Giants Contact Packers' Backup QB Matt Flynn

News trickled out yesterday that Eli Manning underwent surgery on his left ankle, effectively sidelining the Giants' starting quarterback for all of spring workouts. While there's never a good time for a team to lose its signal caller, the fact that the Giants brought in a new offensive coordinator means the absence of a veteran quarterback could stall progress as the players try to learn the new scheme.

To mitigate the damage, the Giants have reached out to multiple unsigned veteran quarterbacks including Packers 2013 backup Matt Flynn.

The Flynn connection makes sense for the Giants. Their aforementioned new offensive coordinator is former Packers QB coach Ben McAdoo. McAdoo, who previously served as tight ends coach, had been with the Packers since Mike McCarthy's first year as head coach. Given the Giants' interest, Flynn and McAdoo would appear to have a good working relationship, suggesting that the team might see the quarterback as more than a temporary solution behind Manning.

More significantly to the Packers, the interest in Flynn from New York may force their hand in their negotiations with him. While the Packers don't care to overpay for a player who would still have to compete for the primary backup job to Aaron Rodgers, they might have to cough up more than the veteran minimum now. While Flynn has struggled in most of his NFL stops, he's been very successful with Green Bay, winning enough games this past year to keep the Packers in the playoff hunt. McCarthy has gone on record about his desire to retain Flynn, but whether the Packers GM shares those feelings remains to be seen.