Joe Judge taking ‘long-term’ approach to trade deadline

The Giants could trade away some of their players for future draft picks ahead of the Nov. 2 NFL trade deadline.

The 2021 NFL trade deadline is approaching, and in order to prepare for the future, the 2-5 Giants may become sellers. It would be the appropriate route to take considering this team isn’t looking like a playoff contender and should load up on draft capital.

But when asked about potential moves ahead of next Tuesday, head coach Joe Judge didn’t reveal much.

Well, at least initially…

“We’ll see. It’s definitely the time of year everyone starts making a lot of phone calls. There’s been potential and opportunities for trades going in, coming out, however it’s been the entire time since the season has been going, so sometimes people manufacture too much at the trade deadline,” Judge told the media Monday, per Giants.com. “I know a lot of teams kind of rush to make final moves. We’ll obviously talk about a number of phone calls that we’ll be getting throughout the week, but I wouldn’t say we’re absolutely anticipating doing anything. Would say those conversations will run from now through the remainder of the week.”

Judge, however, subsequently noted he’s always keeping a long-term approach in mind.

“Whether you’re going through free agency, trades, draft, whatever it may be, to me, you’re always looking down the road in terms of not where you are immediately, but where do you have to get to,” he said. “That’s my perspective on that.”

So does long-term mean they will be sellers? And that they will look to garner extra draft capital for 2022 and beyond?

Regardless of what they decide to do, there are various players the Giants could send away — Evan Engram, Saquon Barkley, Jabrill Peppers, and Darius Slayton all come to mind.

Engram and Peppers possess expiring contracts, and while the former has struggled for much of the last few years, the latter is a limited box safety who’s a liability in coverage. Neither will be worth a lucrative long-term extension.

Barkley and Slayton, on the other hand, may not be as valuable to the offense and could be worth fourth- and sixth-round picks, respectively. The Giants shouldn’t extend Barkley when his rookie contract is up (at the end of 2022) given the diminishing value of the running back position while Slayton finds himself far down the depth chart when Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney, and Sterling Shepard are healthy.