The New York Giants (2-4) will host the Philadelphia Eagles (3-2) at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday afternoon in a Week 7 battle.
That, of course, provides those of us here at Giants Wire the opportunity to hypothetically steal from the Eagles’ roster in search of depth and/or talent upgrades for Big Blue.
What’s interesting about this week’s installment is that the theft of choice would have been different yesterday than it will be today.
A quick look at Philly’s roster reveals a plethora of potential upgrades. There’s quarterback Jalen Hurts, tight end Dallas Goedert, cornerbacks
Darius Slay, Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, and several other options.
But after news broke that left tackle Andrew Thomas (foot) could miss the remainder of the season, a new dire need bubbled to the surface for New York.
In Thomas’ absence, the Giants will likely move Jermaine Eluemunor to left tackle and insert Evan Neal at right tackle. It will weaken two positions and disrupt the chemistry of what was the team’s best offensive line in over a decade.
The ripple effect will damage an already struggling passing game and stunt the ground game.
In this fantasy scenario, we fix those issues by stealing offensive tackle Jordan Mailata, who has an 88.4 overall grade from Pro Football Focus this season, which is good for fourth-best in the NFL.
Mailata, who could miss this Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury, would eventually step in for Thomas and prevent any sort of prolonged O-line shuffling. He’s equally as valuable as a pass protector as he is a run blocker, and is well on his way to a career-best season.
When necessity meets value, these hypothetical exercises are much easier. It’s just a shame was have to think that way at all entering Week 7 of the regular season.
What are your thoughts, Giants fans? Would you pick Jordan Mailata or would you steal an entirely different player from the Philadelphia Eagles?
