Posted on August 22, 2016, by Travis Pulver
This was supposed to be Ryan Nassib’s time. Eli Manning is set in stone as the New York Giants starting quarterback and plays little during the preseason leaving Nassib to take the bulk of the snaps for the team’s four preseason games. For the last three years, he has done well with the time he has received during the preseason. If he played well during the preseason once again, he could convince a few teams he is worth taking a look at next season.
But he hasn’t. His play, and the Giants offense, in general, has been abysmal. It will mean little to Eli Manning or Logan Thomas, but for Nassib, it could cost him millions.
Via cbssports.com
But it is just preseason. How could preseason play cost a guy millions?
Nassib has been Eli’s backup since the Giants drafted him in the fourth round of the 2013 Draft. However, as the man behind the man that never misses a game, he has only seen the field for a handful of plays. When he has had a chance to show his talents off during the preseason, he has looked pretty good. Good enough, that when he becomes an unrestricted free agent next offseason, there will be a few teams in need of a quarterback inquiring about his services.
They will not be looking to hand him their offense, but they will give him an honest shot at a starting role. But after the way he has played during this preseason, he may be lucky if he gets a few calls.
He started off on the right foot in the preseason opener against the Miami Dolphins by getting the team out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, but then everything went south in the second. Nassib turned the ball over three times in the second quarter leading to 17-points for the Dolphins and didn’t play much better in the second half before getting pulled. He ended the game 7-15 for 75 yards and a pair of interceptions.
Everyone has a bad game from time to time, but his outing in the second preseason game wasn’t any better. Nassib completed just two of his 12 passes for just 25 yards, but as bad as his stats looked, his play seemed even worse. He looked like he was scared or didn’t have a clue what he was doing out there.
For a guy that had to be hoping to sign with a team that would give him a shot to play next season, this couldn’t come at a worse time. Since he doesn’t have a regular season resume to fall back on, teams are only going to have his preseason body of work to judge him by. While he did look pretty good his first three years in the league, the NFL is a “what have you done for me lately?” kind of world.
No one will act like they care about the previous three years during negotiations. They will point to Nassib’s efforts from this preseason—and they stink (9-of-27 passing for 100 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs, four fumbles (2 lost), six sacks absorbed in two games). Most potential suitors will probably be scared off by them.
If they aren’t scared off, they will only be offering small-money, short-term deals with little if any guarantee. Before the last two games, he would have been looking at a ‘prove it’ type of contract like what Buffalo gave Tyrod Taylor when they signed him away from Baltimore (three-years, $3.35 million).
Unless the Giants give him a lot of playing time over the final two preseason games, it wouldn’t be surprising if all he gets is a one-year contract for league minimum (if he gets signed at all).
