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Breaking down Giants and Jets: QB success, mock drafts, free agency – Metro US
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Breaking down Giants and Jets: QB success, mock drafts, free agency

Breaking down Giants and Jets: QB success, mock drafts, free agency
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The Giants and Jets should consider themselves lucky. Both teams have quarterbacks who are capable of being top 16 – aka above average – QBs in 2016. (This is assuming Ryan Fitzpatrick re-signs with the Jets – and the talks are said to have been “going well.”)

Eli tossed a whopping 35 touchdown passes in 2015, the second most in the league, and was picked off 14 times. Fitzpatrick threw 31 touchdown passes in 2015, tied for 10th in the league, and was intercepted 15 times. Those TD to INT ratios aren’t great, but they’re nowhere near putrid. The guy who just won a Super Bowl, Peyton Manning, threw nine touchdown passes and 17 picks this past season. Ben Roethlisberger, who many believed was the best QB in the game at certain points in the 2015 season, threw 21 picks and 16 interceptions last season.

Despite Eli’s broken-down brother winning it all earlier this month, the NFL is still – first and foremost – a quarterback’s league. If you’re Philadelphia or the Rams or San Francisco or Cleveland or Houstonyou’re almost hopeless at the beginning of each season, because that No. 1 QB hasn’t stepped forward yet. Jets fans know this full well. But ifyou have a QB you can rely on in the NFL, you’re in business. It’s a lot less worrisome if your weakness lies in the secondary or at linebacker or at offensive line. Those problems are quickly fixable.

Finding the right guy under center is a different story and – for the moment – the Giants and Jets have capable offensive leaders.

Mock season

Mock Draft season is in full swing and we’ve already posted a few mocks at Metro.us. In our latest mock, we have the Giants taking UCLA linebacker Myles Jack at No. 10. That would be a steal for the G-Men as Jack is going to Dallas at No. 4 in many mocks. Look for the Giants to go defense early in the draft as new head coach Ben McAdoo surely thinks he already has the offense in a prime spot.

At No. 20, we have the Jets taking Mississippi defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche. Nkemdiche is a top 10 talent in this draft but he smoked some synthetic weed, busted through a double-pane hotel window and fell 15 to the ground this past December. Going all early-career, PSA Helen Hunt through a hotel window will draw red flags at draft time each and every time.

With GM Mike Maccagnan nice and comfortable in his second year at the helm, however, don’t be surprised if he rolls the dice on some high risk / high reward types in the draft and/or free agency.

The 2016 NFL Draft will take place from Thursday, April 28 to Saturday, April 30in Chicago.

Handiwork

The Giants want to re-sign both Jason Pierre-Paul and Robert Ayers, according to ESPN. It may work out in the end for Jerry Reese as I can’t imagine many teams will be throwing bags of money at JPP given what happened last summer.

JPP sued ESPN and Adam Schefter this week, saying that Schefter “improperly obtained [Pierre-Paul’s] medical records from a hospital” and then tweeted them out.