Here’s one vote for ‘no’
Talking about which free agents for the New York Giants to target is great fun at this time of the year. Free agency is less than a month away, and right now speculating on how GM Joe Schoen will try to improve a team that disappointed with a 6-11 record in 2023 is what we have to do.
It is important to remember, though, that the foundations of the best teams are usually built by drafting, developing and keeping your own players.
Why am I writing about this?
Because Sports Illustrated football writer Conor Orr, in a ‘bold offseason predictions for all 32 teams’ predicted that “The Giants will generate some cap space and try to spend their way back into contention.”
Orr writes:
The NFC East is at a point of vulnerability. Dallas is losing Dan Quinn and has put its head coach in a horrendously disadvantageous, lame-duck situation. Washington is turning over its roster and could be playing a rookie quarterback. Philadelphia is in the kind of panicked coordinator switch that typically releases a whiff of desperation. The Giants, I think, could create some financial breathing room and attack a class that is rich in positions they need most: wide receiver, defensive back and pass rush.
I can see why Orr thinks that might be a path that Schoen and the Giants choose. I have, after all, been saying recently that there is pressure on Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll to turn things around in Year 3 of their regime.
The equity the duo built with a better-than-expected 2022 dissipated with the disappointments of 2023 and cloud of perceived dysfunction that hangs over both. Daboll because of the reports about his volatility and the idea that the large turnover on his coaching staff was at least partially a result of that. Schoen because many of the decisions made last offseason, including the big contract given to Daniel Jones, are seen by many as mistakes.
Under pressure, GMs and head coach often turn to free agency for quick fixes that will theoretically help them keep their jobs.
Jerry Reese did that in 2016, giving massive contracts to Damon Harrison, Olivier Vernon and Jackrabbit Jenkins. That worked for a year, but when the Giants imploded in 2017 Jenkins was part of a locker room mutiny that cost both Reese and coach Ben McAdoo their jobs.
Dave Gettleman tried it in 2021. He signed wide receiver Kenny Golladay to an unnecessarily massive four-year, $82 million contract to be the team’s primary receiver. That blew up in his face. Gettleman signed cornerback Adoree’ Jackson to a three-year, $39 million deal. While Jackson is a nice player, that was always an overpay. There was also the Kyle Rudolph debacle with his two-year, $12 million deal remaining in place despite a foot injury discovered before he signed.
The Giants went 4-13 in 2021 and both Gettleman and head coach Joe Judge were required to turn in their key cards at season’s end.
Giants’ free agency over the past few years is littered with mistakes. Nate Solder. Golden Tate. Patrick Omameh. Jonathan Stewart. The Bobby Okereke/’Snacks’ Harrison success stories are really the exceptions.
Here is one voice hoping Schoen and Daboll don’t make the same “quick fix” mistake.
It is, obviously, tempting. Over The Cap lists the Giants with $19.462 million in cap space. They could create another $12 million before the start of free agency by cutting guard Mark Glowinski and tight end Darren Waller. They could make smaller cuts like defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches and cornerback Aaron Robinson.
They could restructure large contracts like those of Andrew Thomas, Dexter Lawrence, Okereke and perhaps a few others.
Schoen said at the end of the season that he wants fans to “believe in the process.” He needs to believe in it, too, and not abandon trying to steadily build something that will last while pursuing the panic-mode free-spending quick fix.
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