Mike Glennon over Jake Fromm? Giants, like most NFL teams, going with safe choice
Jake Fromm of the Giants throws a ball during warm-up before the game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium on December 05, 2021 in Miami Gardens, Florida. Credit: Getty Images/Michael Reaves
LOS ANGELES — The Giants are starting Mike Glennon on Sunday because he is experienced and familiar with the offense and can make the kind of nanosecond decisions an NFL quarterback needs to process on each snap of the game.
"Mike did a lot of positive things last week that I thought gave us a chance," Joe Judge said. "Mike stands in there. He looks to deliver an accurate ball. He’s not afraid to take a hit. He’s got a good presence at the line of scrimmage . . . Mike did a good job of controlling the protection, putting us in the right place, checking to the right beaters for certain coverages and giving us an opportunity."
In short: The Giants know what to expect from the veteran.
Which is exactly why so many Giants fans want nothing to do with him.
Most probably would prefer to see Jake Fromm on the field against the Chargers precisely because so little is known about him. We saw him have a successful college career at Georgia and then disappear into the depth of NFL rosters, surfacing only a week or so ago when the Giants plucked the fifth-round pick from the Bills’ practice squad after Daniel Jones reported discomfort in his neck.
When Glennon was in the concussion protocol, it seemed for a few days as if Fromm actually might get the chance to start, and on Wednesday’s practice at the University of Arizona, he was QB1. He would have been the first Giants quarterback to make his NFL debut in a start since 12th-round pick Jerry Golsteyn’s rookie year in 1977.
But Glennon cleared the protocol on Friday and Fromm will be what he was last week: Glennon’s backup.
Fromm has at least one attribute that Glennon lacks. His record is spotless. No one knows what he is or what he can be because he has yet to do anything.
For NFL teams, that is a liability. They’d much rather have someone like Glennon at the helm even if his 6-22 record as a starter is uninspiring and his 53.9 passer-rated, touchdown-less outing against the Dolphins last week was tepid at best.
For NFL fans, someone like Fromm is a blank page waiting to be filled with possibilities.
Blame Tom Brady for the excitement surrounding Fromm. Ever since 2001, when Brady was thrust into an unlikely starting role as an unheralded prospect picked 199th in the draft — and led the Patriots to a Super Bowl title before becoming the greatest quarterback who ever lived — fans of all teams have been hoping that their oysters would produce such a pearl.
Sometimes it comes close. Washington’s Taylor Heinicke seems to have emerged from obscurity to become a stable starting quarterback. Mike White’s brief flash with fame as the Jets’ unknown backup earlier this season certainly created possibilities before they came crashing back to reality. Heck, it goes back before Brady’s time. Kurt Warner’s unlikely career arc felt like a Hollywood movie. Now it actually is one.
But for each success story, there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of duds. The Giants have had plenty themselves in recent years, from Ryan Nassib to Davis Webb to Kyle Lauletta. None of them started a game for the Giants. None of them started a game anywhere after they left, either. Webb, by the way, who has yet to throw a regular-season pass and appeared in just one game, was ahead of Fromm on the Bills’ depth chart.
Why not just play the kid, you say. It’s a lost season anyway. The 4-8 Giants aren’t going anywhere. See what he has. Maybe he can bring a spark. At least it’ll be something to watch besides Glennon.
Perhaps at some point this season they will, but it would be grossly unfair to do so at this stage of Fromm’s tenure with the team. He himself pointed out that getting ready to play Sunday, after just six practices with the Giants, has been "like preparing for a final test and you didn’t show up for any of the classes."
Remember that the Giants didn’t sign Fromm only because they needed a body with Jones’ neck injury. For that they could have brought in anyone.They signed Fromm because they think they can develop him.
"It was an opportunity for us to add a player that we liked coming out of college through the draft," Judge said. "It was a good time to add him, get him in here and get working."
Jake Fromm may be the answer to all of the Giants’ quarterback issues. He may wind up being a better option than not just Mike Glennon but Daniel Jones. He might be their next Eli Manning. He might be the next Tom Brady.
He just won’t be any of those things on Sunday.
At least not when the game begins.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
