Giants will be just fine with Eli and without OBJ

If you were to listen to some Giants fans, you would thing that the season is over before it's even begun. While the Eli era continues to wind down, and wind down, and wind down, a new era is returning to big Blue. The era where there are no distractions and everyone is on the same page. The era of team first.

It should come as no surprise that the Giants gave Eli Manning his 5 million dollar roster bonus, almost assuring us that he will be the starting quarterback in 2019. There are worse things than having a quarterback who threw for 4299 yards, 21 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and a 92.4 QB rating. Many of those 'things' are either available in free agency or the draft. Unless you're head over heels in love with a quarterback, like Ernie Accorsi was with Eli, it's really not worth it to take him. Choosing wrong can set a franchise back 5 years.

Eli will be the guy this year and I really don't expect then to draft a quarterback until next year's better crop. Apparently, they're not interested in Ohio State's quarterback Dwayne Haskins, then again how many Ohio State quarterbacks have gone on to do anything in the pros? So expect Eli to be the guy and things to be different. This year there will be no distractions and much better blocking, plus Manning will be another year into Pat Shurmur's system. This is not about a rebuild. The plan is to win now.

That's why Kevin Zeitler was brought in to start at right guard. Gone are the days of Ereck Flowers. For those who mourn the loss of Odell Beckham Jr, for all those great one handed catches, can anyone tell me the game that he put on his back and carried his team to a win? Eli's brought the team back to beat San Francisco and almost did it against Indianapolis and Dallas, only to have the defense blow it at the end.

Let's talk about that defense. As far as letting Landon Collins go sign with the Redskins and trading away Olivier Vernon, keep in mind that defensive coordinator James Bettcher had both of them in his defense for a year. For whatever reason, he doesn't think that they fit. So Vernon becomes Zeitler to shore up the offense and Collins will be replaced by Jabrill Peppers who's better against the pass and better in Bettcher's scheme. How it all works out, we'll find out this year.

We'll also find out this draft what else the Giants get for Odell Beckham Jr. They have the 17th pick in the first round and the last pick in the third. Neither will replace Beckham, nor will Golden Tate, but at least Tate wants to be here and believes in the team.

I'm excited for this year. I think they'll get a right tackle, possibly Mike Remmers, who's been in for a visit and draft some defensive playmakers. I'm even more excited for next year when they should have about 100 million dollars to spend.

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