Did ya’ll watch Hard Knocks this year? Excuse me.

This year, the New York Giants have been the subject of relentless ridicule and viral memes all year. For good reason, folks! It seems they made an all-time idiotic move in choosing to pay Daniel Jones instead of Saquon Barkley. They disrespected a franchise legend to save a few dollars, then still couldn’t holler at the playoffs (6-11 season). They conducted poor business, aggravating a good-natured player to the point where he felt justified in saying something like this on camera. He was still a good soldier, putting his faith in the front office and playing nice for his team. Barkley signed the franchise tag and played for New York two years ago.

You see, they bought into the league-wide trend that running backs are mostly replaceable and not great as high-value investments past their rookie contracts. The downfall of the running back position has been well documented. The ironic thing is that the Giants had one of the very few specimens in the league capable of challenging this idea. An additional ironic thing is, they paid a quarterback that not many would’ve said they had blind faith in… he looked to be leaning closer to ‘bust’ status than ‘superstar’ status. Big Blue decision-makers just didn’t have the gumption to get rid of a passer and face Big Apple public criticism… they had to show people he was the problem.

The leadership team for the New York Football Giants convinced ownership that removing Saquon from the equation would finally make a true evaluation on Daniel Jones possible. We honestly saw that dynamic play out in Philly as well… people were criticizing Jalen Hurts all year for not having passing production. You don’t have to if you have the dynamo that is Barkley in your backfield! He powers the offense all by himself, easing the QB’s job tremendously. GM, Joe Schoen even made a comment about how their investment at QB necessitated the reallocation of resources to support the signal caller. This has to be what happened, right? Otherwise, the public embarrassment from such an epically poor business decision would surely get the acting party fired on sight!

I can’t argue with the logic behind the idea, since I would’ve agreed that Daniel Jones did not look like a difference-maker, but you shafted one of your all-time greats. Execution was putrid my guys. And to top it all the way off, you did it while finally getting your 15 minutes of fame on Hard Knocks and ended up looking like fools in front of a national audience. The optics are bad for New York… the owner said he couldn’t sleep at night if S.B. Went to the Eagles, and that’s exactly what happened. Not only that, Philly looked rejuvenated, snagging the #2 seed in the NFC playoff picture and riding a deep playoff run all the way to a Super Bowl title.

I mean, can you think of a worse display of aptitude at the job of general manager of an NFL team? We could all see, plain as day, that Joe Schoen got taken for a ride and looked behind the NFL curve. Saquon tore it up, resetting vibe around the league (along with Derick Henry) of how valuable a bell cow back can be to an offense. Barkley was running roughshod over the league until KC made a concerted effort to shut him down at all costs on the game’s biggest stage. What happened then? Hurts reminded everyone that he is in fact not Daniel Jones, taking the reins of the offense back and delivering a Super Bowl MVP performance.

How embarrassing to see your franchise icon go to a rival, post a video about how his daughter knows he’s going to win now, and then see that come to fruition in the ultimate form of a Lombardi trophy… GM’s have been fired for much, much less (Jon Robinson after he traded away A.J. Brown, anyone?).

Somehow Giants brass did not get fired after this entire mess! But how? HOW SWAY?!

The only way this is really going down, is if they framed the removal of Barkley as a tool and a path to true change of a stagnant offense. It was their way of being able to get rid of Daniel Jones with no backlash. The only way it makes sense now, is if they go and get their franchise QB. John Mara is allowing the string to play out because he believes in Brian Daboll as a coach and believes in the vision (or believes in allowing the vision to play out) the way that Daboll and Schoen laid out. The plan heavily involves young bucks like Malik Nabers, Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Wan’Dale Robinson.

(Book)Mark my words: The New York Giants will draft a quarterback! Bet that, even if they sign A-A-Ron. (editors note: I originally said that they’d trade UP to get one… but the return of Myles Garrett to Cleveland, Kirk Cousins visiting Ohio and NY signing two vet QB’s changes things. They still have all of the leverage and motivation to take one somewhere early, though). That was the plan (Plan B, if they could not become a contender around Danny Dimes) two years ago. Will it work? Beats the hell out of me! One thing is for certain: you don’t do everything you did just to play around and rely on maybe Sam Darnold in free agency…

Have playoff hopeful teams seen enough to reach out and make a bold move to improve their fortunes? These 4 need to seriously consider bringing in reinforcements to accomplish their goals (which are slightly different for each).

Philadelphia Eagles – OG. You’re in a putrid division that is the laughing stock of the league, and could incite change to how divisions and playoffs are set up if a team like the Cardinals doesn’t get in because of you. Despite the offensive line being in shambles, Wentz is the best QB in the division. Its not enough to just win the AFC East division though. You have to look to greatly improve before you get there, or that accomplishment will mean nothing. You’d almost rather be the Giants (with a similar record) and get a much higher draft pick if you’re just going to go and get ran in the first round. Trade for a solid guard to help your line. Lane Johnson returned, Jason Peters is coming back, and Jordan Mailata has been a pleasant surprise as a fill-in for all of the injuries. You make a move at guard and all of a sudden the O-line issues could be heavily mitigated in the next few weeks! Brandon Brooks even has a shot to get back in the playoffs, so this could help you really unlock all of those skill position players. Kevin Zeitler may be available for the taking from a lowly Giants roster. If not from a division rival, then you need to find someone who allows Carson to get back to his MVP-caliber ways.

Seattle Seahawks – DE. What a gut-punch of a loss in Arizona. The NFC West always play each other tight, and the Hawks ALWAYS take things down to the wire. You need a marquee pass rusher. The experiments are over. I wanted to trust in Pete Carroll on those. After seeing Kyler drop back 50 times without getting sacked or even hit, its clear that Shaquem Griffin, Benson Mayowa, Bruce Irvin, Alton Robinson, Damontre Moore, Jonathon Bullard, Shaqeem Green, LJ Collier are all solid rotational players, but none of them have put QB’s on notice. See if you can go and get Ryan Kerrigan for cheap. We have legit championship aspirations, and we need to help our entire defense by putting heat on an opponents passing game or we aren’t getting the job done. Period. Don’t waste Russ’ home-cooking.

New England Patriots – WR. The Bills are comfortable and think they have the division within their grasps. Bill… Tom Brady thinks he can make a fool out of you and your system by dominating without you and laughing at the lack of weaponry that Cam Newton has to work with. Go and get Julio Jones or Amari Cooper. Get back on track. The Falcons are looking at a full rebuild, could use assets, and the 31 year old Jones may be expendable with Calvin Ridley and Russell Gage stepping up. With respect to the twilight of Steve Smith’s career, Julio would be far and away the most dominant receiver Cam would have ever played ball with. This all assumes that the Patriots aren’t fulling willing to embrace ‘Tanking for Trey‘.

Tenessee Titans – Slot WR. You need to get space from the Colts, but more importantly, you need to make sure that you can compete with the Steelers, Ravens and Chiefs. You have your deep threats in A.J. Brown and Corey Davis. You have a very good TE in Jonnu Smith. You can get Jamison Crowder to be an upgrade in the slot to keep your offense on schedule when you can’t go deep. He has been shining in the mud for the New York Jets this season. Derrick Henry will also open things up further for Crowder.

*Update* – Three out of these 4 teams did end up making deadline trades… they weren’t my exact reccos, but the Seahawks (Carlos Dunlap), Patriots (Isaiah Ford), and Titans (Desmond King) all made moves to get better down the stretch. When the Eagles get dominated in the wild card round of the playoffs, I’m going to write an article to embarrass them. It’s done.