A few weeks ago, Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride told The Post that Curtis Painter is a “legitimate’’ NFL quarterback who had a real shot at taking David Carr’s roster spot. As it turns out, he did.
Carr, Eli Manning’s backup four of the past five seasons, was waived yesterday as the Giants cut down to their 53-man roster. Carr is 34 and was scheduled to make $940,000. Painter, 28, will make $630,000 as the Giants went younger, cheaper and in the case of this summer’s performance, better.
“We simply based it on the preseason,” coach Tom Coughlin said. “From the standpoint of all the evaluations, it pointed to the fact that Painter had a better preseason. We’ll miss David Carr around here, to be honest with you.’’
For the first time since 2007, Coughlin will go with three quarterbacks on the roster, as rookie Ryan Nassib, the fourth-round pick from Syracuse, made the team and was never in any danger of getting cut. When possible, Coughlin prefers to go with two quarterbacks and use a roster spot elsewhere, but not this time. “When we drafted [Nassib], then you have an idea that you’re going to have to develop a young quarterback,” Coughlin said. “That’s what his role is. So be it if that’s what it takes. From the standpoint of strategy, you have to understand that many times the balancing act stops at the quarterback position, because there is no way to trade off if in fact you are developing a young man. In our case, you have a veteran player to go along with it.”
Carr was adept at mimicking opposing quarterbacks with the scout team, giving the Giants’ defense a good look at that week’s assignment. That role now falls to Nassib, who last week said he will try to study the Cowboys’ Tony Romo with the Cowboys on deck in the season-opener.