rosen to play, setting the Giants up to have to deal with the kind of distraction GM Dave Gettleman often says it is his job to avoid.

Peter King wrote Monday that Washington “is in the best position to do the deal” for Rosen.

Washington also might be the team most motivated to make the move. They have veteran Case Keenum as a placeholder, but he is in the last year of his contract.

Head coach Jay Gruden is also in the final year of his contract, and that may be even more significant. The Redskins have had back-to-back losing seasons, the belief is there is tremendous pressure on Gruden to win this season to keep his job, and the coach has said it would be difficult to use the team’s first-round pick (15th overall) on a quarterback who would not be likely to play.

Rosen, talent-wise, would be an upgrade over the former undrafted free agent Keenum. King wrote that he is also an “excellent scheme fit” for Gruden.

King wrote this about the Giants:

Unlikely that GM Dave Gettleman will give the 37th pick for Rosen, in part because of value and in part because the Giants really aren’t sure if all the noise about Rosen being difficult has any merit.

In my 7-round Giants mock draft on Sunday, I made several trades — after the 37th pick. Increasingly, I believe that is how the Giants are going to approach the draft. Use those three picks in the top 37 to get the best players they can, then wheel and deal with their eight Day 3 selections to target some mid-round players they like.

I’m not sure at all they like Rosen enough to try and outbid the Redskins.