New York Giants Mailbag: The Dog Days of Sumner Edition

Answering your New York Giants-related questions.

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.

#askPtrain Hi - thanks for all of the updates. With 53 on the roster and 15(?) on the practice squad, and a few moving to IR - do you see between 65-70 of the remaining 85 staying in East Rutherford after Labor Day? @Valentine_Ed

— PJNJ (@TweetingNYPJA) August 16, 2022

What's up, PJ? Yes, I think that would be a safe assumption to make. I'm not sure of the exact percentage, but yes as a rule, guys who are part of the final roster cuts usually hang around waiting to see what's next.  

#askPtrain aren't the depth & quality problems , unavoidable results of the shambles the roster and the cap were left in by Gettleman, not fixable this season. Thanks for all.

— Tony Thomas (@BlackBanjotony) August 19, 2022

Hi Tony. There's no question that the lack of cap space is a big problem that still exists--and I believe that Joe Schoen will have to re-do Leonard Williams' contract, as I wrote the other day. Eventually, they'll get the cap straightened out, but at this rate, it wouldn't surprise me if it's a multi-year project because that's how bad the cap situation is.

#askPtrain How did we get Wink? Why did he leave Baltimore?

— Greg Pare (@GregPare1) August 19, 2022

What's up, Greg? Wink Martindale's contract wasn't renewed in Baltimore by head coach John Harbaugh, so in essence, he was a "free agent signing" that the Giants happened to get. And by the way, good on him for coming here because if you remember, he interviewed for the Giants head coaching vacancy and didn't get it--most coaches probably wouldn't have swallowed their pride in that circumstance.

Over/under 5.5 waiver claims after initial 53 man cut downs?

— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) August 19, 2022

Bobby, my man! Great to see you in the mailbag, and thanks for being patient with these delays with me coming on your podcast (we WILL do it soon, I promise.) Here's the thing. The Giants have no money to spend, so unless they get something done with Leonard Williams,

If I had to guess at this point, I'd take the under--figure they'll get a couple of o-linemen for sure, possibly a cornerback, and I wouldn't rule out a tight end/H-back. But again, I think the cap situation continues to tie Schoen's hands to what he can and can't do this year. And I wouldn't be stunned if we find out sooner than later that Williams was restructured as his is the only contract it makes sense to touch if they need cap space (which they do).

(From Mark N.) Why can't we just save ourselves the headache and money and cut Kadarius Toney? It's obvious that the kid doesn't wanna play football. A lot of other season ticket holders and I are already sick and tired of seeing his name on an injury list or not practicing.

The kid may be electric with the ball in his hand, but if he's never on the field, it doesn't matter. Another wasted draft choice from the Gettleman era. Please dump the kid and get somebody that wants to practice and be a team player; we've had enough already.

Mark, you do NOT give up on talent, and Kadarius Toney has talent. It's really that simple. I'm not sure how you're concluding that the kid doesn't want to play football--I do not believe that to be the case at all. A better question is how they get this kid's body right because you're right; the injuries are becoming disheartening at this point.

(From Joe G.) Whenever I read an article about the Giants that includes the likes of WR/TE like Golladay, Toney, Slayton, Engram, Rudolph, Smith, etc., from 2021, it's always they underperformed. They all underperformed? Really? Seems hard to believe. 

In reality, they were misused by a sub-par coaching staff. There were many times the press questioned the decisions on play calls. We all knew Garrett was not a good OC after his 1st season, but they kept him on. 

Then when he got let go, in came Kitchens, who was worse, didn't know how to cope with Jones getting hurt or a sub-standard OL. How about sending a receiver and having them stop and wait for the ball? I contend that it was not the receivers' fault that they ALL had bad seasons. It was the coaching and poor OL play. Your thoughts.

Joe, I believe that the players you mentioned were incorrectly deployed, but that said, at some point, you gotta look at the player performance. Is that on coaching if Daniel Jones is holding the ball too long because he doesn't trust what he's seeing?

Is that on coaching if Kenny Golladay isn't reaching for balls in his catch radius? Is that on coaching if Evan Engram took his eye off the ball to see where a defender was? If the general manager cuts corners on a backup quarterback, is that the coach's fault?

I think there's plenty of blame to go around, but that's in the past. Let's see if Daboll and his staff can finally get this team right.

Who’s more important to the success of the Giants Bobby Johnson or Jerome Henderson

— Wes Loch (@WessieWesticles) August 20, 2022

Both, Wes. This isn't an apples-to-apples comparison. The offense needs the offensive line to play well, and the defense needs the defensive secondary to play well, both for different reasons but ultimately for the same goal: to win football games.