New York Giants were right to cut Brandon Marshall
The New York Giants released Brandon Marshall on Thursday afternoon, it was the right move for a team that must trend younger.
New York finished the 2017 season with a 3-12 record, earning it the second-overall pick in next week’s NFL Draft. The Giants have some young talent on the team in Landon Collins, Odell Beckham Jr., Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard, but there are other areas which are aging.
Brandon Marshall and Eli Manning are both toward the end of their respective careers, and for Marshall, he’s now on the street. New York general manager Dave Gettleman released him on Thursday, moving on from the 34-year-old veteran. Perhaps in a week, Gettleman will be wise and land the successor to Manning, giving the Giants a nice, crisp new look.
At some point, New York has to turn the locker room over to the next generation, so-to speak. The Giants have long been a team run by the older vets, namely Jason Pierre-Paul and Manning. Now, with Pierre-Paul already having been dealt this offseason to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the time is now for a new crop to take hold.
Beckham has an opportunity to rehab his image as a diva, taking control of both his actions and the offensive side of the ball. Collins is a born leader by all accounts, and he has already shown that by speaking up on the actions of Eli Apple.
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While there are ample rumors about Dez Bryant potentially landing with the Giants, Gettleman would be smart to avoid that path. Bryant can still play some, but he hasn’t had an 1,000-yard season since 2014 and is 29 years old. If the Giants are going to make a legitimate addition to that corps., it should be in the second round of the draft with Christian Kirk, D.J. Moore or James Washington.
The Giants have a chance to retool on the fly in 2018, and jettisoning Marshall was the right move toward that goal.