New
York Giants
2018 Record: (5-11) 4th NFC East
2018 Season Recap:
Offense
Points: 23.1 (16th)
Yards: 356.1 (17th)
Pass Yards: 252.9 (11th)
Rush Yards: 103.1 (24th)
Defense
Points: 25.8 (23rd)
Yards: 371.4 (24th)
Pass Yards: 252.8 (23rd)
Rush Yards: 118.6 (20th)
Heading into the 2018 offseason, the Giants were
somewhat in a transitional phase with hiring a new coaching staff and looking
to retool this club back to winning levels.
With all anticipation for this team’s future, it all
began with the NFL draft. Rumors swirled around New York with heavy speculation
on who they would draft. Many believed selecting the replacement for Eli
Manning (in a quarterback heavy draft class) was the most plausible direction
for this team. However, general manager Dave Gettleman stayed true to his draft
board at snagged the best player in the entire draft, (Saquon Barkley).
While some hummed and hued the choice, we were fully
on board with New York bringing in a generational talent like Barkley to the
Big Apple. Though the argument does reign true, that housing a franchise signal
caller is the wave of the NFL, a talent like Saquon is very hard to find.
Now that the Giants held two super stars in very important
positions (Barkley & Beckham), the thought process was to allow Eli Manning
to at least game manage the offense exploiting the talents of these two young
men.
With Eli looking his age these last few seasons, many criticized
his play from 2018, even though he managed to secure very sound numbers with
Pat Shurmur calling the shots. With that said, even as the Giants leaned
heavily on Barkley to create mismatches on offense, the Giants were only able
to muster one victory in their first eight contests entering their week nine
bye. With majority of onlookers ready to force the blame on Manning and this
offense, it was the defense again which failed to answer the bell. No matter
how the Giants offense preformed, the defensive unit was the weak link on this
club.
Knowing the respect coach Shurmur receives around the
league, it was known that he would corral his troops to finish the season
stronger then how it started. Over the final eight contests of the 2018 regular
season, the Giants were able to remain very competitive while winning four of
their last eight games and seeing two other losses come by only a single point.
Though the first season under Pat Shurmur was an
obvious letdown, they did encounter a plethora of injures which added to the
pain and suffering. Entering the 2019 offseason, the prospects of how this team
can build and progress should be the final outlook with some level of optimism.
2019
Offseason WorkBook:
The
Coaching Staff
With New York in only the second year of this
installation under Pat Shurmur, the main members on his staff have returned for
the 2019 season.
Retaining offensive coordinator Mike Shula, and
defensive coordinator James Bettcher, at least familiarity and comradery will
be in place for the new year.
Outside of a few specialty coaching hires this offseason,
the Big-Blue will have the same cast running the show in hopes to bring this storied
franchise back to levels of greatness.
The
Offense
Obviously the popular conversation in New York is how
to handle the quarterback position and Eli Manning. Even as Eli saw his best
season in terms of completion percentage (66%), and climbed back to near career
high levels in passing yards (4299), his touchdown statistics definitely left a
lot to be desired. Entering his 16th season at the ripe age of 38
years, there is no question that New York requires a succession plan for the
position, and rather quickly. With rumors already flying around that the Giants
could possibly trade for a quarterback (maybe Dalton, Tannehill, Keenum), or
draft one of the top prospects in this year’s class, wondering how Eli fits
into that mold will be something to watch.
The running back situation in New York is perhaps the
only constant that won’t see much scrutiny. With Barkley firmly entrenched as
the lead dog, the only avenue of change we could see is adding depth to the
position. With no practical change of pace runner currently on the roster, an
upgrade to Barkley’s backup should transpire.
New York’s receiving core is led by their other super
star (Odell Beckham Jr), but his status on the club has also seen a great deal
of speculation. The Giants have gone on record to suggest they are open to
trade their generational receiving talent, provided the return is extremely favorable.
We still can’t understand the notion of letting Beckham leave the team, but the
way the NFL is set up, no one is untouchable. While the rest of the receiving
core sees few players that can generate production, we’ve seen what happens to
this offense when OBJ isn’t on the field. Even if Odell manages to remain with
New York for the foreseeable future, adding a speedy deep threat or a capable
slot receiver should be a high priority.
As we continue with our review of this Giants offense,
it again is abundantly clear that the offensive line requires further
recreation. New York has left Eli to run for his life for far too long, and any
other quarterback they intend to bring to the team will experience the same fate
if these inadequacies aren’t corrected. This line gave up a whopping 47 sacks
to their quarterbacks and left the run game to virtually fend for itself. This
is once again a top priority in 2019.
The
Defense
In our eyes, this defense is the larger weakness of
this team, which is incredibly surprising given the amount of money they have
dished out to this group. This unit is three years removed from showing great
poise and dominating prowess, and looks to be on the decline with its current
setup.
The defensive line isn’t a polished group that creates
fear to their opposition and requires a great deal of talent to turn things around.
BJ Hill was the only real bright spot on a line that struggled for most of last
season. Seeing more attention and talent added to this line will be an understatement.
The Giants line backing core is a decently solid unit
that does have big play potential with Alec Ogletree and BJ Goodson leading the
way. Both these interior backers found themselves atop the team leaders in tackling
production, and should again be vying for the lead in 2019. With Olivier Vernon
placed as the Will line backer for most of the season, his statistical production
has been on par to what he’s been able to achieve for most of his career. With
rumors that New York has seen enough of overpaying Vernon for the return on
invest he provides; the Giants are actively shopping the pass rusher.
When the Giants went to the open market a few seasons ago,
Janoris (Jack Rabbit) Jenkins was a player that proved he was worth every
penny. Changing the dynamic of this secondary, Jenkins along with star safety
Landon Collins (in support), this secondary had moments of glory. Now when
seeing the meltdown of this entire defensive group, recent reports have
confirmed that Landon Collins will not receive the franchise tag and will be
allowed to walk free into the open market.
While we don’t agree with allowing one of the team’s
best players to walk with no compensation, we fully understand why this has
transpired. The NFL undervalues the safety position and doesn’t see great
return in spending large amounts of the cap on the defensive back-end. This loss
will be felt on the Giants defense for the next couple years if not more.
Team
Free Agents / Team Salary Cap
When a team fails to have success and has overspent mismanaging
their salary cap, this is the exact situation we see.
Previous regimes tried to place the Band-Aid approach
on this roster in securing as much talent off the open market as they could, in
hopes to compete for the ultimate crown. That overspending has left New York in
a precarious situation where big decisions will have to be made in how to
correct this problem.
The Giants currently hold a mere 26 million (+$26,203,944)
in available cap room, leaving them little option to get better. Holding a
healthy 29 team free agents looking for new contracts, this is the exact reason
Landon Collins finds himself headed to free agency.
While this list does hold many names, most of these pieces
were held as depth positions and should be viewed as replaceable. Provided that
the price tag is team friendly, Mario Edwards and Cody Latimer hold the most
value to garner another contract and return to the fold.
With our goal to find the most amount of savings for
each team to progress and improve, New York has some options to generate more
funds to their cap. First and foremost, releasing life time Giant Eli Manning
is something that should be considered. Eli holds a cap hit of 23 million and
would only cost New York a meek 6.2 in dead funds. Based on the current financial
situation, Manning shouldn’t be on the roster in 2019.
With others looking to not make that big of an impact
in being cut candidates, its clear to why the Giants are open to move Olivier
Vernon with his 19.5 million, eating up 10.05% of their current cap. Even simply
cutting bait with the underachieving edge rusher, the Giants would have to eat
another 8 million in dead money.
The issues at hand regarding the current cap crisis
New York has, is the amount of dead money each contract has applied to them. In
order to gain funds to the overall cap, the Giants will lose out big dollars allowing
these players to play for other organizations. Like we said, past regimes mishandled
the books with utter buffoonery and this front office will take the blame.
The
NFL Draft
At least one bright spot heading into the 2019 offseason
sees the Giants holding a whopping 11 picks in this year draft. This is ample
ammunition to help expedite the rebuild process and help this team get back on
track.
Having and extra 4th round and two extra 5th
round selections, New York has the ability to dictate terms securing the
players they truly covet. Holding the 6th overall pick in the first
round does leave room for speculation, but the early consensus shows Gettleman
will select a quarterback with his first pick.
This will be a crucial draft for the Giants as they
must hit on at least 50% of these picks, including the quarterback, if they
intend to become a better product on the field.
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