Film Review: What the Giants are Getting in QB Mike Glennon

Nick Falato breaks down new Giants backup quarterback Mike Glennon's tape.

The Giants signed Mike Glennon to be the new backup quarterback to Daniel Jones. Glennon spent his 2020 season in Jacksonville, where he started five games in relief of Gardner Minshew.

Glennon had a 62% completion rate, throwing for 1,072 yards with a 7-5 touchdown to interception ratio. He was sacked nine times, receivers dropped 9 of his passes, and his average time to throw the football was 2.42 seconds behind the Jaguars' offensive line. In comparison, Daniel Jones was 2.70 seconds.

Glennon had some flashes for Jacksonville; he’s not afraid to air the football out, and he’s an immediate upgrade over Colt McCoy in terms of the vertical passing attack. 

Glennon puts really good zip on the football and throws with a lot of velocity, which we’ll see in several clips posted throughout this article. He’s also much bigger than McCoy is a bit more diminutive in size. Glennon is 6’6, 225 pounds. Let’s get into some of this tape now.

Play Action

When Daniel Jones was injured in 2020, the Giants had to reduce the playbook for Colt McCoy. Jason Garrett kept most of the plays inside the numbers and didn’t ask McCoy to stretch the field vertically, for his arm strength is marginal. 

Glennon will not have that issue, and the playbook should be open because he can make a variety of NFL throws from a strength and velocity standpoint:

Glennon works the play-action game here against the Cleveland Browns. The offense is tight, and Glennon hits his back foot and allows the Yankee Concept to develop. 

As the deep post clears out, the horizontal cross opens up, and Glennon puts a beautiful pass over the shoulder pass to Collin Johnson for a touchdown.

Working the play-action game is important for any NFL quarterback, and it typically assists them into easier completions over the middle of the field.

Glennon’s footwork and set-up here are solid as he fires the ball right when DJ Chark, No. 17, is going into his break; by the time Chark turns around, the football is there for an easy catch between a deep third defender and an underneath hook zone.

After the play-action, Glennon gets his back turned, reads the coverage, and fires the ball before the linebacker can undercut it - good throw and play from the big quarterback.

Glennon operates the middle of the field off play-action in the video above. He comes off his first read and resets his feet while showing patience to allow Laviska Shenault (No. 10) to come open through the zone coverage. Glennon anticipates the route and darts a pass right into the receiver for a nice chunk of yardage.

He’s at his best when he has time to set up, and there’s no pressure around him--what quarterback isn’t? It’s indicative of the play above as he works the play action, and the linebackers hesitate, allowing the tight end to work up the seam.

This puts the linebacker in a trail position, but not by choice; Glennon sees the positioning and puts the ball on the tight ends back shoulder with touch and excellent placement. These are plays that Glennon can execute, but it’s just not very consistent.

Here’s another play where the linebacker is chasing, and Glennon uses good ball placement to put the ball into his receiver’s hands. Again, the pocket is clean, he lets Johnson’s cross develop, and he doesn’t allow the linebacker to make a play on the football.

The Jaguars weren’t afraid to put the more statuesque quarterback on the move with play-action rollouts, and he wasn’t terrible when asked to throw off-platform.

He would do a solid job getting his shoulders square and his hips in line with the target before using his very good velocity to thread tight windows on the move. Comparatively, the ball zips out of his hand much quicker than Colt McCoy.

This throw isn’t deep, but it’s on a line right to his receiver. Glennon is on the far hash mark, operating quick game concepts - the good ole hitch route.

Glennon gets the ball from the shotgun and quickly turns towards the far side of the field while firing the football at Johnson for an easy pitch and catch. It doesn’t seem like much, but the timing and velocity are very important on these concepts.

This pass is a bit more impressive from the far hash. Glennon has time to set up and hit his back foot; this allows Johnson to run his seven route to the field, and Glennon throws this football at the perfect time with anticipation.

If Glennon waited a bit longer for Johnson to get into his break since he had a bit more space to the field side, the underneath covering defender could have intercepted the pass. The pass couldn’t have been too far underneath or behind--it had to be where it was placed and thrown with zip.

Touch

The body needs to work in unison as a quarterback. The eyes go with the shoulders, which follow the hips, and the feet dictate these movements most of the time. Glennon’s feet are a bit inconsistent, especially under pressure. In the clip above, though, he does a good job feeling back-side pressure and getting his body in unison to throw a beautiful pass with good placement.

The body needs to work in unison as a quarterback. The eyes go with the shoulders, which follow the hips, and the feet dictate these movements most of the time. Glennon’s feet are a bit inconsistent, especially under pressure. In the clip above, though, he does a good job feeling back-side pressure and getting his body in unison to throw a beautiful pass with good placement.

This is a beautiful touch pass by Glennon right here, over the linebacker and in between two other defenders. It’s almost intercepted because Keelan Cole (No. 84) can’t hang onto the football, but it was a very nice pass from Glennon.

Trust

Much like Daniel Jones, Mike Glennon has no issues throwing jump balls and allowing his receivers to make plays on the football. Most quarterbacks should possess this trait, but not all of them do at a consistent rate. 

Daniel Jones did this frequently in Pat Shurmur’s offense, which led to a breakout season from a fifth-round rookie named Darius Slayton. We saw it a bit in Garrett’s 2020 offense, but not enough.

There are not many places to put this football. If it’s underthrown, it’s picked. If it’s put inside, it’s intercepted, and any more outside will be incomplete. He just has to say YOLO and put it high and trust that Chark can win his one-on-one matchup--Glennon did and was rewarded with a touchdown.

I love to see this type of aggressive nature. McCoy was more of a conservative type of quarterback, and Glennon can be a bit more aggressive, but with that comes recklessness. They say go big or go home, right?

This is an underrated touch pass from Glennon here, who has to put the football over the top of a defender to allow Johnson to secure the pass. Relatively clean pocket, good arm strength, good touch, and a great catch by Johnson.

Here’s a 40-dart to Shenault for a touchdown on a 3rd & 2. Many quarterbacks would go for the check down here, and we’ve seen Daniel Jones air it out in these same situations. 

Glennon isn’t scared to do so here, and he’s rewarded. He puts a lot of air underneath this pass to travel to the outstretched arms of Shenault and away from the two defenders.

Inconsistencies

We’ve seen some good things from Glennon in these clips, but there’s a reason why he’s a backup.

He’s not the cleanest under pressure. His footwork isn’t terrible here, and it’s him throwing to his primary read, but the timing and placement are very off. 

There’s pressure rumbling down on him, but not enough for a throw this bad. He’s able to step into the throw and everything, but it’s just a poorly placed pass.

His footwork is marginal in the video above. Like the last video, he’s looking at his primary read and waiting to see if he can throw the football. The tight end comes open on the seven route, but watch the hitch in his step and the hesitation before he releases the ball.

His upper body mechanics are messy, and he underthrows the route resulting in a pass defended. If the ball was a little bit more towards the outside and upfield--this is an easy completion.

Glennon can be a bit herky-jerky at times with his motions. He’s not great under pressure, and he’s not the best coming off his first read and firing quickly to his second, as you see above.

He doesn’t like what he sees from the first read and does a solid job getting his feet reset, but his hips aren’t fully aligned, and he throws a wobbler way over the head of his intended target.

This one's a bit inexcusable. It’s a clean pocket; he’s throwing after Cole breaks off his stem, and he just airmails it between both receivers.

I thought it could possibly be a wrong route, but that wouldn’t make sense given the concept of two outside breaking routes on that angle - both receivers would have had to run the wrong route. It’s just a poorly placed ball from a clean pocket.

Here’s another interception where Glennon does have some time left in the pocket--not a lot--but some. He fires the football prematurely before Chark can get out of his double move, and the pass is intercepted. 

If he waited a split second more, Chark could have been in a position to make this catch.

More aggressive quarterbacks tend to make more mistakes--I know, it’s not rocket science. This is just a bad decision against a zone match, cover-6, defense. 

Rochon Smith is a very athletic linebacker, and he can easily drop and cover. These types of decisions ended up getting Glennon benched for Gardner Minshew in week 14.

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More Film Reviews from Nick Falato:

• What the New York Giants Are Getting in WR John Ross
• What the New York Giants Are Getting in RB Devontae Booker 
• What the New York Giants are Getting in Edge Ifeadi Odenigbo

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Final Thoughts

Mike Glennon is a different type of backup than Colt McCoy. He can stretch the field more vertically, has an NFL caliber arm that CAN make most of the throws, and the playbook shouldn’t be reduced from a throwing standpoint.

He may not be as athletic as McCoy, and his processing isn’t quite as sharp as McCoy, either. Glennon makes mistakes here and there, and his mechanics aren’t always crisps.

However, if something were to happen to Daniel Jones, Glennon can step in, and the offense can still attempt to push the ball vertically and not be limited to inside the number throws. He’s been around the league for a while and should be a good backup for Daniel Jones. 

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