Moves the New York Giants Should Have Made This Offseason
Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Didn’t.
That’s the way it goes for the New York Giants, whose general manager, Jerry Reese, is likely going to be second-guessed about the moves he didn’t make to help solidify the team.
To be fair, Reese isn’t a clairvoyant who could have predicted the injuries to left tackle Will Beatty or defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul.
However, there were probably some moves Reese should have made regardless of what was to come in order to make sure that the coaching staff had all that it needed to move forward.
Let’s take a look at some of those moves.
Sign Another Offensive Tackle
Even before left tackle Will Beatty suffered a freak pectoral injury while lifting weights with his teammates in May, the depth at offensive tackle was precariously thin.
Behind Beatty and rookie Ereck Flowers, the two projected to be the starting tackles, John Jerry and Marshall Newhouse were the two primary candidates off the bench.
So what happened? Beatty, the left tackle of all positions, got injured. That forced the Giants to move the rookie, Flowers, to the left side and to plug in Newhouse, a journeyman who, per Pro Football Focus’ cumulative data, has never finished with a positive overall grade, on the right side.
In fact, the last time Newhouse posted a positive run-blocking grade was in 2013, when he finished with a 0.6 score.
Newhouse, who is in no way a lock to start this year, isn’t the only reason why Jerry Reese should have added to this position. If Flowers is injured, the Giants are sunk.
Sure, they could bite the bullet and move Justin Pugh to left tackle if pressed—Pugh did receive some snaps there during the spring—but that wouldn’t be the ideal scenario.
The ideal scenario would have been to explore signing someone such as former St. Louis Rams offensive tackle Joe Barksdale, who graded out with a 9.2 last year.
The Giants instead rolled the dice with Flowers and Newhouse—Bobby Hart, a college tackle, is projected to be a guard at this level.
Still, don’t be surprised if the depth at the offensive tackle position has caused the coaching staff some restless nights.
Add More Competition for the Nickelback Spot
It’s never a good thing when the defensive coordinator, when asked who his nickelback is going to be, stands there and admits that he and his staff don’t have a clear direction of who that player will be.
That’s exactly what happened when the media asked Steve Spagnuolo that question in May. He said, “That’s one we’re trying to feel through, to be honest with you. … I’m not sure I have an answer for that right now.”
The Giants have guys on the roster who can play the position—Trumaine McBride, Mike Harris and Josh Gordy all come to mind.
McBride appears to be the incumbent, though as noted in this analysis, Harris’ talents shone in his limited stint.
Per Pro Football Focus, Harris allowed 6.28 yards per reception last year as the slot cornerback, besting the 10.25 yards per reception McBride allowed. In Harris’ case, he took 139 snaps as the slot corner to McBride’s 117.
Even so, when Harris’ stats are compared to the rest of the slot corners in the NFL who took at least 25 percent of their team’s snaps last year, Harris finished 22nd.
With that said, opposing offenses targeted the Giants slot cornerbacks only 83 times last year or 15.9 percent of the opponents' pass targets.
With the inexperience at safety, perhaps the Giants slot cornerback won’t be targeted as much, but that remains to be seen.
Add a Veteran Safety
When a coordinator comes to a new team, it is not uncommon for one of his free-agent players to follow him.
So it was only natural for Giants fans to wonder if, when New York hired Steve Spagnuolo from the Baltimore Ravens as its defensive coordinator, unrestricted free-agent safety Jeromy Miles might follow him through the door.
That didn’t happen, as the Giants selected Landon Collins with the 33rd overall pick in the draft.
They also apparently seem content with having the winner of a competition featuring Nat Berhe, Cooper Taylor, Mykkele Thompson and Bennett Jackson—all with zero combined NFL starts—as the other starting safety.
Meanwhile Miles—who, per Pro Football Focus, finished with a 5.2 overall grade and a solid 5.0 grade in coverage last season—didn’t even get a sniff of interest from the win-or-else Giants. By the way, they apparently were indeed looking to add a veteran safety—the New England Patriots' Devin McCourty was courted by New York, according to Jordan Raanan of NJ Advance Media.
That the Giants looked to free agency to fill the void that ensued when Antrel Rolle and Stevie Brown departed and Quintin Demps was not re-signed would suggest that New York was looking to add some veteran leadership to the position.
Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced.
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