Giants’ Devontae Booker is a healthy scratch already in Week 3 vs. Falcons, making a strange free agent signing look even worse

The Giants had many needs heading into free agency this year, so it was confusing when they rushed out of the gate to make running back Devontae Booker their first addition — while giving him $2 million guaranteed on a two-year, $5.5 million deal.

Booker had played the 2020 season with the Raiders as a backup on a minimum contract and it’s not as if he was one of the most sought-after running backs in free agency either, so the move didn’t make much sense. It makes even less after what the Giants did on Sunday:

Booker was a healthy scratch for Sunday’s Week 3 game against the Falcons. He wasn’t listed on the injury report all week with an injury or illness, meaning it was likely a coaches decision to keep him out of the lineup. It is Week 3, and the Giants already don’t feel like Booker can contribute more than sixth-round rookie Gary Brightwell, who has primarily been a special teams player through two games.

The 29-year-old Booker gained 16 yards on six carries through two weeks, and didn’t take advantage of an increased workload in Week 1 with Saquon Barkley still working his way back from an injury. Now Barkley is a full-go, and Booker is an afterthought.

That’s not quite what general manager Dave Gettleman envisioned when the Giants signed him.

“One of the reasons we prioritized Devontae is you can never have too many good players at any position, I don’t care what anybody says,” Gettleman said. “One of the things that made Devontae so attractive was the fact that we felt he was a legitimate three-down running back. It’s always a group decision here, everything’s in the best interest of the Giants, so obviously he can be a good part of our solution at running back.”

It was a strange move at the time, and looks even worse now, especially as the Giants have one of the worst cap situations in the league this year, and minimal projected cap space in 2021.

At this point, it wouldn’t be surprising if Booker is a cap casualty in the offseason.

Yikes.

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Zack Rosenblatt may be reached at [email protected].