The New York Giants are one of the most popular teams in the NFL. Per Forbes, they are the third most valuable franchise, and yet continually disappoint year after year. For such a popular free agent destination, why are they so terrible? Without a doubt, Dave Gettleman is to blame.
Ever since the 2012 Super Bowl win, the Giants have made series of terrible decisions in free agency and the draft. The 2013 season featured Eli Manning throwing an impressive 18 touchdowns and 27 interceptions. The consecutive two seasons ended with mediocre 6-10 records. Afterward, the Giants drafted the biggest bust in franchise history with the 9th overall pick in Ereck Flowers. The offensive tackle gave up the most sacks since being drafted until being cut a few years later. Coincidentally he would go on to be a successful player for the division rival Washington.
A surprising playoff appearance in 2016 ended with an embarrassing 38-13 loss in Green Bay. And then it got even worse. Unsurprisingly, that season would be followed up with a 3-13 record, but the Giants decided to use the 2nd overall pick on a running back that would play for a little over half of the next three seasons. To make matters worse, the organization thought hiring Dave Gettleman would resolve all their issues. His hiring has single-handedly ensured the Giants’ lack of success will continue.
We saw the Giants select tight end, Evan Engram, from Ole Miss in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft. Not only has Engram demonstrated zero progress with his drops, but he has single-handedly accounted for multiple interceptions the past two seasons alone.
A myriad of dreadful business decisions from Dave Gettleman has led to even more disappointment for a once successful franchise. Jason Pierre-Paul (one of the top sack leaders in franchise history) was shipped off for draft picks that were later wasted by Gettleman. Tackle Nate Solder was signed for top money to protect the aging Eli Manning and turn their offense around.
Consequently, Manning was sacked an impressive 47 times, resembling a corpse in the pocket. But the 2019 offseason would change everything. Gettleman had compiled three first-round draft picks. They would draft three perennial starters to turn around a porous roster. With the 6th pick, they would take Eli’s heir in Daniel Jones who has led the league in turnovers since joining the team. The next pick would be Dexter Lawrence who couldn’t beat out benchwarmers until last season. And their final first-round pick ended up in prison.
And they seemed to repeat the same mistake in this past draft going after Andrew Thomas with the fourth overall pick. Thomas was quite literally the worst tackle in the NFL. Giving up a league-high 10 sacks, the Giants can’t possibly feel confident with that pick. Especially considering he was drafted ahead of Tristan Wirfs, Jedrick Wills, and Mekhi Becton. Each of those first-round tackles found success in their rookie season and have promising futures ahead of them.
Now after a recent 6-10 season the Giants have given their fans hope this offseason. Signing Kenny Golladay and Adoree Jackson were needed upgrades to the roster. What Giants fans fail to get is how overpaid those players are. Golladay waited to sign, and when he did the receiving market was down. Juju Smith-Schuster just signed for $8 million. Will Fuller had signed for a mere $10 million.
With the market down on receivers, the Giants were in a prime position to sign an oft-injured Golladay to a fair deal. But what does Gettleman do? Gives him one of the largest contracts the Giants have ever handed to a pass-catcher to the tune of four years $72 million.
Now for Jackson, a player who has struggled with injuries himself the past few seasons. A surprising cut by Tennessee earlier in the offseason should raise red flags already. Are his injuries worse than we expected? Does he have character issues? Surely a former first-round pick who just turned 25-years-old wouldn’t be cut for no reason. That didn’t stop Gettleman from shelling out $39 million. This is all before signing Leonard Williams to a stupidly massive three-year $63 million deal.
Now signing these players were huge for improving the roster. The players were not necessarily worth all that money and New York will find themselves in a tough position cap-wise going forward. Going into the 2021 draft the Giants own the 11th pick. While it seems they couldn’t possibly screw this one up, I wouldn’t put it past Dave Gettleman.
I’m not even going into the fact that all these signings were made to try and develop an awful quarterback who wasn’t even worth a first-round selection back in 2019. And before any arguments are made, the only stat Daniel Jones is the leader in is most fumbles in both 2019 and 2020.
The Giants are the worst-run organization in the league and cannot get out of their own way until firing Dave Gettleman. Even if they do make the smart decision to move on, the damage he has done to their franchise will be apparent years after.
