Why the Giants should just tank after starting 0-4
Everyone believed a New York team had a good chance to earn the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Nobody thought it would be the Giants.
The G-Men fell to 0-4 with a loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, opening the door for them to throw in the towel on the 2017 campaign and tank for the first overall pick.
That notion would have seemed crazy just a few weeks ago. The Giants entered the season with high expectations, coming off a playoff year where they finished 11-5, but some bad fortune has derailed their season.
Giants receiver Odell Beckham still appears limited by an ankle issue and New York lost its last two contests on heartbreaking last-second field goals. The offensive line remains a complete disaster, and the Giants would realistically have to go 10-2 the rest of the way to even have a chance at the playoffs.
Look at their remaining schedule; there's no way that's happening with games against the Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, and Dallas Cowboys, among others.
Instead, their best option is tanking - and there's plenty of reason to do so. Eli Manning is showing his age more than ever, and it'd be wise to draft his successor. Sure, it's possible that last spring's third-round pick, Davis Webb, could be that guy, but that seems like a long shot. Picking up Sam Darnold or Josh Rosen would put New York in a much better position when Manning eventually retires.
The Giants also have some control over their destiny in the race for last place. There are currently three other winless teams: the Cleveland Browns, Los Angeles Chargers, and San Francisco 49ers. The Giants face two of them in the next five weeks. If the Giants can fall to the Chargers on Sunday, it will put them in an even better position to draft first overall next April.
There's one problem with this plan: The Giants are better then the other 0-4 teams, with a defense that could actually carry them to some wins. New York will have to get creative if they want to get this done. Perhaps Beckham's ankle just doesn't heal right and he has to miss some time, or maybe Ben McAdoo continues passing up easy field goals early in games only to fail on fourth down.
The Giants are out of the race for the playoffs, but the battle for the top pick could be just as entertaining.
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