Giants Waive Preston Parker, Who Steps Up and Fills In?

Big Blue View reported that Preston Parker has been waived by the Giants via Ralph Vacchiano and Mike Garafolo on Twitter.

Garafolo also noted that the team re-signed DT Kenrick Ellis. He should do well in the slot running shallow cross routes.

All kidding aside, who should the Giants slot in at WR3? Rookie Geremy Davis? Return specialist Dwayne Harris? Or should the G-Men sign a free agent / make a trade?

OPTION 1: DWAYNE HARRIS

He cost the Giants a critical first down on their opening drive against the Falcons and forced Coughlin to settle for a field goal. I like that he adds the threat of a ‘jet sweep’ or end-around, so that probably gives him the edge over Davis.

OPTION 2: GEREMY DAVIS

From Giants.com:

Davis was the most prolific receiver in UConn’s FBS history…Finished his run in Storrs with 165 receptions and 2,292 receiving yards, both program FBS-era records, and in the top 6 in each category in program history.

 

I didn’t watch enough of the preseason to make an educated decision on Davis, but there’s no better way to see if he’s a potential starter then by throwing him into the fire.

OPTION 3: FREE AGENT

There’s no shortage of free agent wide receivers. Here’s just a snippet of the full list:

Wes Welker WR 34
Reggie Wayne WR 36
Hakeem Nicks WR 27
Donnie Avery WR 31
Denarius Moore WR 26
Dane Sanzenbacher WR 26
Brad Smith WR 31
A.J. Jenkins WR 25
Brandon Lloyd WR 34
Ryan Broyles WR 27
Vincent Brown WR 26
Jerrel Jernigan WR 26
DeVier Posey WR 25
Tandon Doss WR 25
Nick Toon WR 26
Kris Durham WR 27
Greg Salas WR 27
Santana Moss WR 36
Damaris Johnson WR 25
Robert Meachem WR 30
Josh Morgan WR 30
Derek Hagan WR 31
Jeff Maehl WR 26
Jarrett Boykin WR 25
Saalim Hakim WR 25
Junior Hemingway WR 26
Ace Sanders WR 23
Robert Herron WR 23
T.J. Graham WR 26
Corey Washington WR 23
Drew Davis WR 26
Shaquelle Evans WR 24
Kassim Osgood WR 35
Kevin Ogletree WR 28
David Gilreath WR 26
Josh Stewart WR 22
Chuck Jacobs WR 25
Greg Orton WR 28
Jerry Rice Jr. WR 24
Joshua Cribbs WR 32

I don’t think it makes sense to bring a guy who’s about to retire like Welker, Wayne, Lloyd, or Moss. That sort of signing might work in baseball, where you need a veteran presence on the bench who can spot-start or pinch-hit in the clutch, but not in football.

It might make more sense to bring back a guy that used to play for the team: Ogletree, Jernigan, Hagan etc. Nicks hasn’t played in McAdoo’s system (neither has Hagan), plus I don’t see him magically overcoming his shortcomings in time to make a difference. Washington can’t be signed until Week 8.

With all that in mind, I like the appeal of Brad Smith. He’s a guy who can not only play WR, but he can throw the ball and play special teams. For some reason, my eye gravitates towards Meachem, Morgan, and Ace Sanders. But, I think the only other real candidate would be Josh Cribbs, only because you can pair him with Dwayne Harris on kick returns and put him on coverage as well.

According to Sportrac.com, the Giants have about $8.8M in cap space.

OPTION 4: TRADE

The prime candidates for a trade are players who are on teams that probably don’t have a shot of making the playoffs (hard to tell at this point) or are on winning teams that have a surplus of wideouts, and will be free agents following the season. Of the list available on Sportrac, here are the guys that might be worth discussing:

Michael Crabtree (Oakland)
Rod Streater (Oakland)
Andre Holmes (Oakland)
Alshon Jeffery (Chicago)
Travis Benjamin (Cleveland)
Brian Quick (St. Louis)
Chris Givens (St. Louis)

Of those options, Benjamin is probably the riskiest based on 2 monster games. The Bears appear to be on the brink of blowing up their team, so Jeffery could be a reality. No idea what to think about the Rams. They could win their division or be done by Week 9, so their pass-grabbers seem most unlikely.

The Giants aren’t opposed to making trades, but do they want to possibly mortgage their future for a short-term solution? True, Randle is a free agent after this season, so it wouldn’t hurt to get ahead of the curve when the team doesn’t re-sign him, but once Cruz is back, does that mean Randle becomes more productive or completely disappears?

Jeffery gives you a nice goal-line option to Donnell and a guy who, like Donnell, can go up and get a ball on a key third down. On the other hand, Benjamin gives you yet another deep threat who can stretch the D on one side while Odell does the same on the other, leaving Randle to pick up easy targets over the middle.

Still, I don’t see them making a trade. I see them alternating Geremy Davis and Dwayne Harris and possibly promoting someone from the practice squad (Talley?) or signing a familiar face like Jernigan. Bah humbug.