Davis Webb, New York Giants, NFL
(Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

If the New York Giants are going to take a quarterback early in the 2018 NFL Draft, then they might as well look to move Davis Webb.

When the New York Giants drafted Davis Webb in the third round of the 2017 draft, the thought was he could sit behind and learn from Eli Manning until the two-time Super Bowl MVP’s contract expired after the 2019 season.

Then 2017 happened, a season that saw the Giants inexplicably go 3-13 and the man who drafted Webb, Jerry Reese, was fired in December.

The Giants own the second overall pick in the draft and have a chance to draft one of the top two quarterback prospects—UCLA’s Josh Rosen or USC’s Sam Darnold.

The Giants seldom have a chance at to draft a top quarterback prospect as they’ve only had a top five pick once in the last 20 years. So general manager Dave Gettleman may jump at this opportunity to draft the quarterback of the future.

Several mock drafts have the Giants taking a quarterback with the second overall pick, which makes a ton of sense. After all, Manning is 37 with only two years remaining on his contract with a cap number of $22.2 million in 2018.

 

There are also rumors that Minnesota’s offensive coordinator, Pat Shurmur, who will reportedly be named the next Giants coach once the Vikings playoff run ends, will want to bring one of the three quarterbacks on the Vikings roster—Case Keenum, Sam Bradford, Teddy Bridgewater—with him.

But Shurmur also said this week that he believes Manning has something left in his tank. So you figure he either wants Manning or one of the Vikings quarterbacks as the starter.

So where will this leave Webb?

If Manning is the starter and the Giants take a quarterback with the second pick, Webb would be third on the depth chart. There’s no way the Giants would take a quarterback at No. 2 and have him inactive for most of the season as they did with Webb last season.

So with Webb seemingly set to spend another season with Big Blue on the inactive list, it would serve both him and the Giants best if they trade him.

It may go against conventional wisdom to trade a player a year after you drafted them, especially when you haven’t seen them in action. But the Giants are in a unique situation with an aging quarterback, and a chance to draft a top prospect to be the quarterback for the future.

The Giants have several holes to fill and they may lose some key players to free agency.  So why not see if there’s a team that was interested in Webb heading into last year’s draft, and see if they’ll give a mid or late round pick for him?

Teams that were interested in Webb last year won’t be turned off by the fact that he didn’t play a single snap this season. In fact, his stock may have gone up slightly since he had a full season to learn and watch how Manning carries himself on the field and in the locker room.

Manning’s professionalism and character are respected throughout the NFL and you’d figure some of that had to rub off on Webb.

So Gettleman should reach out to teams to see what they would be willing to give up for Webb. It would give Webb the opportunity to go somewhere else where he has a more promising future, and the Giants can get a pick in return that will help them in 2018 and beyond.

Jason's first love was football while growing up in northern New Jersey. For the past three years, he has covered the New York Giants, as well as several boxing events along the East Coast.