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New York Giants Mailbag: What If and What Might Be

It’s time for a new edition of the mailbag!
Patricia Traina|

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What’s up, Oscar? If I’m the Giants and I still have several needs to fill, I'm not making any more trades for veteran players, certainly not with six draft picks (and I'm not touching next year's picks at this point either. 

This is a deep class for receivers, and I would be surprised if the Giants don't come away with a receiver in their first three picks. 

What’s going on, Reggie? I would like to think Year 2 of Garrett’s offense will run a lot smoother. I always remember something Eli Manning said when the Giants switched from Kevin Gilbride as offensive coordinator to Ben McAdoo. 

He said the players probably spent a little more time thinking things through while they gained a comfort level with the new offensive scheme in its first season but could play faster in the second. 

I believe that with having a full season under their belts, things should move a little smoother, especially if they acquire a couple of playmakers to allow for Garrett to do some of the concepts that I have reason to believe he wasn’t able to do last year.

Thanks for the question. “Completely different” to me means the Giants would have to part with tight ends Evan Engram and Kaden Smith, and receiver Darius Slayton, and I don’t see them doing that. 

I do think you’ll see at least two if not three new faces among the tight ends and receivers, and you might see a different distribution ratio among the various targets, but I don't think this is going to be a total tear-down.

Hey James, thanks for the question. My guess is Nate Solder retires, and they redo Zeitler’s contract (I agree he still has a lot of football left in him, and while it is tempting to remove his contract from the books, I don’t think you create a hole for the heck of it.) 

I also think Hernandez and Lemieux compete for the starting left guard spot. This off-season is a big one for the offensive line as they’re getting a new coach, and I wonder how much they’ll be starting from scratch.

Hey Adam! From a business perspective, it makes more sense to splurge on a pass rusher than a receiver. But I don't think the Giants are going to go that way.

I think you go and get a veteran receiver. Still, I don’t think you spend big bucks because this is another historically deep class that I’ve heard has a few guys with that potential to develop into No. 1 receivers. Meanwhile, the pass rush class is not a strong one, so if pass rusher is your top priority, you probably want to go the free-agent route.

Okay, with that said, the Giants did manage to generate a pass rush last year despite not having a consistent pass rusher (outside of Leonard Williams). And on the other side of the ball, with a decision coming up on Daniel Jones, I probably want to see what he can do if I improve the talent around him before I even entertain the thought of a contract extension next off-season.

If it were my call, I would sign a lower cost receiver option like Curtis Samuel at receiver and see if I can find a pass rusher in Day 2 of the draft. I just think the Giants still have more than a smidgen of needs that need to be addressed, and I'm not sure how deep their salary cap space will be since we don't yet know the cap figure. 

I think they have a system in place that maybe needs a little more tweaking. I also know for a fact they had to toss part of the playbook after they lost Saquon Barkley early last year, and they were counting on some more deep balls only to have to change course since they didn't have a receiver who could routinely take the top off a defense. 

Also, I think it takes time for the players to grow into a system, so I would expect Year 2 to be very different.

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Hey Mike. I don’t have a single favorite player to cover--I'd say that 99% of those I came across in my 20+ years on the beat were enjoyable to cover for one reason or another. I can say I got to know some players a little better than others as some were more chatty, but on the whole, I enjoy what I do, and I'm thankful that long after these guys leave the game, a lot of them remember me.

Hey Reggie, what’s up? As I noted above, I think now that the players have gone through this offense and have the basics down, Year 2 will (fingers crossed) hopefully go a lot smoother if they can stay healthy.

Joe, I’m not really into hindsight because if we knew then what we know now, then maybe things would have been different. In hindsight, I wish the Giants had gone in a different direction with their choice for a head coach after McAdoo was fired--and I say that knowing that at the time I believed it was the best move because of Pat Shurmur's experience working with quarterbacks. 

But had they hired him as an offensive coordinator (which I don't think they could have at the time since he was already the Viking offensive coordinator), I wonder if thigs might have been different. 

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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