NFL Free Agency Update: NY Giants Sign Aaron Stinnie, Austin Schlottmann & Chris Manhertz

In the latest installment of NFL Free Agency Updates, the New York Giants have emerged as proactive players in the offseason market, making several key signings aimed at fortifying their roster ahead of the upcoming season. Among the notable acquisitions by the Giants are tight end Chris Manhertz, offensive guard Aaron Stinnie, and versatile offensive lineman Austin Schlottmann. These signings underscore the Giants' commitment to addressing various positional needs and shoring up their squad for the challenges ahead.

One of the most significant developments for the Giants comes in the form of the acquisition of quarterback Drew Lock, who arrives with a determination to compete for the starting quarterback position. Lock's addition to the Giants' roster signals a competitive push for the quarterback role, injecting a new dynamic into the team's quarterback room. The move also reflects the Giants' proactive approach to securing talent and fostering healthy competition within their ranks.

The Giants' efforts to bolster their roster extend beyond player acquisitions, as evidenced by the meticulous attention to detail exhibited by newly acquired offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor. In a gesture of respect and reverence for the team's heritage, Eluemunor sought permission from former Giants player Osi Umenyiora before donning the iconic number 72. This demonstration of reverence highlights the Giants' emphasis on fostering a culture of respect and tradition within the organization.

Furthermore, the Giants' signing of running back Devin Singletary adds depth and versatility to their backfield, as Singletary brings a wealth of experience and playmaking ability to the team. By retaining his familiar number 26 jersey with the Giants, Singletary aims to carve out his own legacy while inevitably drawing comparisons to former Giants star Saquon Barkley.

Meanwhile, in broader NFL news, former Giants player Ben Bredeson finds a new home with the Buccaneers, adding to the roster depth of the reigning Super Bowl champions. Additionally, quarterback Kenny Pickett's trade to the Philadelphia Eagles, along with pick #120, marks a significant move in the Eagles' offseason strategy, further shaping their roster for the upcoming season. Amidst these player movements, the league bids farewell to legendary defensive tackle Aaron Donald, whose retirement marks the end of an illustrious career marked by dominance and excellence on the gridiron.

As the NFL offseason progresses and teams continue to make moves to strengthen their rosters, the New York Giants stand poised to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of professional football with strategic signings, calculated acquisitions, and a commitment to excellence both on and off the field.

#nygiants #giants #nfl

Transcript

Friday. Friday. Are you a goofball that loves Giants football? If so, sit back and relax as we talk about the team that both excites and frustrates us so much. And now, here are your goofball hosts, Drew and Rob. welcome fellow goop balls to a very special friday edition here of two giant goop balls new york giants podcast I am drew joined as always by me a lot a happy friday guys listen guys we were all set to get drunk get crunk tonight and all and what I mean by that is fall asleep before 10 o'clock because we're old we work too much but my my my life I'm going to stay up to midnight, have a 12-pack. It's going to have three beers, eat dinner, fall asleep on the couch, 9.45. But here we are. Yeah, well, tomorrow's my night to do stuff. Because tomorrow night, Chris Jansen, the country music guy, did Buy Me a Boat. It's probably the most popular song he's known for. He's doing a free show near me. So I'm going to go see that tomorrow night. Because it's in my price range. I like the price free. Okay. Then I don't feel so bad when I buy overpriced food and everything. But tonight we had no plans. Tonight was supposed to be a catch-up on sleep kind of night because Rob and I both worked kind of crazy hours here along with doing this show here. But the Giants had other plans. The Giants, oh no. Oh no. Just when you thought it's over, it begins again. Wait, there's more. Is my drug a choice? Handshake's better than my Roller Royce. We got to play that whole song one day. It's spectacular. I don't even know. I don't even know what happened as far as the whole song. I don't know. I heard that one verse, and I was like, that's the verse. That's the verse for our free agent frenzy this year. So much better than the register sound we had last year. Yeah. So much. Oh, yes. So we talked about this guy a little bit a couple episodes ago. Tight end Chris Manhurts, formerly of the Denver Broncos last year, spent a good amount of time also with the Carolina Panthers. Six foot six, 235 pounds, 31 years old. Last year, 16 games, four starts, just two receptions, 16 yards, and a 56.5 PFF grade. 120 career games played, 53 career starts. Never in his entire career has Chris Manners had more than six receptions or 71 yards receiving, guys. So it's safe to say he's a blocking tight end, guys. If you can't figure that out by now, he's a blocking tight end. Which is interesting because we just got stole from the Eagles yesterday for the same exact role. And I was a little shocked when they made this kind of deal. But, you know, at the same point, I'm like, you know what? Here's what I look at. It goes. I go, okay. We got. You know, obviously, two blocking tight ends that we can bring into camp. You know, we got Lawrence Cager we can bring into camp again, obviously, as well. You know, we got Daniel Bellinger we can bring into camp. And Darren Waller, who knows what's going to happen. But let's say Darren Waller's not around here, hypothetically, for a second here. Because we just don't know. We don't know what's going to happen. You've still got four guys you're bringing in. And all four guys with NFL experience. And the thing I like about these moves is it doesn't preclude you from taking somebody in the draft that they're available. Let's say the right guy's available at the right spot. You know, let's pull that trigger. Let's do it. It doesn't stop you, these moves. No. But at the same point, it doesn't necessitate you to draft somebody. And one of your goals every offseason should be going into the draft with maybe once... but not needs. Correct. Because if you draft it for needs, you're drafting the wrong way. Like for a quarterback, for example. Oh, who said that? But yeah, so tight end Chris Mannert's back in discussion here today. He's officially signed with us there. So again, he might not even make it out of, you know, training camp for all we know. I haven't heard any numbers yet whatsoever, but I can't imagine a guy who is known strictly as a blocker is going to make a ton of money. He's not, you know, he's not going to be that guy. So I have a feeling that's what it is. This is a get in the camp, fight for a spot. Let's see what you can do. Kind of move there. Yeah. Who could block better? Let's, let's work on this offensive line. Let's see what we got to do. Where things got to move and which guy fits a better blocking scheme for going forward. Especially since we don't have Barkley anymore and we got, you know, Singletary, Brightwell. Who knows else? We'll figure it out. That's to be determined right now. Yeah, pretty much. We made a couple of signings onto the offensive line here, guys, as well. So we got Aaron Stinney on a one-year deal from the Tampa Bay Bucs, who's a guard, 6'3", 312 pounds, 30 years old, 13 games, 11 starts last season at 56.6 PFF grade, but gave up just two sacks. Uh, he's also got a good amount of post-season experience from his time with the bucks as well. He started actually in place, Alex, Alex Kappa during the team Superbowl run. It also started in both the post-season contact, uh, contest for the bucks there last year as well. So interesting is PFF actually granted him at the 47th amongst the guards in a tie with John Runyon jr. Interesting. Very interesting. And what do we see about him with the PFF grade? Not the best, but definitely a damn big improvement on what we've had last year. Especially in the passing game. It was weird. Stinney said she knew a little more as a run blocker than a pass blocker. But again, gave up just two sacks last season. I think most of our guys who started for offensive line last year gave up about two sacks per half. It definitely feels like that. We talked about a lot of them on the quarterback and issues with that position there, but anytime you can get some guys in the offensive line with some experience, bring them into camp, let everybody fight it out for positioning, I'm going to be all for it because let's be honest, we can't sign a bunch of stars, guys. They all can't be stars. But what you can do is you can bring a whole bunch of guys in with true NFL experience, have them fight it out, let the best man win, and in the end have a good quality depth to your offensive line, which is something we were sorely missing last year. That's pretty obvious. Let's be honest there. For a very long time. Just last year. Oh, I'm just saying last year specific. It's like we just were like, oh, we drafted you. I guess we'll keep you. Yeah. Hmm. That's what it turned out to be. That's why Shane Lemieux, Matt Pert, you know, even some of Joe Shane's guys to a lesser extent than McKeith and, and the Zoodoo. It's like, they're trying to force them down our throats. Like just bring a bunch of guys in and these guys can't hack it. They can't hack it. Let them go. Let them go. Um, But this guy has started now. He's been in 31 career games, 12 starts in his career. He's played at both guard spots as well. So he's got a little bit of flexibility in that regard there. And I can tell you, from living in the Tampa Bay area, the guys down here, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to lay the claim to this guy being an amazing player. He's not. But he's a good, solid guy to have in your team. Yeah. When you're looking at your starts and the age, You can kind of tell the tale of the tape. He would make a good, pretty good backup in this league. Yeah. And listen, pretty good backup is something we would have loved to have last year, right? I mean, pretty good backups probably what our starting offensive line was last year. Basically. And they all went down with injuries. Yeah. One more guy we signed here. Guard slash center, Austin Schlottman. Besides having a very cool name, he now has a two-year contract. 6'6", 300 pounds, 28 years old. Played with the Vikings there last season. And, damn, that's a freaking tall center. You don't see. Remember when they were talking about Nick Gates becoming a center? I think Nick Gates is, what, 6'3", 6'4"? Yeah, 6'4". Like, oh, he's way too tall to be a center. Here's 6'6". This guy is the size of a freaking tackle. He's playing. Yeah. So nine games, three starts last season, 62.6 PFF grade allowed just one sack on the season. There are 67 career games overall and 14 career starts. You know, if you follow the Vikings, he's actually played a good amount the last couple of years there in his reserve role, but also at a few starts because of Garrett Bradbury being injured there at the center position a couple of times. So, you know, he's a guy who comes in with some experience. He's a guy that I think is potential to just flat out be the backup center. And if you need him in a push at a guard position, he can play it. But he's definitely primarily center. Again, not the typical size for a center, but somehow he just pulls it off at that point. And he'll come in, he won't embarrass himself, but he won't excel either. And let's be very frank in saying that most of the guys who brought him last year, they embarrassed themselves. They did. Yeah. You can say it. It's okay. It's okay. We had a shit offensive line last year. There's nothing wrong with admitting that. I mean, it's pretty obvious. The one that embarrassed themselves the most was probably Evan Neal. The guys we brought in, we knew what they were. We just tried to paint rust. It was still rust. Yeah, I mean, Evan Neal is just a walking embarrassment in general. But, I mean, it's just, yeah, things have got to change there, guys. Things have got to change with that offensive line. And I'm glad to see that Joe Shane of the Giants released seeing that and saying, you know what? See what I said. You can't sign a whole bunch of stars. You can't do that. It doesn't work. It doesn't fix things. What you can do is bring in a whole bunch of bodies. I hope so. We've got mediocre hopes. I don't have high hopes. I have mediocre hopes. Bring in a whole bunch of bodies. Hope for the best. Let's see what happens. When your line's ranked 28th of last season, 30th of last season, and you go up to 15, that's high hopes. And don't forget... The biggest signing we made this offseason, I still think, is Carmine Brasillo bringing in a new offensive line coach that I think is a good offensive line coach in this league and has got some experience showing that he's a good offensive line coach. So, you know, I'm kind of curious what he can do with some of the underperforming people we've drafted the last couple of years and to see what happens overall with this crew here because they've definitely been disappointing. I think that's very safe to say, that's for sure. So, all right. Let's go through some comments here real quick, and then we'll go through the news here through both the Giants and the NFL after that there. Conor says, oh, what a night. What the hell? Did we get Saquon back by trading away three first-round picks? No way in hell. Goddamn, I'm not making that up. Conor says, what is on your shirt, Roberto? Are you a Dalmatian? Hard to tell. What is that on your shirt? Bunch of schooners, some sailboats. Schooners? Oh, okay. Connor says necessitate. Deb says you tell them, Connor. So I'm guessing, did we mess up a word? Is that what happened? I don't know. You may have, Drew. I'm going to blame it on you. You talked about the draft. That's when that comment came in. I'll take the blame. It's okay. Connor says, 30, that's old. Oh, well, coming from a guy in his 50s. Yeah, I mean, that's the crazy thing is that 30, you're getting towards the end of your prime there at that point. At that offensive line, you're still good. You're still good for a couple of years. I mean, usually you're 32, 33. That's when things start going down a hill a little bit for most of these offensive linemen. uh connor says hi deb and then he says can't believe you guys came on for these pickups lol glad you did because I was poor listen we we had three pickups we told you guys if anything happens we're gonna come on so three pickups we came on and then you know we can start fresh there on monday assuming nothing happens there with getting back into the draft and everything for you guys so that's that's the big thing honestly we don't get back to the draft talk here because A lot of things still to go over with the draft and a lot of positions. We've done a quarterback so far. So, you know, Monday, Monday, Monday. Yep, Monday is the Monday we'll talk in receivers. So prepare, get your notebooks ready. We're going to have a lot of talks on receivers come Monday. Connor said Schooner. Who's a fancy boy? Rob's a fancy boy. Oh, the fancy boy. Oh, yes. All right. We're going to go pretty quick tonight because – We don't have a lot to say to go over there, but we wanted to give you guys the news on that. So let's break out a little quick of the Giants news, the league news, and then, guys, we're all set and get out of here here. It's time for the news. Delete, delete, delete, delete, delete, delete, delete, delete. Oh, yeah, as I meant to take Connor's comment off and took the scrolling thing at the bottom off instead. All right, so Giants news first. Friend of the show, SNY's Connor Hughes, lists remaining possible targets for the Giants here. Listed running backs J.K. Dobbins, Alexander Madison, and Clyde Edwards-Hilaire. Also listed wide receiver Marquez Valdez-Scantling, and also cornerback Tredavious White. So I'm going to next basically every single one except for Tredavious White. Wow. I was really about to say the same thing. So here's my thing. We're only going to take a running back if he signs the minimum deal. Everything I'm hearing. He's going to take the min deal and that's it. I think what happens is we go ahead and draft somebody personally. Put them with Singletary. Hope Eric Ray is something besides the pile of poop he has been with last year. Maybe Gary Bright will provide something at that point. Again, he's shown a little bit when he's had the chance. And you just run with it and hope the offensive line is better and that's what helps improve the running game. Well, I mean, JK, he hasn't been great as a Raven. Let's be real. And he was injured. quite a bit yeah yeah madison who was injured two years prior and then comes back and was not himself last year and that's which is why aaron jones became a viking yep and then everett singletary like I just he's a good player but he's not he's not a guy that you're gonna oh quite a bit so rare my thing with him is if you can't succeed with andy reed you can't succeed with anybody I'm sorry I wouldn't put him higher in Singletary to pay that kind of money. No, no, no. What I'm saying is they're going to pay a minimum to whoever they get. I can tell you that right now. That's definite. But what I'm saying is Clyde Edwards Hilaire could not succeed in Kansas City. If you can't succeed with one of the best offensive minds and the best quarterback in football right now, I don't need you. And one of the best lines as well. Yeah. I don't need you. To me, you're just not that good. Marquez Valdez-Scandling. I mean, let's just put it this way. He's a very fast receiver who's going to get you on a good day 600 to 700 yards, and he's going to drop the ball quite often. Is that sounding like somebody we already have on the roster? We got – I mean, let's be honest. We got two fast receivers already, and we got one at a very cheap deal, and the other one we just re-signed. So that's – Yeah, I mean, Darius Slayton is who I'm saying that he reminds me of to a certain degree. Slayton seemed to have fixed his drop problems last year. I don't need a guy who the Chiefs don't want anything to do with because he's dropped the ball in key moments, and they cost him games potentially. So I'm good. You know, Tredavious White even, he's got to be the right money because the guy hasn't played in like two years. I don't know what he's got left. I don't know what he looks like. Obviously, the Giants will bring him in for a physical and all that kind of stuff before they sign him. But he's the only one, like I said, he's the only one that piques my interest because what do we need to prove? I mean, granted, we didn't improve all three of the spots, but you could probably get him at the cheapest deal and he would make the most improvement. If White is healthy, he's an improvement at that position. If they're healthy, I don't think they're improvements. I don't know if that's Connor's huge opinion or if he has people that he's telling him that. If it's his opinion, I will respectfully disagree with Connor. If it's just him hearing stuff, I hope that's just BS rumors because there's plenty of BS rumors going around this time of year for damn sure. So Seahawks GM John Schneider said their team wanted to keep Drew Locke, but the Giants apparently were able to get him over here with an opportunity to compete to be starting QB. And when he said that, did that start a firestorm going there in the media? A firestorm. Yeah. Drew Locke came in today and did his introductory press conference and said he's just coming up to be a pushy backup QB was the exact wording there so he's trying to nip that in the bud but yeah there's a lot of rumors going around that's a soft plane but not denying nobody wants to be the backup so yeah I'm going to push this guy to take his spot if I can I would gladly take the backup quarterback role in Kansas City right now. You say that, but if you were the backup quarterback, you'd want to start and make more money and get more accolades and all that kind of stuff. I'm just saying you would. That's natural. That's normal. That's okay. I'm also not 24 years old, 25 years old. Yes, which is why you're not in the running to be the backup. That's the only reason. It's just a few years younger. But yeah, I mean... I feel like there's a lot of rumors going around after that because I don't know which ones are true though. And it's why I call them rumors where it's like, oh, maybe, maybe Daniel Jones is unhealthy. Maybe he's behind schedule. It's like, maybe you just guys don't know. And that's, I don't know why media has such a problem saying, I don't know, but maybe this means something. You know, as opposed to them trying to make wild stories now. We don't know what's going on with Daniel Jones. And that's okay to say that, guys. That's perfectly fine to say that. We have not a clue. Because the only people that can tell us what's going on with Daniel Jones are Daniel Jones himself and representatives of the New York Giants. And guess who's not going to tell us? Yeah. But guess who's not going to tell us any information? Those people. we have nothing to go based on except for what we're told and what we're told is spoon-fed to us by those people so don't believe what you hear and just sit there and say I don't know there's nothing wrong I don't know I don't know why media people in media have such a problem saying I don't know that's okay you know I mean I feel like any other occupation You're told if you don't know how to do something, just speak up and say, I don't know. Because it's better to say that than to make a mistake, except for the media. Maybe weathermen do. That's kind of media. Yeah, that's what I was about to say. That's the version of idiot. So we'll have to peek and see what's going on as things progress, but it makes you wonder if he's not as healthy as they think. I still think what I've said all along now is that they don't want to play him, and they would prefer somebody beat him out, even for the backup role, and let him just... be a healthy scratch every single game, basically, and let him get healthy so they can cut him next year with no worry of the injury guarantees that would double his cap number next year if we cut him. Because that's what we're staring down the barrel of if we cut him right now. If he gets hurt, one more neck injury, you know, knee injury or something like that, and we have to cut him next year, his injury guarantees will double his cap number next year. And that's the last thing we want, guys. That's the last thing. So, all righty. Jermaine Illuminor. We talked about this guy a lot coming in before he even came in to be a New York Giant there. It's like we willed it to happen here. And I got to say, every single quote and every single thing I hear this man say, I am so happy we signed him. He has such a respect for the New York Giants franchise overall. It's not even funny. And he's talking about, because for those who don't know, he actually went to high school in New Jersey, but he grew up partially in London. And he was talking about the very first game he saw, actually, was the New York Giants versus the Miami Dolphins in London. And I remember that game. I'm old enough to remember that game there. I remember there was a big, huge, inflatable Jason Taylor and Michael Strahan outside the stadium where they had that. Not like the wacky inflatable tube, man. More like they were in the position with their hand in the dirt at that point. Especially the Christmas decoration. Oh my god, if they were whacking inflatable tubing, that'd be so much better. I want to see that. Ready to go tackle? Yeah. And have a little hole by the gap in Michael Strahan's teeth so it's like... Constantly hissing at you. be hilarious um but yeah uh one thing he mentioned that I really liked there and I wanted to point out to you guys there is he called oc humanura before he declared what what um you know number he would take because his number has been 72 throughout his career and he wanted to seek permission to wear that number from oc and oc gave it But that's a class act, and that's a thing you don't hear much about, that kind of stuff. It happens behind the scenes more than you think. I'm not trying to say he's the only guy who ever does that. But you got to give credit where credit's due in that scenario. Though I got to say, what happened if OC said no, and he was like, okay, I guess I have to bring up her number. I'd be like, fuck, screw you. 27 or whatever. I did this to be nice. I'm wearing a new ideal. If they ask, you said yes. Yes. Awesome. Did you see what he put out on Twitter? Which one? He's put a couple things out on Twitter. Oh, yeah. He said, my excitement to be a Giant comes from two different things. One, it's the freaking Giants who wouldn't want to play for one of the biggest, most well-known teams in the world. And two, it's the freaking Giants. Hope that answers your all questions. See you soon. Yeah, I guess this guy's excited. This guy's pumped. I'm liking this a lot. Other news for new Giants and jersey numbers there. Devin Singletary. Connor just chimed in with what we were just about to talk about. Way to spoil it for Connor. Devin Singletary wore 26 with the Giants as he has his whole career. But that's, of course, only going to increase the comparisons to Saquon Barkley. And I say, kudos to you, Devin Singletary. You do your thing. yeah you do your thing that's something he wore his whole career it's something he probably did not call it barkley that and he said oh you could you imagine I've been wearing this lauren and you could you imagine can I wear your number um no I'm gonna do it anyway I want to hear that kind of conversation I really do I just want to hear that kind of conversation number 26 no all right well here's 26 middle fingers I'm gonna wear it anyway Hey, why don't you go fly, fly, fly over there and shut up? Yeah. All right, let's get into some news around the league today. All righty there, guys. So first up, the Giants lost a player today. Ben Bredesen, of course, former guard, center, basically every single spot we needed him except for tackle, signed today with the Tampa Bay Bucs. I don't think he played tackle with us ever, but he played both sides of the guard, play center. I mean, it's a versatile player. Signed with the Bucs today with a one-year, $3.5 million deal. So it's like we kind of like swap players with the Bucs there. A little bit. So, you know, best of luck to that guy. And listen, as much as we talk trash about the offensive line, Ben Brennison is one of the few players I have respect for, not just the heart they put into it, because he definitely worked his tail off for us there, but also... Especially last year. The talent level he has. He's not a bad player. He's just... been surrounded by poop and poop teaching and more fecal matter. That's what it is. I think you're going to see him go there, and I think he's going to be a much better player with the Bucs than he ever was with us. I really do. Probably. When you're surrounded by chocolate, double chocolate layer fudge cake. Yes. Now imagine poop and fecal matter, which is just more poop. Poop. Poop. Kenny Pickett, Jersey boy, traded today to the Philadelphia Eagles. Along with pick 120, the Steelers got pick number 98 and the Eagles two highest seventh round picks in 2025. So Tiny Hands himself is off to Philly to be their new backup quarterback. Yeah, interesting move. How many quarterbacks are on the move in the last 24 hours there? Kenny Pickett, Desmond Ritter, my maternal blanket number three. Who was number three? That guy. Oh, my God. Why am I drawing? It's going to annoy me that I'm drawing a blank on this now. It really is. Yeah. But that's a lot of QBs moving all of a sudden there. And it's weird because you're seeing a lot of stuff going into play. that you go, hmm, is this all backups? Is there somebody who thinks they could fix to be a starter? You know, I mean, I can't imagine these guys being starters elsewhere. Yes, pick it. You just never know. I mean, you still got... You still got Sam Darnold being given another shot in Minnesota. You still got Babyface, Milfkiller himself, Zach Wilson, who is probably going to get cut at this point because nobody seems to want to trade for him. Where did Max Jones go? Yeah, it's just... Mack Jones, that's who it was. Yeah, he went to the Jaguars. Mack Jones went to the Jaguars. I think that's the third one I was thinking of there. Yeah, I mean, he's a younger-ish kind of... Oh, yeah, Sam Howell to the Seahawks. You have so many quarterbacks being traded. Sam Howell, Kenny Pickett, Mack Jones. I mean, that's just, that's been Ritter. I mean, there's a lot of movement here with a lot of young guys. It's almost like some of these guys, too, didn't even get the full rookie contract to see what they got. Now, I want the Giants, John Mara specifically, pay attention here. Ha, ha, ha. These quarterbacks did not make it. They didn't re-sign them after four years. They just said, you know what? This isn't working out. It's not you. It's me. Goodbye. And I did just see Deb asking about Garofalo. He actually signed Jimmy G to sign today with the Rams, Deb. So, yeah, he is gone as well. So, yeah, a lot of quarterback movement there. But interesting there because the Eagles, we've been talking about it forever, the way that Jalen Hurts plays, you kind of almost expect him to get injured one year. That's a pretty important position to back up. I mean, he's one push away from an IR stint. I mean, he's been close to it. I mean, look what happened with us when, you know, Okereke just rammed into him and jumped over Kelsey. I mean... And you can even make the statement of, will the tush push be any good without Travis Kelsey? Does that change it? That's kind of important. That is part of the tush push. We talked about that with Kelsey's retirement last night. Well, we didn't talk about that part, but we talked. Yeah. I didn't even think about that last night we were talking about. You don't know how that tush push is going to be. Especially that big Kelsey tush. Yeah. Other news here. Speaking of big tushes, Aaron Donald retired today from the NFL. Ten year career is officially over. We know he's been talking about retiring for the last couple of years. And I think people just thought it was a way for him to get more money. And let's be honest, he did get more money. They kept throwing money at him not to retire. But I guess he didn't want to play anymore at this point. I haven't heard too much on the reasoning behind it yet, but you're talking about potentially the greatest defensive tackle to ever play the game. If he's not the greatest, he's definitely up there with the greatest at that point. He's definitely in the talks. Yeah, I mean, I'll say this. In my lifetime, I would say he's the greatest that I've seen. Obviously, 42 years old, I haven't seen some of the old guys like me and Gene Green and stuff like that. I haven't seen those kind of guys. I can't sit there and say that he's the greatest ever. And I hate when people say that they're like 20 years old. He's the greatest player ever. Shut up. You've seen 5% of the NFL. It's just about, yeah. But, like, I think we've reached that age, Rob, where us saying that now, you know, being, you know. Has a little more. Almost 40. Yeah, like, it definitely. I got a couple years. I got a couple years. I said almost. I said almost. You know, I mean, but he is there in that conversation at the very least. Middle high 30s. Being one of the best. Yeah. Middle high 30s. Stop. I'm just saying. But, I mean, if you think about it there, I mean, who else would you put there as the best defensive tackle? There's no doubt about it. I mean, you know, if you're going to talk about other people, I mean, go to Warren Sapp. I mean, I guess, you know, he would go into that conversation. John Randall. um Cortez Kennedy um you know that's there's a few guys that I could sit there and say we were good you know I mean I think Geno Atkins is the guy who's probably a little underrated that we've seen at that point um towards the end of the time frame Dan Hampton of the Bears who again I got to meet he's cute we should bring Joe um shame was plugged to that but You know, I mean, I don't know who else you want to say. I mean, again, I don't think he's in that conversation of best player ever. I don't think that's the conversation he goes into at all. You could say of this generation. I don't even think that, honestly. Here's the crazy thing. If you're going to say best guy from this generation, I'm going to say J.J. Watt right now. Of that generation that Aaron Donald was put into. You know what I mean? Yes. That's where I was originally going with that. But it's my generation watching it. Are you starting a Limp Bizkit song? My generation. We don't give a... I'm just saying, I think he's in that conversation of one of the best defensive tackles ever. But it's also, again, he's playing a position that... There's not that clear-cut winner. It's not like it is where you go, who's the best linebacker to ever play the game? We're going to probably say it's going to be LT or off the bat. Who's the best corner to ever play the game? People are going to say Deion Sanders. Who's the best defensive end ever to play? People are probably going to say Reggie White. There's specific people at specific positions. And I think Aaron Donald is now in that conversation probably. And it's a shame because I'm glad he walked away at his own terms. Don't get me wrong. But I think in the grand scheme of things in time, having just a 10-year career may hurt him to a certain degree. Same as like now we talk about the best running back of all time, Jim Brown. It's in that conversation, obviously. I think anybody who doesn't put him in that conversation as being one of the best to ever play the game is, I'm sorry, just an absolute moron. But the guy left when he was still at the top of his game. And he played for, I think, nine seasons. And he could have played for much more. and I think that hurts them in the conversation especially because they didn't play as many games back then and stuff like that whereas you know same as a guy like barry sanders you can get a little more modern than that in the same position barry sanders played 10 years you know I mean if barry sanders had played two three more years he'd probably be hands down considered the best running back to ever play the position yeah I mean It makes you wonder, will that affect Aaron Donald in the long run? I don't know. Let's see how history sees him five, ten years down the road. It's always going to be hypothetical when it comes to all that because you're looking at... A little bit of hypothermia? Yeah, hypothermia. Let's talk about quarterback position. A lot of people go to Tom Brady. Why? He played in the NFL for 25 years and he won a lot. What about He won. I mean, there's other great quarterbacks that played a position, and they probably have some better chunk change in a lot of the time as part of Brady's career. that you could argue that, hey, maybe he could have been better than Brady if he played for 20 years. Marino. Marino's the guy you throw into that immediately. Marino's definitely the guy. You throw that in there with Marino, Marino, Marino, and Marino because he crushed every record. But like I said, him in the modern football would have been fun to watch. But like I said, we'll have to see what happens to Aaron Donald and his legacies as time goes on there. We got a trade today. Draft trade. Draft trade. The Vikings traded up today to get a second first round pick. They got the 23rd pick and the 232nd pick from the Texans, who then got the 42nd overall pick and the 188th pick overall, along with next year's second round pick as well from the Vikings as well. So the Vikings now have the 11th and the 23rd overall picks. What does that mean? That means they got ammo to trade up, guys. We're talking about somebody who could leapfrog us potentially for a quarterback. This is now the team that could leapfrog us. Now, I looked up the point value system because I'm curious. I like to see that. And don't get me wrong. There's other things we can do as well that the Vikings can't necessarily do now because of this. We can say, hey, we'll give you our first round and our second round next year. Well, guess what? The Vikings don't have a second round next year. There's things we can do to even this back out again. I'm not saying it's a lost cause we can't trade off. I've heard some people say that, but they're kind of crazy. Because first off, let's say I'm pick number three. Maybe I don't want to go back to pick 11. You got to think about that. That's who I want, who I'm targeting. Depends on who I'm targeting. Or maybe I'm sitting there going, you know, I'll trade up with the Giants down to six. At that point, I'll trade again with the Vikings to 11th, and I'm just stacking up picks left and right. I mean, it all depends on who you want and who's available. But anyway, the points on that, the two first-round picks the Vikings have come to a combined 2,010 points. The Giants, the sixth overall pick is worth 1,600 points. Their second-round pick, just 240 points. It's a huge drop-off. It's a huge drop-off. But the crazy thing is our first and second are only a couple hundred points away from where they're at. So I'm saying don't give up hope yet, guys. Don't follow the people that are saying, oh, the Giants can't trade up now. The Vikings just leapfrogged them as a team to trade up with. No, they didn't. They did not. You have no clue who. Let's say hypothetically. Let's say you're the Patriots hypothetically. Because that's who everybody thinks is going to potentially trade out of the first three, if anyone does. It remains to be seen, probably based on what quarterback is available to them at three, who they would potentially trade out or not trade out for. But let's say the Patriots hypothetically want to trade out. They go, okay, let's say Drake May hypothetically at pick number three. We don't like Drake May, but we like J.J. McCarthy. Would you take the trade to go to number 11 and hope that J.J. McCarthy is there? Would you take the trade at number 6? You know what? They'll take a quarterback. The next couple guys are taking wide receivers. I'm not worried. Like I said, these are all things that these teams have to think about when they trade. It's not like they can just go, okay, we're trading back to number 11, guys. No one take J.J. McCarthy in the meantime. Don't you do it. Don't you think about it. He's ours. We call it first dibs. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. If anything, people are going to probably hear the whispers that they want J.J. McCarthy and somebody move up ahead of them. So, I mean, like I said, there's a lot more moving parts than just, oh, they have two first-round picks. They'll get to get the quarterback if they want to. So I don't know who's trying to hype this up as like lost hope on the Giants, but whoever started that needs to stop. It's crazy talk. Absolute crazy talk. We still have the sixth overall pick. That is a hugely important asset because if you are a team that's going to trade down, that means you can still get an elite wide receiver or probably your pick of offensive linemen. You're not getting that 11. No. 11 those guys are gone they're gone so exactly I cannot breathe for the first time is that the one I don't know something like that something like that I don't know so anyway uh other news here we're talking about things giraffe related here this isn't I these moves aren't necessarily directly giraffe related here guys but I'm going to go ahead and include them as draft related Marquis Hollywood Brown signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, you might say, how is that draft related? Because who had him previously? The Arizona Cardinals, who are picking up at number four, number four. What does that tell you guys? They plan on taking a wide receiver. I can guarantee it. Now, don't get me wrong. Everybody pretty much assumed they were going to take wide receiver. I don't think that's a huge shocker to anybody. but it solidifies that thought. So Marvin Harrison Jr., I hope you enjoy cactus jelly and red rocks because that's where you're probably going unless somebody skips on a quarterback in the first. Next up, the other thing is also kind of draft news here. The Chargers traded Keenan Allen to the Bears for a fourth-round pick. Now, it's not draft news because they got a fourth-round pick. No one gives a damn about a fourth-round pick in a trade. The thing is, they traded a Keenan Allen. They already cut Mike Williams. They're running out of receivers, guys. And they pick right before the Giants at number five. So, chances are, the way this draft is going to go now, quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, wide receiver, wide receiver, wide receiver. Which means the Giants are basically the Patriots of the wide receivers. We're going to get whoever's left over of the three. And I'm cool with that. Listen, I have no problem with any of those three. Obviously, we're going to do, again, a wide receiver show on Monday, and I'll do further depth as far as video and that kind of stuff on these guys here. But from what I've seen so far, I have no problem with getting Marvin Harrison Jr., Roma Dunzay, or Malik Nevers. I am perfectly fine with any of those three. So... They're all a little different. They all have different ceilings and floors and everything at that point there. But, yeah, I'm good with either one of those. So I'm not worried about it. But interesting to talk about because, like I said, I think the writing's on the wall for quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, wide receiver, wide receiver, wide receiver start. I'm sure they'll still take 20 minutes between their picks anyway just to piss us off and make the show seven hours long. But because, of course, Rob and I, these schmucks will be on live during the NFL draft. Oh, yeah. So buckle up, guys. It's going to be a long night. It's going to be a fun ride. It's going to be a slow ride, that's for sure. Slow ride. Take it easy. We'll be taking drinks. That's what we're taking, probably. same as last year remember the last couple picks last year like just pick somebody already just pick someone you must know who you want why are you dragging this out alrighty let's go through some of the comments here real quick guys and then we're going to head on out for the evening there let's see here We got a whole bunch of comments here. I thought even while we're going. Let's see. I know he was. I appreciate that. I don't know if he's doing Aerosmith or Lone Star. There's two versions of the same song, you realize. Lone Star, the country band, did it the same exact year. I don't know which one he's doing. He does live down in Florida with me. He might be doing the country version. You never know. uh connor says can't believe they gave up on pickett that quick but he didn't even go far if you leave you should get out of area uh yeah I mean can't say I blame them for giving up on him I think we've seen what kenny pickett is he's he's a low end starter to a decent backup he's not a bad backup guys I just don't I mean he's also behind that candidate for how long I know, I know, but still, still. He's also, he's had good receivers this whole time, too. You know, he's had a good running game around him the whole time. It's not like he's had nothing around him. You can clean up the line. There's definitely been issues with the Pittsburgh line. I just blame the coach. Like I said, I'm just pointing out, it's not like the camera was bare for the offense the entire time he was there, you know? Connor says they ruined Mac Jones. He played good first year. I will 100% agree with you on that one there. I don't know how high the ceiling was on Mac Jones. Don't get me wrong. But when you're letting Joe Judge and Matt Patricia run your offense, you get anything bad that comes your way. And that's exactly what happened there to them. I think the Patriots have a lot of issues going on. Yeah, well, obviously. Yeah, obviously. I think they're on their outs because Bill Belichick as a head coach has always been good at creating a system and making bad quarterbacks look good and making backup quarterbacks look good. I mean, look at Matt Castle 12 years ago, whenever it was, who had like a 10-win season when he played, what, 14 games? Yeah. And then he goes to the Titans and has a terrible year. Yeah, I mean, that's just, like I said, all craziness there, what happens with the Patriots there. But this is reversed. That was a guy who did bad. I did good. That should have been bad. And now you have a city of a guy who showed some promise rookie year and just went to poop. Went to poop. Deb says Garofalo didn't go to the right way. So you mentioned he signed with the Rams today. Connor says Gene Garofalo, you know, she's still unsigned by the NFL. Connor says we could have had Jimmy G. It says, I've seen them all. LT, Ray Lewis, Mean Joe Green, Reggie White, the best. Ooh, wow. You did not just say that, Connor. Wow. You did not just say that over LT. Listen, I like Reggie White a lot. I give him credit as being one of the best, if not the best defensive ends of all time. But I still have to give it to LT because LT did it all. He did coverage. He did pass rush. He run stopped. He did it all. Whereas defensive end, just by default, your main goal is set the edge and get the quarterback. It's an easier position to play. So I'm still going to give it to LT. Okay. Miles Garrick Ritui said, I think Garrett actually has a pretty good legacy. He's still young, so we'll have to see what happens. He's an athletic beast as well. He is. Deb says, Reggie White, Minister of Defense. Yeah, he was a lot of fun to watch play, that's for sure. Connor said, forget who Reggie played with that they died, they were good together. Well, Reggie died. I'm assuming he met the other guy. I do. I think it was sleep apnea, and I think he was on a Middle East tour at that point. He was very big into translating the Bible down to the original version. He obviously was called a minister of defense for a reason. He was a very religious man. Connor said, sad thing is I was hoping Saquon was going to be like Barry Sanders or Walter Payton and would play great year in, year out, but he didn't. Shake my head. Figures hurt too much in battle line. Yeah, honestly, part of it was his own fault and part of it was the Giants' fault. It's a combination of both. Deb says, I'll be interested to see what Dable does with Drew Locke. Yeah, I think that's going to be interesting. I don't think Drew Locke is as bad a quarterback as some people think. I don't think he's a great quarterback. I think he goes in that same category of Kenny Pickett. He's a low-end starter to a decent backup. All right, so when Gino Smith was a Jet, how would you rank him? How he played? With the Jets? Yeah, he played with the Jets. I would have said very low, but I do think that part of that was not necessarily his physical tools as much as his mentality and maturity. Just to be clear on the safe side there. I'm just trying to say that. It wasn't there behind the scenes, but when you get punched by one of your own teammates... You're 100% right. What I was trying to get back is you have a guy that Drew Locke has talent. There's a reason he's drafted where he was. There's a reason why he came to this league and is so young. And it's the reason why we looked after him. So you take Geno Smith, you put him to Seattle, Sneaky Pete, and that team sees something in him and... they make Gino Smith one of the better quarterbacks in this league for the past few years. You have Drew Lockson. I would say an average quarterback last year. One of the betters is still average. Yeah, still above average. One of the betters. I'm going to say the best. One of the better. I didn't say good. I said one of the better. One of the better. When you're especially low-end, high-end backup, one of the better is a good improvement. Now you take another young guy that didn't really get a chance in Locke. Yeah, got moved around a little bit. He goes behind a guy that just did what Locke is trying to do with a team that helped do that for him. Maybe there's stuff going on behind the scene that we don't know about because he definitely has the talent to be a better player. And he never really had the shot because he was drafted to a bad team. He was drafted to a bad team, but he was also traded away pretty quickly and stuff like that. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. He never had a shot. Yeah. I mean, we'll see what happens. Like I said, I'm not going to hold out any crazy hope, not that I'm suggesting you are either. I'm not holding my breath on this. Yeah, but I'm not going to sit there and say he's a poop player yet either. Yeah. So he leans towards, like I said, low end starter, decent backup. That's what I think he is right now. I mean, how would you rank a quarterback starter right now? Honestly, I would start him over Daniel Jones because we already talked about it. I don't want to get Daniel Jones hurt. We had to pay him. He's better than Tommy DeVito. So as of right now, he's number one in my mind. That's the scary part. um let's see here dakota says lol and then he starts serenading us there I could stay awake just to hear you breathing watch you smile while you were sleeping while you're far away and dreaming could spend my life in this sweet surrender I could stay lost in this moment forever where a moment spent with you is the moment I treasure uh that's very nice dakota that's very nice I just got all warm inside I got a little too excited there. Katie says, Jake's still playing for the Giants in the 2024 season. I think he's going to end up fighting, and as we were talking about before, he's going to fight it out with Chris Manhurts there, I think, for that blocking tight end position overall. And it'll be interesting to see because I'm kind of curious how much they value that position considering the issue with the offensive line. But I think that's a position they're going to want to have. They're going to want to have somebody they can put on there next to one of the two sides, depending on who's struggling that night or who they need a little help for, the running game, whatever the case may be. I think you're going to see a lot more of a pure blocking tight end this year. I really do. Dakota says, sing it. No, we're not going to sing it right now. We're not going to sing it. Let's see here. Connor says, no, I meant I like them all. LT number one. Okay, that's more like it. That's more like it. There we go. Coda says, I prefer Rob next to the kitchen. Listen, I prefer Rob in the kitchen as well. Perhaps like making me some kind of sandwich or something like that. That'd be very nice. Listen, I'll make some excellent cupcakes next episode, guys. Connor says, Jerome Brown, I think, was that player that died that played with Reggie. Okay. I was the first one to say that. Like I said, that time period is right at the cusp of me starting to get into football, into football. Zachary Hanlon says, Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown are returning to Pittsburgh, was talked into by Russell Wilson. I highly doubt that one. I just find that unlikely. But, yeah. Whatever. If they think that a psychotic wide receiver and an old and useless running back is going to help them win, whatever. More power to them. I think that's not going to happen. Connor says, me too, Dakota. Something lives in those cabinets and is going to get Roberto. Maybe a gremlin. It could be the one with that mohawk from the movie. The one that... yeah he's my buddy him and I have a couple beers off the episodes over there you go go to lol and kind of erasmus song from dakota again it was a lone star song as well it was a country and a rock song two verse one connor's got my back we I'm just saying erasmus was the more popular version I'm just saying we don't know which one he meant all righty guys armageddon Being an Armageddon, we're going to call it a night. Yeah. We will see you guys again Monday. Like I said, barring any kind of crazy moves by the Giants there, we'll be bringing you guys more draft coverage there, starting with the wide receivers there on Monday. So, as Dakota says, Lone Star sucks. There we go. It was definitely not Lone Star. It was definitely Aerosmith he was doing. We'll see you guys again Monday. Appreciate you guys. Always have a happy and safe weekend. And as always, Giant fans, Go G-Man! Follow us on Spotify, Twitter, YouTube. Thanks for listening to Two Giant Goofballs, a New York Giants podcast. We appreciate your support. Thanks so much.