A Look at the Giants' Biggest Miscalculations from 2018 and Why They Stalled Progress
Giants co-owner John Mara and general manager Dave Gettleman could have used any number of excuses for why the team’s rebuild has taken three years and counting.
But in their respective video conferences with reporters, each spoke about how in 2018, the first year of Gettleman's tenure, they made several personnel miscalculations that set the franchise back in its rebuild.
“We made some miscalculations in 2018,” Mara said. “And I think we, to a certain extent, paid for that this year by not having some of those players available. I thought in 2019, things got a little bit better."
Not all of the Giants' 2018 personnel decisions came back to bite them, but here's a look at those that did.
Trading for LB Alec Ogletree
One of Gettleman’s first moves with the Giants was sending a fourth- and sixth-round pick to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for veteran linebacker Alec Ogletree and their seventh-round pick.
Ogletree, remember, had just completed one year of a four-year, $42.75 million contract extension with the Rams; that they were so willing to trade him that quickly should have been a red flag right there.
The Giants, who by the way, had a homegrown inside linebacker by the name of B.J. Goodson, then compounded the move by redoing Ogletree's contract to lower his cap hit in that first year. Ogletree got an $8 million signing bonus from the Giants and by the time they cut him with two years remaining, they were charged $3.5 million of dead money.
Trading DE Jason Pierre-Paul
The Giants got a third- and a fourth-rough pick from the Bucs in exchange for defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul. That third-round pick turned into defensive lineman B.J. Hill, a part-time rotational player, and quarterback Kyle Lauletta, who didn’t make it past his first season.
Meanwhile, the notion that Pierre-Paul, who had a hefty contract at the time, didn’t fit the Giants' system underscores the problem with the coaching, as good coaches figure out ways to use talent, only moving on after exhausting all avenues.
Pierre-Paul, meanwhile, recorded double-digit sacks for the Bucs in 2018 and has had at least 8.5 sacks in his three seasons with the Bucs.
The Giants? They’re still looking for a replacement pass rusher who keeps opposing offensive coordinators up at night.
Sticking with QB Eli Manning
The Giants always had a soft spot for quarterback Eli Manning and with good reason. Manning led them to two improbable Super Bowl victories, plus he was an iron man for them who never missed a game due to injury.
But the Giants were at a crossroads in 2018 with Manning, whose play had declined. Instead of getting Manning’s replacement on board that year, the Giants, who had the No. 2 overall pick in the draft that year, decided to draft a running back, Saquon Barkley, rather than spend on a quarterback like Josh Allen, who went to the Bills at No. 7.
Drafting Saquon Barkley No. 2 Overall
Barkley is a generational talent, at least he was before his torn ACL, as no one knows what the future holds. In drafting him, the idea was to take some of the onus off Manning by giving him a running game.
Yes, Barkley ran for 1,000 yards and caught 91 out 121 pass targets for 721 yards. Still, Barkley was only one piece of the offense, and the patchwork offensive line, which probably would have benefitted from the addition of Quenton Nelson, didn’t make things easy for many people.
Signing LT Nate Solder
Gettleman had little choice to overspend on a free agent offensive tackle after Ereck Flowers didn’t pan out, and that made it a seller’s market. That's why Nate Solder received a lucrative 4-year deal worth $62 million, with $34.8 million guaranteed.
With that said, it was another instance where the Giants overspent on a contract that over the long-term wasn’t going to be sustainable to the team’s salary cap health. With Solder's future up in the air, if the Giants want to move on, it will cost them $10.5 million in dead money against a cap figure still to be determined (but one that will be significantly lower this year thanks to the impact of the pandemic), unless they designate Solder a post-June 1 cap cut at which point, they’d be on the hook for $6.5 million in dead money this year and $4 million next year.
Signing RB Jonathan Stewart
Gettleman likely viewed Stewart, a player he had in Carolina, as a mentor to Barkley, the latter a player Gettleman knew he would draft.
With that said, the contract—two years $6.8 million with $3.45 million guaranteed—was the very definition of going overboard for a mentor who didn’t even come close to delivering on that investment with his play on the field.
Signing OLB Kareem Martin
Martin was the first of a string of former Arizona Cardinal players likely requested by defensive coordinator James Bettcher.
(Gettleman, remember, collaborates with the coaching staff in getting them what they need, but when push comes to shove, he also has to veto power to say no if the staff wants someone that is either too expensive or not the best fit.)
Martin, who got a 3-year $21 million deal with $7.5 million guaranteed, was probably one of those players Gettleman should have said no to, as Martin didn’t turn out to be as productive as hoped.
OG Patrick Omameh
Also part of the patchwork offensive line, Omameh, who lost his job in Jacksonville to Andrew Norwell, got a three-year, $15 million contract.
Too bad Omameh didn’t get through the first year of that before he was cut, the resulting transaction dumping a lot of dead money into the Giants 2019 cap since he was a post-June 1 transaction.
