Giants plan to listen to any and all trade calls with NFC East up for grabs

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John Harbaugh sounds interested in changing the name of Carly Rae Jepsen’s hit song “Call Me Maybe” to “Call Us Definitely.” 

The Giants are looking to be aggressive at the trade deadline and are open to hearing from any owner, general manager or head coach with a difference-making player to offer. 

“I’ll put it out there: We’re open for any calls,” an exceptionally loose Harbaugh said as the Giants returned from their bye week. “Anybody that wants to call us, call. There’s a song like that.” 

Harbaugh confirmed that he left an unreturned voicemail last week for Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk, inquiring about Jeffery Simmons’ availability before he was dealt to the Bears. It became a big story because standard operating procedure is trade discussions usually occur between general managers. 

“We’re not part of any secret society oath that says you can only talk to somebody,” Harbaugh said. “We’re not in that. We didn’t get memoed on that. We’re not in that agreement. So, anybody can call us. We won’t be adhering to that particular agreement.” 

The biggest name connected to the Giants is running back Jonathan Taylor, though Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s season-ending injury has raised the question of whether Derrick Henry could become available. 

Just two weeks ago — before Cam Skattebo’s first career 100-yard game led a balanced attack with four rushing touchdowns against the Texans — Harbaugh said he would love to be in a “Derrick Henry or Saquon Barkley circumstance,” with an elite workhorse rusher. 

So, do Harbaugh’s ties to Baltimore — where he worked for 18 seasons alongside general manager Eric DeCosta before he was fired — make it easier or trickier to trade with the Ravens? He called owner Steve Bisciotti “a great friend.” 

“I don’t know the answer to that because I think in some ways it makes it easier because it’s an easy call to friends, and I think that’s part of it around the league,” Harbaugh said. 

“People on every level make calls to people on every level because they know them. And how we do it here … is it’s transparent in our building. We’re turning over every stone. We’re making every call. We’re getting all the information we can possibly get at all times, and we are not apologizing for that at any point in time ever.” 

With their eyes set on winning the NFC East for the first time since 2011, the Giants also figure to be in the market for defensive tackles, edge rushers and receivers. It’s “always the goal” to add significant players. 

Taylor and Henry both are under contract beyond this season. That’s different than renting the Titans’ Tony Pollard or Seahawks’ Zach Charbonnet — both of whom are 2027 free agents. 

“For me, it wouldn’t want to be a one-and-done kind of thing,” Harbaugh said. “You want to have a short-term and a long-term win if you’re going to do it with draft capital.” 

The Giants hold first-, second- and third-round picks and two sixth-rounders in the 2027 draft. There is a chance of getting a compensatory fourth-round pick, but that won’t be determined until February and thus cannot be traded now. 

“It’s hard to find players that can make you better because we have good players — very good players,” Harbaugh said. “So, it’s got to be something that is a need, that fits your financial profile, that fits your price tag. We’re not loaded with 12 or 13 draft picks where we’ve got draft capital to burn. So, we have to be smart shoppers that way.” 

Does that pull mortgaging 2028 draft capital into the equation? 

“Yeah, it’s easier to put it on the credit card,” Harbaugh quipped. “It’s always an easier spend.” 

Harbaugh warned against connecting the dots in his call about Simmons — who was traded for two first-round picks — to the price that the Giants were willing to pay for him or another player. 

Calls around the league also are worthy to find out a player’s character as the Giants try not to mess up their locker room vibes. Harbaugh admitted that, as a long-timer at league meetings on league committees he knows more NFL owners than he does current general managers who are peers of Joe Schoen’s. 

“We have got a great camaraderie, a great brotherhood, synergy,” Harbaugh said. “You want to take that into account, even to the point where you probably talk to some of your [leaders] before you did something like that. Make sure that everybody understands, and they’re kind of on board with it.”