Most aren’t happy with the fact that the New York Giants let Landon Collins walk away for nothing, but some of the reasons why the controversial decision happened are starting to come out now that some time has passed since the final deadline for the Giants to apply the franchise tag to their star safety.
One of the biggest complaints was that the Giants could have traded Collins if they weren’t going to pay up to secure a long-term deal, but that argument was made by many without knowing what offers the Giants actually received. If a report from NJ.com is correct, then it seems that other teams valued Collins surprisingly low for a defensive captain of his caliber.
It was reported that the best offer that the Giants had received for Collins was a fourth round pick, which isn’t that great of a haul and would have been criticized at the time if the Giants did accept the deal and send away one of their best players for only that. Instead, the team kept Collins to see if they could agree to terms on a new deal following the deadline, but that new deal never happened and the team was left with no option but to lose Collins without getting anything back in return.
Interestingly, the Giants have a chance of getting a compensatory pick which could be higher than the fourth round one that was offered before the trade deadline, but there’s no certainty that they will get that pick and the third round draft pick likely won’t make up for the production that will be lost from letting one of the leading players on defense go.
Still, it’s good to see that there’s some justification behind the move. Even if the move isn’t any more popular because of it, it does show that the front office hasn’t gone mad.