Rich: Why Every NFL Team Would be Foolish to Trade a Backup QB to the Giants

Giants fans are hoping somebody picks up the phone. Rich spent a commercial break reading half the depth charts in the league and came back with a verdict.

"No one's going to trade anybody to the Giants. Nobody."

The setup was a John Harbaugh sound bite from before Jackson Dart's season-ending news became official. Asked by Ian O'Connor whether a team can overcome that kind of hit within a week, Harbaugh declined to deal in hypotheticals, then turned it back on the reporter. "If you get punched in the gut, Ian, are you going down?" Harbaugh said. Would O'Connor crumple to the ground "like a sack of sour apples," as Jack Harbaugh would say? No. "So we're not supposed to do that."

Rich read that as a coach letting a smile be his umbrella. Now that Dart is out, the message is the rally-around-Jameis-Winston version. And Rich went team by team to show why that is the only version on the table.

Arizona has Gardner Minshew and Carson Beck, and plenty of people are pointing there. But if it doesn't work out with Brissett, Rich said, the Cardinals are going to want to see what they have in Beck. Is Minshew any better than Winston? "You're going to trade draft capital for that?"

Baltimore has Snoop Huntley behind Lamar Jackson, and Harbaugh knows him. But behind Huntley is a rookie from UConn, on a team built to potentially win the AFC. "Why would Baltimore do that?"

Buffalo has Kyle Allen behind Josh Allen and, in Rich's hardball phrasing, nobody after that. Carolina has Kenny Pickett behind Bryce Young and then "the Hall of Fame game great Haynes King," a rookie. Atlanta is already down to its fourth quarterback. Somebody floated flipping something for Tua. Somebody else floated calling CBS to ask if Russ is really cooked. Rich wasn't buying either.

The list kept going. Why would Denver flip Stidham after needing him in the biggest moment? Why would Detroit flip Dobbs, Green Bay flip Tyrod Taylor, or Houston flip Davis Mills, with nobody behind any of them? Anthony Richardson? Rich wasn't convinced that was better than Jameis either.

One name kept coming up from the crew: Joe Milton. One voice argued he is probably the best option, even if a rival might charge a higher pick. Rich's answer: "Not a chance." Jameis has been with the Giants all summer. They know Jameis.

The biggest name, of course, is Mac Jones, and Rich shut that door hardest. "Why would the 9ers in any way, shape, or form flip Mac Jones to the Giants when they know what Mac Jones did to keep them afloat for a one seed last year," he said, especially with San Francisco 2-0 and a team George Kittle "rightfully said feels good about themselves."

Then Rich zoomed out to the rest of the league's quarterback triage. The Bears might be on their third-stringer for Monday Night Football in week three. The Vikings were one snap away from J.J. McCarthy. Atlanta was down to "Jack freaking Strand" in week two. Seattle is 2-0 with its backup, so it is certainly not flipping Drew Lock back to New York.

"Nobody is going to do what Giants fans are hoping somebody does," Rich said. "It doesn't matter if the Giants throw a Godfather offer at somebody. I wouldn't do it."

Pittsburgh has four quarterbacks, someone noted, but Rich said the Steelers want to see what they have in Howard and Allar, and the Giants are not trading for Mason Rudolph to coach him up. Will Levis just signed to the Jets practice squad, which drew another incredulous response from Rich.

What the Giants have, Rich said, is Jameis Winston, who "can come up with a game where suddenly he's throwing 300, 350 yards and the Giants look good." The crew wasn't so sure those days still exist. Rich allowed they were certainly over on Monday night. Whether they are over period is the thing the Giants are about to find out, because in his view it is Jameis' gig and nobody is coming to take it.