New York Giants Training Camp Preview: Quarterback

As the month of July nears a close, that means one thing in the NFL; the beginning of training camps. For a team like the New York Giants, it will be another important training camp. Last season it was the offense receiving an overhaul, this time it will be the defense. They brought back a familiar face in Steve Spagnuolo to be the defensive coordinator, replacing Perry Fewell. Also, there are still some kinks to be worked out offensively, as second year offensive coordinator had a good rookie campaign last season in which he will look to build upon.

This could be a make or break season for the Giants from a franchise era standpoint. If they miss the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year, we could see a real overhaul not only on the roster, but coaching staff as well. Tom Coughlin has overseen two Super Bowl titles as his time as head coach with the Giants, but very little success outside of that, missing the playoffs six times and being one and done in the playoffs the other four times they made the postseason.

Could the Giants break their streak of missing the playoffs, and continue their trend of winning the Super Bowl every four seasons? Training camp will give a lot of insight to where the Giants are at, as there are plenty of questions to be answered once the Giants open camp July 29th. We will have you covered on the storylines to follow here at Empire Writes Back, giving a position by position preview heading up to that date. The first position we will take a look at will be quarterback.

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Depth Chart:

1. Eli Manning
2. Ryan Nassib
3. Ricky Stanzi

This is arguably the most boring position not only on the Giants in terms of training camp stories, but in the whole NFL. As long as Eli Manning is walking and healthy, this is his team. The Giants will go as far as Manning can lead them offensively, which looks like it could be new heights even though he is entering his 34-year old season and 12th in the NFL.

2014 was Manning’s first season without Kevin Gilbride being his offensive coordinator, and he turned in arguably the best season of his career. He completed a career-high 63.1 percent of his passes to go with 4,410 yards and 30 touchdowns compared to only 14 interceptions. That is a huge upgrade over 2013, when people began questioning if Manning was the guy for the job anymore under center for the Giants, when he completed only 57.5 percent of his passes for 3,818 yards and only 18 touchdowns and a career-high 27 interceptions.

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Anyone who thought Manning was done was proven wrong and made to look foolish as Manning had an excellent bounce back year despite so many holes on the offensive side of the ball. The offensive line was still creaky, and the running game was virtually nonexistent. Rookie sensation Odell Beckham Jr. missed the first four games of the season, and then Victor Cruz suffered a season-ending injury the next week.

Despite all those shortcomings, Manning was still able to put up great numbers. That makes it even more exciting coming into 2015, as Manning comes in with a level of comfortability with a year of experience in the system. Also, the Giants have made conscious efforts to improve his supporting cast, bringing in offensive lineman talent and signing Swiss army knife Shane Vereen to help Manning out. Also, Cruz is rehabbing from his patellar tendon surgery and is progressing well, which would give the Giants a dominant wide receiving group with Cruz, Beckham Jr. and Rueben Randle.

As for Ryan Nassib, he is the Giants project that they look to be grooming to take over for Manning once his career is over. Nassib was a fourth round pick of the team in 2013, and finally began showing some progress last training camp and preseason. There were rumblings that the team could move on from him, but he performed well enough to take a stranglehold on the backup QB spot.

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It is a tenuous position for the Giants to be in, because they only carry two quarterbacks. The question always rises can they afford to keep a project player such as Nassib as the only other quarterback on their roster? While it seems like a tough question, it really is a simple one. If for whatever reason the Giant lost Manning during the season, they would be done for anyway. So, why not give a player they think could be part of their future plans a shot to show what he has got?

Manning has started every game (knock on wood) since becoming the Giants starter just beyond halfway into his rookie season. There is little reason to believe that won’t continue happening, but if it does the Giants ship will go down with him. He is the single most important player on the team, and their success is tied directly to him.

Next: 5 Reasons Why The Giants Could Miss The Playoffs?

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