The Giants made their first off-season acquisition on Friday, adding veteran running back Reuben Droughns from the Browns in exchange for injury-prone wide receiver Tim Carter. Carter, who is a former 2nd round pick of the Giants, never quite lived up to expectations. He's suffered many injuries all the way back to his college days in Auburn despite having an excellent work ethic and being in top notch shape. He's been one of the fastest players on the Giants roster each season he's been on the team, and when he was actually in the lineup he usually did a decent job of stretching the field. But last season he failed to make much noise once Amani Toomer went down with a season ending injury and Carter was forced to step into the starting lineup. Droughns has had 1,000 yard rushing seasons with the Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns, but only rushed for 758 yards last season.
The trade doesn't make a ton of sense to me. Droughns is a good back, but is he really the kind of guy that's going to compliment Brandon Jacobs well? I was expecting more of a shifty scat back, a 3rd down type running back. Making a move for Tatum Bell seemed to make much more sense, but maybe Detroit was asking for more. It wouldn't surprise me to see Droughns eventually cut before the season starts if the Giants draft a back like Kenny Irons or find someone else that makes much more sense to split time with Jacobs.
Maybe having two bruising backs splitting carries isn't the worst thing in the world. You don't usually see it, but two guys that can wear down a defense is better than one. Maybe we'll even see a three-headed monster in the Giants backfield next season, with Jacobs, Droughns, and another player to be acquired later. If the Giants don't get another back this off-season, it'll be a shame. The Giants will be lacking a home-run threat from the backfield.
This is a good situation for Droughns, who sounded very happy to be here in interviews and didn't seem to mind at all that he may be Jacobs back-up next season. He'll have little pressure on him and won't have to deal with the physical pounding he did behind Cleveland's lackluster offensive line last season. Hopefully for the Giants, Droughns will pan out and help provide a balanced rushing attack next season.
It's an equally good situation for Carter, who gets a fresh start on a team that doesn't have a ton of depth at the wide reciever position. Carter would have had to fight for a roster spot had he stayed with the Giants, while he's most likely guaranteed a roster spot with he Browns.
No comments:
Post a Comment