As a Giants fan, last night was disheartening. I probably spent more time than I ever have studying
the different prospects, and so I came into the draft with stronger opinions than
usual. Maybe I was too smart for my own good. In any event, the part of me that demurred on the idea that Dave Gettleman turned the team into a laughing-stock relented last
night. The GM is a joke and should be
fired. The team will be a dumpster fire
until that point.
It’s not just who he picked, but when he picked them. And the strategy implemented this year
actually now confirms the notion that I have long denied and resisted – that drafting
Saquon last year, instead of a QB, was the wrong choice. As remarkable and transcendent as Saquon is,
even that pick is now diminished because of how this draft was handled.
To wit, Gettleman explained last year that you don’t pick for need,
you pick the best player available. Saquon
is a gold-jacket guy, and you don’t pass them up, even for a QB – unless that
QB is a great talent in his own right and you need one. To be clear, as Gettleman made that case, the
Giants definitely needed a QB last year.
Well, after suggesting the same logic applies this year, and in a weak
QB class (which it should be noted falls one year after a strong one, with
another strong one likely to come in the 2020 draft), he overdrafts a sub-par
prospect and passes over potential gold jacket defensive talent. Incidentally, the Giants are not very good on
defense either, and could very much use one of the guys that were available when they
selected at 6.
To make matters exponentially worse, as the draft played out, it became
clear that the team could have drafted the same underwhelming QB prospect,
Daniel Jones, with their second first round pick. Or, better yet, they probably could have gotten
him on day 2 of the draft.
Now, add to this poisonous concoction, the Cardinals drafted Kyler
Murray and suddenly devalued the other QB prospect on their roster who would
have been a great fit in a Giants uniform – that guy being Josh Rosen, the 10th
pick in last year’s much stronger QB draft.
But, no, Dave Gettleman demurred on such a blatantly obvious and logical
path. Well, because Dave Gettleman.
So, to summarize, the Giants passed over a QB last year to pick a guy
who I think is remarkably good, only to pick a really unimpressive QB prospect
this year when there were oodles of defensive talent to pick from, with better QB
options available through trade (Josh Rosen) or by simply waiting until next
year (the Giants are likely to be a top-5 pick for the 2020 circus).
Remarkably, I root for more than one team where ownership and/or
management have proven to be a major obstacle to success. Maybe this bad news is a precursor to the
Knicks getting Zion. A boy can dream…
