New York Giants Mailbag: Potpourri
If you'd like to submit a question for the mailbag, please send it to nygiantsmaven@gmail.com. Note: We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity and conciseness. While we try to answer all questions received, we reserve to consolidate if several people ask the same question.
What's the status of Wayne Gallman? -- Steve P.
Still unsigned, Steve, and unfortunately, this doesn't surprise me. The draft has a lot of younger, cheaper talent, so my best guess is Wayne Gallman probably won't sign with another team until after the draft.
The difference in staff size and quality of experience between Judge and his predecessors after Coughlin seems dramatic. Is this Judge? Is this Gettleman, or is this Mara? What do you think? -- @BlackBanjotony
Hi Tony. The head coach's staff has always been the head coach's decision. Ownership and the general manager might recommend people to the coach, but at the end of the day, the head coach decides who is on his staff.
I like Judge's approach, and I'll liken it to my own situation. When I first started working on this site, I did everything myself, and I felt like it took away from what I did best. Over time, I hired people to help take some of that off my plate, and it's enabled me to have time to myself to where I'm not burned out as quickly.
So what that means for football is you have a better distribution of responsibilities to where one guy isn't tasked with, for example, doing everything to coach the defensive backs. It makes for a more efficiently run operation and one that should be better in the long term.
I feel we need a center, and it's the biggest need rarely talked about. Is there an IOL that you like in the 2nd/3rd round? - @Strugglingknic1
Thanks for the question. I'm afraid I have to disagree that a center is needed (plus, at least two draft analysts mentioned to me that this isn't a strong class for centers). The Giants can get by with Nick Gates.
They signed Jonotthan Harrison to compete for a backup role, and I would be curious to see if they worked Shane Lemieux at center as a potential backup--I think he did some training at center before last year's draft.
If the Giants have an opportunity to package their first and second-round picks to move up and grab Penei Sewell, should they do it? - @guacamoto
No, no, no! The Giants have six draft picks with additional needs to fill. They can't afford to trade a small king's ransom (which would probably include future picks to make such a trade work) for Sewell, who will be a good player in this league.
If you go offensive line, see if Rashawn Slater falls to No. 11 (which I think he might).
What second-year player do you see making the biggest improvements? - @MJ916
All of them. I could see a role for each if he makes that next step, and I think the coaching is in place to make that happen.
Obviously, you want to see the three young OL take a big step forward since that position is still a bit in flux. And if they can find a steady pass rusher among the two outside linebackers (Carter Coughlin and Cam Brown), that would be a big help.
Who would you prefer the Giants take with the first pick in the draft? - @glenayrfarm
TE Kyle Pitts. But I know he's not going to be there, so what I've done is I'm writing a "Make the Case" series for what I could see happening in each round. To answer your question, the one scenario I'd love to see play out as outlined in this article.
What do you think we could expect optimistically and realistically from Andrew Thomas in 2021? -- Chris M.
Thanks for the letter, Chris. Andrew Thomas went through two position coaches, had two different guards next to him (including a fellow rookie for half the season), and had a bum ankle that needed surgery after the season. Anyone writing this kid off after all that needs to hit the pause button.
That said, the jury is still out on him. How will he respond to new offensive line coach Rob Sale? Is the ankle good to go? Who's going to line up next to him? Let's see how all that plays out before we think about writing Andrew Thomas off. I think consistency is going to be a key objective.
Your assessment is way off base as you clearly are giving winning championships way more credit than overall performance over a career. Y.A. Tittle was clearly the best QB the Giants ever had. Three championship games, two healthy, a third hurt. They lost to great Packer teams twice and the Bears in 1963. He was hurt in the game but courageously came back. I suspect you weren’t alive to see his greatness. --Seymour B.
Thanks for writing, Seymour, but you just did the very same thing you flagged John Gidley for doing in his article ranking the top Giants quarterbacks of all time. Regardless, I hope you'll check out the rest of John's upcoming series, as you seem to have a deep-rooted grasp of the Giants' team history, which I'd love to hear.
What one thing about the Giants are you most unsure of? -- @BlackBanjotony
Just one thing, Tony? Ok, the won-loss record. I can try to forecast it, but I'm not sure what it will be when it's all said and done. No, seriously, there are many things I'm unsure of--what they'll do at No. 11 if Daniel Jones is the guy, how the expanded coaching staff will work if Saquon Barkley will come back like his pre-injury self.
Granted, I don't stay up at night worrying about all this, but there are so many things that could go wrong and derail all the positive vibes built up over the last couple of months. So let's focus on the good and hope that the bad won't come to fruition.
In 2020, Daniel Jones had a 9.4% dropped pass rate. I know he lacked a No. 1 receiver, but that rate is high. Is there anything with his throwing technique that could be attributing to dropped passes? -- Tim C.
Tim, excellent question. The only thing I saw early on was that whenever he rolled to his right side, he didn't quite get his feet set and was a bit off-balance, so maybe that had something to do with things early in the beginning.
More than likely, it resulted from the pass protection being inconsistent to where the routes aren't fully developed when the ball is thrown.
How would you rank each of the first three rounds when considering the Giants' needs, BPA, and positional value based on the strength of draft and draft position? -- Ramon R.
What's up, Ramon? This is tricky because sometimes, there's a run on a specific position in the later rounds, but here goes. If I'm the Giants, I go OL, TE, and edge rusher in that order.
I think this is a deep class for guards and edge rushers, but not so much for tight ends. But I'd prioritize the offensive line because I don't see that unit as being complete. I also think there's a value edge rusher that could be had in the third round, which I'll mention when I put out my new 7-round mock draft Monday (assuming I don't get thrown for a loop by the first dose of the vaccine I'm having on Sunday).
Do you think that DG, with what little cap room he has left, will look maybe to sign an OL?? I know he needs to keep enough to sign the rookie class. I keep watching Nick Easton G/C. He is still a free agent. -- Dan K.
Hi Dan. No, I think if the Giants add another offensive lineman, he'll come from the draft. At guard/center, you have Gates as your starter and Harrison as the backup. I believe Shane Lemieux did some work at center too, either before or after the draft. (I want to say before.) and they also have Kyle Murphy, who they like. So no, I don't think they'll add another veteran at that spot.
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