The Giants have traded center Brett Jones to the Vikings in exchange for a 2019 draft pick, New York announced. New York will acquire a 2019 seventh-round choice, tweets Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.
Minnesota is in desperate need of help on the interior of its offensive line, as projected starting guard Nick Easton is already done for the season after undergoing neck surgery, while center Pat Elflein has been on the physically unable to perform list for the duration of training camp. Elflein is dealing with shoulder and ankle injuries, but Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer says Elflein won’t begin the regular season on the PUP list, according to Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
A former undrafted free agent, Jones started 13 games in place of the injured Weston Richburg a season ago. Jones, who joined the Giants in 2015 after spending time in the Canadian Football League, graded as the NFL’s No. 18 center among 37 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus. However, the 26-year-old was expected to lose New York’s starting center job to Jon Halapio, making him expendable in the Giants’ view.
The Giants re-signed Jones this offseason on a one-year, $2.941MM second-round restricted free agent tender, and the Vikings will now assume the entirety of that contract. At last check, New York possessed only ~$1.5MM in cap space, so moving Jones and his salary off its books will give the club a little financial breathing room.
Giants have line depth now?
Tells me that Elflein might be further away than what’s being reported. Either way can’t ever complain about more line depth.
Vikings get the 18th best Center last season for a 7th rounder?? I’m sire the Giants could have at least received a 5th-6th rounder for him had they pushed harder…
Then again, maybe the Vikings would have just moved on to someone else on their radar, and it’s highly likely the Giants wanted to free up that space..
For the Giants sake though, they better hope Halapio performs and more importantly stays healthy..
These trades happen a lot in football. When you think about it, 18th best center puts him at about halfway on that list, and a bottom half starting option. I mean Aquib Talib was traded for only a 5th rounder.
If Halapio is a dud they can also bring Donald Stephenson out of retirement…lol.
Giants currently have less cap space than every team but Carolina and they still have to do a re-up on Beckham. Looks like the front office bean counters really dropped the ball here.
Golly gee, I didn’t realize the Giants had a surplus of quality offensive linemen desired by other organizations. They didn’t think Jones could have helped their non-existent run game? He did Last year. Don’t get it. And a 7th rounder. Really? That’s all they could get. C’mon, every team is looking for OL help. If Jones was desired, they couldn’t even get a fifth (or better)?
The Giants are overpaying everybody and they SUCK!!??
Thank you for your in-depth analysis. Where would we be without it?