00:06All right, one thing's for sure, the 2026 Giants aren't going to look a darn thing like the 2025 Giants.
00:12Yo, we're only two days into legal tampering and John Harbaugh has completely changed the roster like we had to
00:18change our clocks for daylight savings.
00:20This is Blue Rush, so let's talk about Joe Shane and Harbaugh's moves with our NFL reporter for The Post,
00:26Ryan Dunleavy.
00:27Ryan, I mean, day one, there's a lot going on midday for the Giants.
00:32I know you're a great writer, but how's your math?
00:35Let's do a little addition and subtraction here.
00:38They lost Bobby O'Carrikay, Cordell Flott, Wondell Robinson, and Daniel Bellinger, but then they added Tremaine Edmonds, Isaiah Likely,
00:47Jordan Stout, Adarius Washington,
00:49and then they just threw Greg Newsom II in there on the one-year deal for 10 mil.
00:54So, are they in the positive or the negative?
00:57On paper, are the Giants better or worse than they were last week?
01:02They're definitely different.
01:03I mean, it's kind of a wash in my opinion.
01:06I can't say they're better.
01:07I mean, I would say it's a wash at this point, like maybe a little worse.
01:14They lost some really good players.
01:16I mean, if Cordell Flott's as good as he was last year and ascending, then they're worse.
01:21If it's Cordell Flott of the first three years, then they're probably better.
01:24If it's Tremaine Edmonds at his peak, then they're probably better.
01:28If it's Tremaine Edmonds that the Bears decided was cuttable, then they're probably worse.
01:33Like, depends what version of these guys you're getting.
01:35That's always the scary part of free agency, right?
01:37The Giants thought they were getting difference makers into Debo and Holland last year, and neither of them made a
01:43difference last year.
01:44So, it's always a crapshoot in free agency.
01:48Depends what version of the guys you're getting.
01:50I'm going to go – I'm going to take the cop out, Brandon, and say it's a wash.
01:54Tennessee's better, though.
01:55They got like three – they got three Giants and two Jets.
01:58The Titans are better.
01:59Yeah, it's like – I was calling the Titans the new Nashville Titans because everybody from New York – it's
02:07like Florida.
02:08Everybody from New York goes down.
02:10The Snowbirds go down to Florida for the winter.
02:13Now, it's like Brian Dable just went and cleaned house.
02:16We talked about those guys, the Wandels, the Cordell Flots, and the Daniel Bellingers going down to reunite with the
02:22coach that drafted them.
02:24The Giants retained Jermaine Illuminor, and I think that was key.
02:27He stays with the coach that actually drafted him down in Baltimore.
02:33But at any time, did it look like that deal may not have gotten done or main show, as his
02:41Instagram calls himself, could have been lured somewhere else with some more money?
02:47Yeah, I honestly – if you had asked me during the season, I would have said he was the least
02:51likely of the guys to return.
02:52That changed as the offseason progressed.
02:56It changed after Harbaugh was hired.
02:58Harbaugh and Illuminor knew each other previously, have had some meetings leading up to free agency when the Giants could
03:06talk to their own guys but nobody else.
03:09And then, yeah, I think even in the week after the Combine, I heard bigger numbers for Jermaine Illuminor.
03:14I think the Combine is a time where teams start throwing around bigger numbers than they mean because it's like,
03:21oh, we could offer you this.
03:22And then two or three of their other dominoes fall first, and then they can't offer what they say they
03:26were going to offer at the Combine.
03:29So, yes, I do think there was a time where it looked like he was going to leave.
03:32I do think he had other suitors.
03:35I've heard the Chiefs.
03:36I think that there was a – I think the Giants wanted to – I've heard the Giants wanted to
03:41get him done before attacking the guard market.
03:44They wanted to know what their situation was going to be at right tackle, so they did that.
03:50Illuminor wanted to stay.
03:51He definitely wanted a bigger contract than $13 million a year.
03:55I think that's a good bargain for the Giants.
03:57You're going to see, like, Rasheed Walker get a huge bag today somewhere to the former Packers tackle.
04:06And I don't think he's better than Jermaine Illuminor.
04:09He just happens to play on the left side and he's younger.
04:12I think Jermaine Illuminor was hurt a little bit by the fact that he got good here late in his
04:17career.
04:17And people are like, well, he's never been paid big before.
04:20We're just going to suddenly throw $20 million at a 31-year-old?
04:24I mean, if you watch the tape, he might have been worth it.
04:26So, the Giants got a steal.
04:28I want to go back to the Greg Newsome signing.
04:33We talked about them losing Cordell Flott.
04:36Do you look at Greg Newsome as a starter or a depth piece?
04:42Right now, he's a starter because Deontay Banks is not going to be a John Harbaugh guy.
04:46So, right now, he's a starter.
04:49I would like to see the Giants if I, you know, I'm not managing the cap.
04:54That's Donna Ponte's job.
04:55But if I could get creative, I would like the Giants to sign a starting corner and make Greg Newsome
05:03or at least sign a corner of Greg Newsome's caliber and let them compete to be the number two corner
05:07like Banks and Flott had to last year.
05:12Yes, I would like to see the Greek Wolin still out there.
05:15Nashawn Wright still out there.
05:17There's some pretty good corners still out there.
05:19I'd like to see them go do that.
05:21And then Newsome becomes like a luxury piece or whatever, especially because I don't think Banks is going to be
05:26here.
05:26So, I think you need another corner in your top three.
05:30Maybe Newsome's two and the other guy's three or the other guy's two and Newsome's three is probably more preferable.
05:35So, no, I don't think they're done.
05:36Newsome's the guy who's had some pedigree, was good in Cleveland early in his career.
05:41He's coming off a bad year and a half with the Jaguars and the Browns, got traded because of it,
05:48got benched in Jacksonville.
05:50But he's still only 26 and they guaranteed him $3 million.
05:53So, I think that's a very good value signed by the Giants as well.
05:56So, outside of corner, are there any other positions or maybe even free agents that are still on the board
06:03you think the Giants could or should go after?
06:06Yeah, they have to.
06:07I think they have to.
06:08Well, let's start with this, Brendan.
06:09I think the next thing they should do is address two of their own.
06:14Keep Micah McFadden.
06:16Keep Greg Van Roten.
06:18Get two cheap guys.
06:20McFadden coming off injury.
06:22Van Roten only cost $3 million last year and played every snap.
06:25I would keep both of those guys as insurance pods.
06:29Maybe they start.
06:30Maybe they're insurance backups.
06:32Like, we know they're good quality players and good human beings who are, you know, for the most part until
06:36McFadden's injury last year, durable guys.
06:39Like, we know what they are.
06:41I would pencil them in.
06:42I would resign them both.
06:44Between the two of them, it's probably not going to cost you $9 million.
06:48So, that would be the next thing I'd do.
06:50And then if you're looking for the splash move, I think there's two places they could go.
06:53So, Wyatt Teller or some other guard that makes a Van Roten into a plan B or, you know, fallback
07:03plan, swing guard.
07:05Or how about Romeo Dabbs?
07:07He's a big, physical, hardball-type receiver.
07:11I'm surprised he hasn't signed yet.
07:14He's somebody I heard the Giants were interested in at the trading deadline last year.
07:18How about Romeo Dabbs for the Giants?
07:21And then all of a sudden, now it looks like you have the ability to throw the ball around, and
07:26it's not so pressing that Malik Nabors is a, you know, 200-target guy.
07:31Well, if they don't get Romeo Dabbs, there's all these reports about them being interested in Jags wide receiver, Brian
07:38Thomas.
07:39That will reunite him with, you know, LSU teammate, former LSU teammate, Malik Nabors.
07:46Any traction there from what you're hearing?
07:49All right.
07:50Did I mention, as you were talking, did I mention Wyatt Teller?
07:53If I didn't mention Wyatt Teller and the guard.
07:55You did.
07:56Okay.
07:56Yeah, he's, yeah.
07:57To answer your Brian Thomas question, I don't know that he is available.
08:02I know that the Giants have checked in to see if he is available.
08:09I don't know that it is, I don't know that he's going to get traded.
08:12Let's say that.
08:13You know, you know how these games work, right?
08:15Oh, I'll take calls on anybody, right?
08:17Like, if you offer me 47 first-round picks for Patrick Mahomes, maybe I'll consider trading Patrick Mahomes.
08:23So, like, I think they'll take calls on Brian Thomas.
08:27I don't know that he'll be moved.
08:29I don't know that the Giants have the ammunition.
08:32Just look across town, right?
08:33The Jets have, like, four first-round picks and, like, three second-round picks or something over the next two
08:39years.
08:39If they want him and they need him, then they can just outbid the Giants.
08:44Like, what are the Giants going to do?
08:45They can't trade the number five pick.
08:46They don't have a third-round pick.
08:48So, what could the Giants even offer?
08:50Like, here's our second- and fifth-round picks and totally deplete their draft class.
08:55The Jets have much more ammo.
08:57So, if he's available, I can't imagine the Giants have the ammo to make the most desirable offer.
09:04I do think they would be interested if he gets moved.
09:07I do think they'd want to be involved.
09:09I think they'd get outbid, and I don't know that he's going to be moved.
09:12All right.
09:13We have a little over a month until the NFL draft.
09:16Do you think the Giants' free agency moves has kind of changed your mind on what you think they'll do
09:22with the fifth overall pick?
09:25Good question.
09:28I think things have been changed in free agency.
09:32Like, Jeremiah Love, I think his market got cleared up when the Saints and Chiefs signed running backs.
09:38I don't know that I feel any differently about the Giants.
09:40Like, if you ask me coming into the free agency, it was like Sonny Styles or Caleb Downs or Carnell
09:49Tate,
09:49and they haven't really addressed any of those.
09:51Like, yeah, they got Jermaine Edmonds.
09:53They need two inside linebackers.
09:54So, until they sign McFadden or somebody better than McFadden, I'll still think it's Sonny Styles.
10:03Caleb Downs at safety, maybe that's less likely.
10:06But I'm not going to say our Darius Washington changes you from, you know, 10-time Pro Bowler Caleb Downs.
10:14No, I would say no.
10:15I would say nothing has changed my mind on what they're – I still think it's this Ohio State guy,
10:20that Ohio State guy, or that Ohio State guy.
10:23Can never go wrong with a Buckeye.
10:25Ryan Dunleavy, man.
10:26Appreciate you hopping on with us.
10:28Tell that to anybody who drafted Eli Apple.
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