How to Fix the Giants: 2021 Offseason Edition

Featured Image Credit: All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Note from the author: I’m publishing this article at 11:38pm EST on January 3rd, 2021. Some of this information may be outdated by the morning of Monday, January 4th. Hopefully Gettleman is fired.

Folks, another lost season has come to an end for the New York Football Giants. The Giants ended up this season playing in a historically bad NFC East but still somehow finished just 6-10. Since winning the Super Bowl in 2011, this team has had losing seasons in every single season except for 2012 (9-7) and 2016 (11-5). They’ve missed the playoffs in all but one of those seasons (2016). It hasn’t been fun to watch.

So now for the second year in a row I will write this piece and give my $0.02 on how to fix the New York Giants. You can view last year’s piece here.

From that list, the Giants did a few things well: They didn’t overspend in free agency, they didn’t overdraft a position due to need, and they didn’t hire Jason Garrett to be the head coach even though he’s now the offensive coordinator. Small victories I suppose on that last one.

The Giants didn’t do the most important thing from last year’s list: Fire Dave Gettleman and hire someone from outside the organization to run the football operations. Until that happens then the Giants won’t field a competitive football team.

Dave Gettleman is horrible at his job and through three years has not established a plan to make this football team a Super Bowl contender. His philosophy is built on principles that don’t win you games in the NFL anymore and his 15-33 record as Giants GM proves that. So that seems like the perfect place to start my list.

1. Fire Dave Gettleman

15-33 in three seasons. For most fan bases, that would be enough. Unfortunately it isn’t enough for the Giants fan base.

I have harped on this point a lot but until the Giants get a new aged General Manager who is willing to build this football team through the edges and through the passing game then this team will never be a true championship contender. I could go on for centuries about the past moves he’s made that have hurt the team but the reality is that all 31 fan bases and about 60% of the Giants fan base knows those moves and realizes that they’re horrible too. I’m done beating the dead horse. He needs to go.

2. Hire a GM from Outside of the Organization that will work with Joe Judge OR give Joe Judge more control

This one is simple: Hire someone who will work with Joe Judge that has a forward thinking vision for the team. Don’t bring someone in who doesn’t want to work with Joe Judge who has proven that he’s a good coach. Don’t promote Kevin Abrams above his current role. Hire someone who will at least listen to analytics and have a modern approach when it comes to building the roster.

3. Get a true #1 Wide Receiver

Since Dave Gettleman traded away Odell Beckham Jr. for a run stuffing defensive tackle, safety who may not get a new contract due to the Giants re-signing and overvaluing Logan Ryan, and a project edge rusher, they’ve severely lacked a true weapon at wide receiver. This wide receiver by committee approach isn’t going to cut it. There’s no alpha in the wide receiver room. Shepard and Slayton are fine complimentary pieces but the Giants need to sign a true alpha via free agency or draft someone who can be a true threat on the outside early.

4. Get a true #1 Edge Rusher

This team needs to stop trying to generate pressure from the inside while completely ignoring the edges. Is interior pressure on defense a good thing? Absolutely. But when you have bums playing on the edges and quarterbacks who aren’t statues that can escape the pocket then your pass rush will be incredibly limited.

Are there games where it will look okay? Sure. But there won’t be sustainable success. Get a true edge rusher and stop trying to pretend like this team’s lack of an edge rusher isn’t a problem.

5. Be Wise Stewards of the Available Cap Space

It’s very difficult to predict exactly how much cap space that the Giants will have heading into the 2021 NFL season due to the uncertainty involving the COVID-19 pandemic but the Giants are already off to a poor start. Signing a player in Logan Ryan who will be 30 years old when next season starts when you have two other players at his position to a contract with an average annual value of $10.33M isn’t a good use of your cap space.

So from here on out it’s incredibly important that the team gives themselves wiggle room to make the necessary moves that they need to make to draw in free agents and sign players who they consider to be core pieces. This likely means that the team should only sign one of Dalvin Tomlinson and Leonard Williams and not both so that they can put the money that they’d pay the other one to a true edge rusher and a true number one wide receiver.

Also please for the love of everything holy cut Nate Solder and Golden Tate.

6. Solidify the Offensive Line via draft, trade, or free agency

This team can’t take Matt Peart and Shane Lemieux’s development to the bank heading into next season. If there’s an upgrade available at right tackle or guard then they need to find a way to make that happen. Plus, despite popular belief, Shane Lemieux has been bad this season.

7. Other Minor Moves the Team Should Look Into Making

In no particular order, these are some other moves that I would consider making if I were running the Giants.

• Upgrade CB2
• Bolster ILB
• Sign a veteran QB to backup Jones IF the price is right
• Upgrade TE2
• Look at new punters- Riley Dixon struggled the second half of this season
• Begin having a Plan B for Daniel Jones who hasn’t looked the part so far

That about sums up my list. Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments.