"Trader Dave" Has New York Giants on Bold New Path
New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman swore during his draft preview conference call that he’s tried to trade down in past drafts, only to have something go astray to thwart those largely unreported efforts.
But hot on the heels of an unprecedented free-agency period in which Gettleman and the Giants boldly took limited salary cap space and stretched it into over $200 million in contracts for more than a dozen free agents, the 70-year old general manager has followed up that act with a brazen new strategy that has seen the franchise trade either up or down in each of the first three rounds.
“I'm learning to make right turns in NASCAR,” Gettleman quipped, referencing a comment by NFL.com draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah who joked that NASCAR would permit right turns before the Giants under Gettleman’s watch traded back in any round.
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Director of College Scouting called Gettleman “Trader Dave,” revealing that the small group of staff permitted in the team’s war room has been having fun poking fun at Gettleman for finally doing what so many people have been hoping he’d do for years.
Even head coach Joe Judge got into the act, telling reporters, “I'm sure Dave has got a concussion or something, so make sure we check on him overnight and we'll get back to work tomorrow.”
The Giants still have two sixth-round picks to make—assuming there are no more trades, that is. But after a productive first day in which they traded down and got a top receiver in Florida’s Kadarius Toney, they added to their stockpile of draft picks in Day 2 by again moving around the board while also adding to next year’s cache.
The Giants, who will have all seven of their picks in 2022, also have an extra first (via Chicago), an extra third (via Miami), and an extra fourth (via Chicago) thanks to their bold moves.
As far as this year’s draft goes, the Giants managed to pluck Georgia edge rusher Azeez Ojulari in the second round, and they moved up to get UCF cornerback Aaron Robinson in the third.
“It's all about if the opportunity is right. It's about your board. It's about value meeting need,” Gettleman said. “Like I told you guys last week, I've tried in the past, and it just hasn't worked. We thought we got just really good value here.
"And you know, again, it's one of those deals where, for example, we move from 42 back to 50, so that's eight slots, and we had five guys there that we would take at 50. The odds are, eight slots, it's five guys, there's going to be -- one of those five is going to be there for you. We've just been able to do that.
“And then with the value we had on Aaron, I just didn't want to sit and wait. We just felt -- he's a press corner and really fits what we want to do and who we want to be on defense. It's just having the opportunity and it's how your board lines up.”
All kidding aside, the overall feeling expressed thus far by the Giants’ decision makers is a very positive one that has kept in focus the team's primary objective.
“It's making the best decision for the team at the time,” Judge said. “We had an opportunity to move down and gain more value because there are a number of players we feel in that range are going to be available, we'll go ahead and look at that option.
“As you saw with (Aaron Robinson), we didn't want to give somebody else a chance to take him at that point; he was a priority for us to get, so we used the pick to trade on up. As I said yesterday, these picks are people and make calculated risks whether you acquire them or give them up. I feel good about what we did today in the draft.”
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