Folks, it’s no secret that Dave Gettleman’s tenure as the Giants General Manager has been a rocky one to say the least. His 15-33 record as General Manager speaks for itself. While some Giants fans are more inclined to have a “wait and see” approach with a lot of matters regarding Dave Gettleman, I’ve seen enough over the past 3+ seasons.
When you look deeper into the moves that Dave Gettleman has made as Giants General Manager, it’s completely crazy that he still has a job. He’s been a bottom five general manager through and through since taking over after the 2017 season.
While the lion’s share of Dave Gettleman’s moves have been terrible, these five moves stand out above the rest in regards to the level of their stupidity. These are all moves that are either major misses in the draft or cap space destroying franchise signings.
For the record, I will not be saying that drafting Daniel Jones is one of the five biggest mistakes of his tenure just yet. That being said, if Jones has another year next year like he did this year then he will be number one on this list.
So let’s get to the list. We’re gonna start off fiery.
1. Drafting a Running Back Second Overall
The biggest mistake of Dave Gettleman’s tenure as Giants General Manager is not signing Nate Solder or Golden Tate. It’s not his massive blunders in free agency. It’s taking Saquon Barkley second overall in the 2018 NFL Draft.
This blunder is significant because teams RARELY pick in the top 2 of the draft and to waste the pick on the most disposable position in the league is incredibly disappointing. To not even listen to trade offers on this pick is even more sickening.
Trading back would have been the ideal option if you didn’t like one of the quarterbacks in 2018. There were reports that Denver was offering the fifth overall pick in 2018 and their 2019 first round pick and more to trade up to number two. Those picks could have been used to rebuild this roster into a contender by now.
On top of all that, Saquon Barkley is injury prone. He’s only played in 65% of his career games. That’s a common issue with running backs. He hasn’t made a difference in wins and losses for this team because he plays an irrelevant position. This is Dave Gettleman’s worst decision yet.
2. Signing Nate Solder to a 4 year/$62M contract
There’s nothing worse than paying a massive amount of money for a free agent and missing, especially when they play a premium position like left tackle. This contract was horrible from the start. Nate Solder was never an elite tackle during his time in New England. Even during his prime he was an average-at-best tackle.
So what does Dave Gettleman do? He gives him a record breaking contract. This is not the way you build a roster. This mistake is one that the Giants are still paying for in terms of their cap space.
3. Trading Up and Drafting Deandre Baker
Man oh man this draft pick was AWFUL. While I liked Deandre Baker as a prospect, I never realized how many behind the scenes issues he had. One Giants source told the New York Post the following:
“There was a battle in our building on whether we were going to take DeAndre or not,” a source privy to the Giants’ draft thinking told The Post, “because the story was he had to have his a– kicked every day to work hard at Georgia — to even go to practice. We knew that and we still drafted him, and from Day 1 it was like taking a guy in the first round that you had to teach nearly everything to.”
Via New York Post
From a “culture” perspective this pick was horrible. If the team knew that he didn’t work hard in college then why would a team that allegedly values culture above all else take this guy? It makes zero sense. That’s the common denominator of Dave Gettleman’s tenure.
What makes this pick even worse? The Giants traded up from pick 37 and gave up a fourth and fifth round pick to make this trade happen. That’s three draft picks down the drain on a guy who should have never been picked in the first place.
4. Signing Golden Tate
What’s worse than a rebuilding team using valuable cap space to sign a player past his prime that won’t be good once the team is finally good? Signing a veteran player who’s past his prime that has character issues.
Before Golden Tate even played a game for the Giants he was suspended for four games. Aside from some garbage time touchdowns, he was a complete non factor for the team. He then became a distraction this past season and was demoted to the scout team. This signing was absolutely dreadful.
5. Trading Jason Pierre-Paul
Dave Gettleman trading Jason Pierre-Paul for a third round pick doesn’t get talked about enough. This was a horrible trade for the Giants simply because they haven’t been able to replace his production at the edge rusher position. The Giants lack of an edge rusher is a huge problem right now and unless they draft one early in a historically weak edge class, it’s going to continue to haunt the Giants now.
What has Jason Pierre-Paul done since being traded? He hasn’t had a season with less than 8.5 sacks and he’s won a Super Bowl. The Giants could seriously use that kind of production from the edge. This was truly a terrible move.