Giants Lauded by ESPN for Strong Offseason - Our Top 12 Takeaways
Coming off a 4-13 season that led to the firing of head coach Joe Judge and the retirement of general manager Dave Gettleman, there was nowhere to go but up for the New York Giants.
After bringing in fresh, outside voices—general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll both were plucked from the highly successful Bills organization while assistant general manager Brandon Brown was brought in from Philadelphia—the Giants' approach to building a winning football team seems to be getting back to the basics of scouring the earth for talent, developing the talent, and using free agency sparingly.
This approach, along with the moves made by the Giants this off-season, puts the Giants’ as having the sixth best off-season, according to ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, who ranked all 32 NFL team’s offseason moves.
Here are some thoughts regarding Barnwell's takes.
1. An understated but important result of the Giants landing a general manager and a head coach that had previously worked together is that a lot of the "getting to know you" process was already accomplished.
Daboll, in Buffalo, no doubt had some say in the type of players he wanted for his offense. Schoen, the assistant general manager at the time, certainly would have understood that and, when coming to the Giants with that knowledge, might have been able to expedite the process of finding the type of players Daboll wanted.
2. Declining quarterback Daniel Jones's option year was a no-brainer for several reasons, including his injury history, three-year up-and-down showing, and questions regarding his fit for the system Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka are installing.
If everything works out with Jones this year, the team can always franchise tag him while working out a new deal that would presumably have a lower first-year cap number. If not, they can move on without any dead money.
3. The decisions to move on from defensive back Logan Ryan, tight end Kyle Rudolph, and running back Devontae Booker--all roster cuts--were necessary to help get the team under the cap at the start of free agency.
While the Ryan transaction yielded less than $800,000 in savings, credit Schoen and Daboll for not holding onto a player that didn't fit the team's plans.
4. Getting two comp picks for letting guys who didn't live up to their draft pedigree that walked away in free agency will be huge next year if the Giants have to move up to get a new franchise quarterback.
5. Schoen wasted no time in trying to fix the offensive line, adding established veterans to the interior, most of them on one-year minimum salary benefit deals. He also didn't cut corners with the backup quarterback position when he brought in Tyrod Taylor, who, if healthy, can provide much of what Jones can at this point.
6. Schoen's first draft projects as a home run because he addressed the team's glaring needs rather than selecting luxury picks (see Saquon Barkley in 2018).
7. The cap situation, which Barnwell listed under the "What Went Wrong" category, was inherited from the previous regime and was going to be a problem for whoever was in the general manager's chair. That Schoen was able to bring in free agents on mostly one-year minimum salary benefit deals is quite the accomplishment.
8. It was reported that now-former cornerback James Bradberry didn't exactly help the Giants facilitate a trade because he reportedly refused to rework his contract in favor of taking his chances on the open market.
Without the player's cooperation, there was little chance of a deal getting done post-draft, though it is fair to ask why the Giants couldn't do something before the draft when perhaps Bradberry might have been in a more giving move.
9. Barnwell, in speaking about the backup quarterback situation, noted that the Giants should have brought in more competition for Jones than just Tyrod Taylor, who "has been either injured or ineffective for most of his post-Bills career."
Schoen, however, resolved the backup quarterback situation by landing in the middle. He upgraded the talent just in case Jones, who has yet to make it through an entire season, gets injured again or struggles, and he got Taylor to agree to a contract that will compensate him according to his exact role.
But also worth remembering is that Schoen, Daboll, and team co-owner John Mara publicly backed Jones as the starter, stopping short of declaring him as the starter despite the ideal preference of staging a competition. Had the Giants gone back on their words might very well have led to the final ruination of Jones.
10. Barnwell expressed some confusion over why the Giants would add receiver Wan'Dale Robinson, "a player who was regarded as a mid-round selection and referred to as more of a gadget weapon" when New York already had Kadarius Toney on the roster.
Daboll and Schoen have both said that there would be a specific role for Robinson, a topic we explored in this analysis. And if nothing else, we saw how last year's injuries cut into the depth at receiver, so was adding another one to the mix that big of a misstep in the grand scheme of things?
11. In the "what they could have done differently" department, Barnwell wonders about the decision to draft Evan Neal, a proven left tackle in college, when they have the ascending Andrew Thomas on the roster.
Barnwell further wrote, "I wonder if the Giants could have drafted their pick of the class' wideouts and then used the Robinson selection to address the offensive line."
What wasn't addressed, though, is the talent drop-off from the top three offensive tackles--Neal, Charles Cross, and Ickey Ekwonu. And if one is going to praise Schoen for fixing the offensive line, now really isn't the time to question the decision to pluck one of the best offensive tackles out of the draft, especially when that player offers position versatility.
12. Barnwell concludes that the Giants, who will remain in cap hell this year despite the moves made to clear space, could look to trade Barkley or Leonard Williams during the season.
The thought, however, is shortsighted. Barkley isn't signed beyond this year, so unless he was willing to agree to a new contract extension, it's unlikely a team might want to acquire him mid-year for what amounts to a rental.
As for Williams, he's signed through 2023, and until he proves to be in decline, the Giants can ill-afford to dismantle a pass rush they purposely sought to improve over the off-season.
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