Three straight years of top-six picks in the draft are all under Dave Gettleman’s watch. With a new head coach already in the building, Gettleman needs to show ownership he knows what he’s doing.
To be a Giants fan is much like being a fan of any other New York sports team, it takes commitment and unconditional love.
Whenever I tell someone my favorite teams to watch as a kid were the Mets, Knicks, and Giants, there’s an uncomfortable few seconds of silence before that someone replies with “no, seriously… which teams were your favorite?”.
In my lifetime, I’ve been fortunate to watch all five Super Bowls the Giants have appeared in. This means I’ve watched all four times they’ve won. (1986-87, 1990-91, 2007-08, and 2011-12).
There was, of course, that one Super Bowl appearance in 2000. You know, the one where Kerry Collins threw four interceptions against arguably one of the best defenses of all-time? Yeah, we prefer not to discuss that game.
I know. Four Super Bowls.
The Jets are still sending Joe Namath out every September to remind their fans of that one he guaranteed in 1969.
I’m not complaining. But, I’m a New Yorker. And that means we’re ready for the next championship five seconds after our team just won one.
The pressure hits different here. It’s not about what have you done, it’s what have you done for me lately.
So, for the casual New York Sports fan (and I know of lot of y’all), allow me to be your compass as both the Giants and Jets get ready for another season.
To understand the current status of the Giants, we must start in the front office with their general manager, Dave Gettleman.
What exactly is Gettleman’s job description? Well, that’s a question with a complex answer.
A general manager’s primary responsibility is making sure the product their team puts on the court or on the field is one that guests and fans will want to see.
That doesn’t sound too complicated, right? Well, if you believe that to be true then maybe I’ll next try selling water to a well.
In this case, the Giants don’t need Gettleman to reinvent the wheel. He doesn’t need to win NFL Executive of the Year for 2020, although it would be nice if he did.
No, the general manager of the New York Football Giants just needs to do his job.
For Gettleman to perform his duties, like most general managers, it helps to have a significant level of job security. And that’s where the twist in this plot begins to reveal itself.
Because job security for Gettleman with the Giants is currently fragile, at best.
In this case, the Giants don’t need Gettleman to reinvent the wheel. He doesn’t need to win NFL Executive of the Year for 2020, although it would be nice if he did.
No, the general manager of the New York Football Giants just needs to do his job.
For Gettleman to perform his duties, like most general managers, it helps to have a significant level of job security. And that’s where the twist in this plot begins to reveal itself.
Because job security for Gettleman with the Giants is currently fragile, at best.
That’s not to say this isn’t the case throughout professional sports for general managers and head coaches. The NFL will always be known as “Not for Long”, when the losses begin to pile up.
The business of sports, much like Corporate America, is all about what have you done for me lately? And if the answer is not much, then, like the Jay-Z song, it’s ‘On to the Next One’.
What’s gone wrong?
When the Giants introduced Gettleman as the team’s fourth general manager since 1979, it came with a main objective to fix all which went wrong under the watch of his predecessor, Jerry Reese.
Reese was the general manager of two Super Bowl championships for the Giants. But he also was the architect of a team which went from 11-5 in 2015 to a dismal 3-13 the following season.
The Giants were an aging team, with an aging quarterback, and an unhappy locker room. They were also in salary cap hell. Changes had to be made and Reese, along with head coach Ben McAdoo were let go.
“Given where we are as a team, we thought it was important to bring in someone with experience as a General Manager and a proven track record,” is what president John Mara and chairman Steve Tisch said at the time of Gettleman’s hire.
With over 30 years in the business, Gettleman has plenty of experience. He spent four seasons as the general manager for the Carolina Panthers. 15 of those 30 years were spent in the Giants’ organization as a personnel executive.
Gettleman has the chops to do the job, so why does he need to show significant progress this year in order to keep the job?
Because the numbers never lie.
And because the New York City market has grown tired of their sports teams doing more losing than winning.
In two seasons under Gettleman, the Giants posted a 9-23 win-loss record. They won only five games in 2018, and then just four games in 2019. On paper that’s not progression, it’s regression.
The one column that matters most, is the win column… sometimes.
The bottom line should always be about winning ballgames. But as the New York Knicks have shown us, year after year, if Madison Square Garden keeps selling out, then it’s not as bad for ownership as they’d like to have fans believe.
The one common thread New York Sports fans have in common is an unconditional belief in their team. No matter how bad it’s going, no matter how many heartbreaking losses, the fans believe better days are ahead.
Next year, is always our year!
Most normal people I know would call that denial.
If this was just about the win column for the Giants, Gettleman would’ve been shown the door, along with head coach Pat Shurmur, after last season.
The trust Mara and Tisch still have in Gettleman could do with a simple theory. For all his years of service, he’s only in his third year in this role for the Giants.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither was MetLife Stadium for that matter. The same logic applies when it comes to a general manager needing more than two years to rebuild a team.
Giants’ fans won’t want to hear that argument, especially die-hard fans who bleed blue. But the truth is there to be told and it’s deeper than just a losing win-loss record.
Making the case for Gettleman still being here
It shouldn’t be overlooked that a large part of what Gettleman’s done the past two years was cleaning up the mess left behind by his predecessor.
Today, the Giants have more flexibility in their salary cap. Their roster, once aging and overpaid, is restocked with youth and potential.
With losing comes the opportunity to rebuild through the draft. In 2018, Gettleman drafted running back Saquon Barkley with the number two overall pick. In 2019, he added quarterback Daniel Jones with the number six overall pick.
This year, the Giants, at number four overall, will again have a top-six selection. It’s an opportunity for Gettleman to add another core piece to the puzzle.
All of that must count for something, it certainly does on the business side of sports.
“Dave has a long record of success,” Mara said after the Giants announced Gettleman would be retained. “We think he’s capable of putting a great team together and he’s going to get that opportunity. To the extent we need to make changes in personnel or the way we do things, we’re going to discuss that.”
But Gettleman has had his share of misses too while on the job.
The signing of left tackle Nate Solder to a four-year, $62 million contract was supposed to have solidified the offensive line and help fans get over first-round bust, Ereck Flowers. Ask any Giants’ fan how many times they watched Eli Manning have to get up off the ground.
And, oh, by the way, Flowers was a Jerry Reese draft pick. No one will forget that anytime soon.
Trading the best player on the team, wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was received with mixed reviews, especially being that it came not long after signing him to a five-year, $90 million contract. The decision to let Landon Collins, a three-time Pro Bowl safety walk as a free agent, was also a head-scratcher.
Then there’s Gettleman’s relationship with the media which, at times, can come off looking like a 12-round fight whenever he decides to speak.
Factoring in the good and bad, Gettleman as general manager has been lukewarm at best.
So, now what?
The good Gettleman’s done was enough for Mara and Tisch to keep him on the payroll to finish the required task. Now, it’s about what he does with that extended time.
With that opportunity from Mara, however, also came a warning that he expects better results from his general manager, starting immediately.
“He does know that the batting average has got to increase going forward,” Mara said. “We need to win more games, and Dave knows that.
“I’m not going to quantify the number of wins I need to see. But we need to be able to put a better product on the field. We should be better next year.”
Gettleman has positioned the Giants to take the next step in the rebuild. And how he clicks with new head coach Joe Judge will be watched closely this season, and justifiably so.
In the team’s 95-year history, Judge is only the 19th head coach. But they’ve now had four head coaches since parting ways with Tom Coughlin in 2016. So, it’s going to take Judge turning out to be downright dismal at his job in order for the Giants to give him a shorter leash than they did Pat Shurmur. Gettleman has been in the game long enough to know this much.
Judge made his bones as an assistant under New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. My early impressions of Judge are he’s an alpha, his voice will carry plenty of weight when it comes to the type of roster he wants.
As we move towards the season, they’ll be plenty of time to discuss Judge. Meanwhile, the spotlight is on Gettleman to finish what he started.
Time to get that batting average up
When your boss sits you down after a poor performance, what goes through your mind?
How about after a handful of poor performances?
You’d probably brace yourself for that moment when you’re asked to turn over your access card or building FOB key, right?
The access card to the Giants still works for Dave Gettleman. And, at 69 years old, he doesn’t need anyone to explain to him what it means when your boss tells you to get your batting average up.
The best way to do that is, above all else, make sure you’re doing your job.
It means continue placing an emphasis on rebuilding through the draft and strategic free agent signings. He hit on Barkley and Jones showed enough potential last season to feel good about that pick. Nevertheless, he needs to hit on this year’s upcoming draft.
It means continuing to embrace analytics, and Gettleman has made efforts to improve this area.
And if it means yielding some of your control to the new head coach, and perhaps humbling yourself a little bit in the process, you do it.
When it comes to doing what is required of the job description, Gettleman is doing that. And that’s the only reason his access card still works. If he stays on this path, the Giants will turn the corner.
