Many media-generated trade proposals are pie-in-the-sky nonsense. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, though, has proposed two trades that make sense for the New York Giants, getting the team a wide receiver, removing
a couple of players the Giants don’t have a real use for, and adding some 2026 draft capital.
Wide receiver help
Barnwell’s proposal:
Giants get: WR Jakobi Meyers, 2026 fourth-round pick, cash considerations
Raiders get: CB Deonte Banks, 2026 fifth-round pick
Barnwell says:
Meyers has been quiet for the Raiders this season. After a 98-yard day for Las Vegas in the opening-week win over the Patriots, Meyers has averaged just 46 yards per game since. The 28-year-old is in the final year of his three-year, $33 million deal, and while Meyers requested a trade in camp, the Raiders declined to deal their top wideout. This will likely be his last season in silver and black, and Vegas probably wouldn’t mind moving the $7 million remaining on Meyers’ deal in 2025 elsewhere.
The Raiders would have to eat some of that money to get this deal done, but let’s say they pay $3 million as part of this trade and open up a spot in their lineup for second-round pick Jack Bech. In return, they would land the fourth cornerback off the board in the 2023 draft in Banks. Still only 24, Banks has the size (6-foot-2) and frame that Pete Carroll typically loves in his CBs, a position where the Raiders are hardly settled. Eric Stokes is on a one-year deal, while Kyu Blu Kelly has allowed a 122.5 rating in coverage, per Pro Football Reference.
The Giants clearly liked Banks enough to use a first-round pick on him, but he has never put things together in New York. The Giants stripped Banks of his starting job this season, rotating him with Cor’Dale Flott across from Paulson Adebo. And over the past few weeks, Banks was beaten on a double-move for a touchdown by the Chargers’ Quentin Johnston in Week 4 and then committed a 25-yard pass interference penalty early in the Week 5 Saints game against Chris Olave. He has played just 10 defensive snaps over the past two weeks, seemingly falling out of the rotation at cornerback.
Valentine’s View
Meyers is not the best wide receiver potentially available (we have discussed options here and here). He is also in the final year of his contract, so the Giants would have to get a contract extension done with him first to make this move viable.
Still, there are so many positives to this deal for New York. Provided, of course, they get Meyers to sign beyond this year. Rentals for the rest of the season don’t make sense for the Giants. The positives I see:
- Adding a much-needed playmaker for rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart. Meyers is coming off a career-best 87-catch, 1,027-yard season. Prior to that, Meyers had three straight seasons of at least 800 yards receiving. He has a career catch percentage of 67.8% and a drop rate of just 2.7%, meaning he is reliable if not explosive. He provides a clear upgrade over anything the Giants currently have on the outside, and would be a nice complement to Malik Nabers after this season.
- Removing Banks. You don’t draft a guy in the first round hoping he will be a really good kickoff returner. Banks has become useless to the Giants on defense, playing just 11 snaps over the past two weeks. Cor’Dale Flott has won that cornerback job. If the Giants can package him for a quality wide receiver they can have beyond this season, that is a move they need to make.
- Improving their draft position. This move turns a 2026 fifth-round pick into a fourth-round pick. Theoretically, that improves the Giants’ chances of getting a good player. That’s always a net positive.
A taker for Russ
There is a lot of discussion about whether or not the Giants will be able to find a taker for Russell Wilson. The fan base, which booed Wilson’s only pass (a horribly off-target incompletion) vs. the Philadelphia Eagles, is clearly done with him. Head coach Brian Daboll, who foolishly tried to get into the medical tent to check on Dart while Wilson was in the game, also seems done with him.
Barnwell finds a taker. His proposal:
Colts get: QB Russell Wilson
Giants get: 2026 seventh-round pick
Barnwell says:
Getting one former Giants quarterback has worked out well for the Colts, with Daniel Jones currently leading the NFL in QBR (79.7). Why not try to collect the whole set? In all seriousness, Indy needs a backup behind Jones, who has completed a full season as a starter without missing time with injuries just once in his seven-year pro career. Jones’ sack rate is thankfully way down, but he’s still taking hits on 13.3% of his snaps this season.
This was probably already a need before Anthony Richardson Sr. fractured his orbital bone in a freak pregame incident before Sunday’s win over the Cardinals and was put on injured reserve. If Jones did go down, the next man up would be former Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard, who was taken in the sixth round of this year’s draft. It’s fun to think about GM Chris Ballard pulling out his old quarterback Rolodex and calling up Andrew Luck or Philip Rivers to come play for a playoff team, but the Colts don’t want to be stuck turning to an untested rookie if Jones gets hurt.
Enter Wilson, who is clearly surplus to requirements in New York after being benched for Jaxson Dart. Wilson has made fill-in appearances twice over the past three weeks while Dart was being evaluated for injuries, but the Giants could easily turn that role over to Jameis Winston, who has been the third quarterback all season. Wilson didn’t look great for most of his brief tenure in New York, but we did see him torch the Cowboys for 450 yards and three touchdowns in Week 2.
We’ve also seen Jones look much better after leaving the Giants to join the Colts (after a brief stop in Minnesota last season). I wouldn’t expect the same sort of leap out of Wilson, but could he be a passable starter if the Colts need someone to step in? It wouldn’t be expensive to find out: Indianapolis would be giving up only a seventh-round pick and would owe Wilson about $1.3 million over the remainder of 2025, which will likely be the 36-year-old’s final season of professional football.
Valentine’s View
How ironic would this be? The Giants sending Wilson to the Colts to back up Jones. It’s a weird world sometimes.
Still, a taker for Wilson is a taker for Wilson. Especially to a team the Giants won’t have to face this season. It would remove another player the Giants really don’t need — you can argue that perhaps Winston should be QB2, anyway. The trade would save the Giants a small amount of cap space. It would also net them another draft pick — a seventh-rounder certainly being better than nothing.
What do you think of these proposed deals, Giants fans? In my view, the Giants should make both — provided they get Meyers to sign an extension — without hesitation.
