Joe Judge speaks on New York Giants keeping quiet at deadline

11/04/2020

The New York Giants weren’t sellers on the day of the NFL trade deadline, despite the fact that they’ve started the season 1-7.

The 2020 NFL trade deadline came and went, with the league taking on a more quiet approach to the annual event. Amid the decrease in the 2021 salary cap due to pandemic-related revenue losses, teams didn’t want to take part in a significant number of trades and thus accumulate more salary for 2020.

This quietness encompassed the New York Giants, who didn’t participate in any deals with the exception of the Oct. 23 Markus Golden trade. Some believed the Giants would be sellers at the deadline given their rough start (1-7), but that wasn’t the case.

On Tuesday, head coach Joe Judge explained the reasoning behind the lack of noise.

“We felt good about where we are,” Judge said, per Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News. “We had a lot of calls coming in for a lot of players. But there are some foundational players we’re looking to build with in this program. We’re happy with the way our players are working and with the progress they’re making. We want to keep building with this team right here.”

Trade rumors surrounded a number of players, including guard Kevin Zeitler, defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson, and wideout Golden Tate. ESPN’s Jordan Raanan noted on Tuesday the Giants were attempting to trade the latter-most individual, who signed a four-year deal with Big Blue prior to the 2019 campaign.

WR Golden Tate is a player the Giants are trying to move. The money (still owed almost $4.5M this year) could be prohibitive.

But Tate’s role with Giants has been shrinking (54% of snaps on Monday night). Only 5 targets past two weeks. Frustration growing?

“Throw me the ball!” pic.twitter.com/pZ85vmiyue

— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) November 3, 2020

Tomlinson could’ve been dealt due to the fact that his rookie deal is expiring at the end of the year. He’s going to become more expensive than he already is, given the value he’s brought to the defensive line. At the moment, Tomlinson is recording a strong 79.4 Pro Football Focus grade and has recorded 25 solo tackles, tied for the most among the defensive linemen measured on PFF.

Zeitler not finding himself in a trade was likely because of his pay. If a team wanted to trade for the veteran and modify his salary for Week 9, they would’ve needed to do so by 4:00 p.m. ET Monday. The Giants playing Monday night obviously made that a difficult situation.

Another name that floated around early was struggling fourth-year tight end Evan Engram, but the Giants ultimately see him as one of their top playmakers. Raanan reported the Giants weren’t shopping Engram back in October.