Getty Jake Fromm on the field during a game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Jake Fromm’s big opportunity with the New York Giants ended with a thud.
The second-year quarterback had been plucked from the Buffalo Bills‘ practice squad after Giants starter Daniel Jones was lost to a season-ending injury. After spending a year as the “quarantine quarterback” for the Bills — staying away from all of his teammates as an insurance policy in case an outbreak wiped out Josh Allen and Matt Barkley — and then moving to the practice squad this season, Fromm finally got his chance to start an NFL game.
After a difficult stretch with the Giants, it’s not clear whether he will get another one.
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Fromm, Giants Roasted for Play Calling
Fromm got the nod to start in the Giants’ season finale against the Washington Football Team after backup Mike Glennon needed season-ending wrist surgery. Fromm had already gotten a start in the December 26 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, a rough outing that saw Fromm benched in the third quarter after throwing just 25 total yards.
Though his second performance wasn’t quite as disastrous, Fromm still struggled, completing just 15 of 31 passes for 103 yards with two interceptions. Fromm did have some highlights, including his first-career passing touchdown to go along with a team-high 53 rushing yards, but it was a bizarre sequence of plays near the end of the first half that drew the most attention.
With five minutes left Giants backed up near their own goal line, head coach Joe Judge called consecutive quarterback sneaks, conceding the possession and punting back to Washington.
It’s 3rd-and-9. The Giants are at their own 4-yard line.
It’s time for… a QB sneak?
“I mean, this is sad.”
After the game, the now-fired Judge seemed to put some of the blame on Fromm for missing a first-down throw, hinting that he no longer had faith in Fromm.
“We were backed up. Had a shot at the play-action to get the ball out in the flat. We’ve got to make the throw and hit the guy right there,” Judge said. (Fullback) Eli (Penny) was open there. It would’ve been a good shot coming off the goal line there to get us some yardage and get us some space.”
Others put more blame on Judge himself rather than Fromm.
This isn’t on Jake Fromm. If you don’t trust your players enough to even hand the ball off on third-and-long inside your own 10-yard line in *Week 18*, it’s on the coaching staff.
Bills Likely Finding Fromm’s Replacement
There had been some hope that Fromm could grow into a reliable backup for Allen in Buffalo, but it now appears that the team will be in the market for a new No. 2 next season. Current backup Mitch Trubisky had signed a one-year deal, and he is expected to compete for a starting job with a new team next year.
Fromm’s first career TD pass 🙌
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ESPN‘s Jeremy Fowler predicted that Trubisky could move over to the NFC.
“The Bills believe Trubisky will get a good job elsewhere in 2022,” Fowler wrote on December 9. “His market was slow in March, but perhaps a year in the shadows will spark something.”
That would leave the Bills with Davis Webb as the only other quarterback on the roster. There may have been a chance that the Bills could take Fromm back if the Giants parted ways with him, but the former Georgia quarterback’s struggles in real-game action may have closed that door.
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