5 Ways the New York Giants Can Fix Their Personnel Department's Results

With the dust having settled on the New York Giants shake-up that sent Tom Coughlin packing, all eyes are not only on who the next head coach will be but, more importantly, on what changes the personnel department, headed by general manager Jerry Reese, will make in order to make sure it doesn’t leave the next coaching staff short-handed.

“Listen, we've had three losing years in a row. A lot of that is due to some personnel decisions that have been made,” said team co-owner John Mara at Coughlin’s send-off last week. “To the extent we need to make changes in personnel or the way we do things, we're going to discuss that."

“We've missed players in the draft,” Reese said, also adding that he’d evaluate the individuals in the personnel department. “We still believe that you build your team through the draft. Free agency is part of it. But we believe in building our team through the draft. We'll always try to do that as long as I'm here.”

With the internal evaluations ongoing, here are some suggestions the Giants might want to consider to right the many wrongs that led to three straight losing seasons.

Cut Bait Sooner on Failed Draft Picks

Uncredited/Associated Press

In his 2014 season-ending press conference, general manager Jerry Reese famously admitted that the front office gives its draft picks a chance to fail before it pushes them out the door.

If nothing else, this practice has to stop.

If Reese is going to admit that it’s impossible to hit on every draft pick, which is an accurate point, then it’s OK to cut bait after two or three years, regardless of the round chosen, if a draft pick is simply taking up space and not earning his keep.

Some notable examples of draft picks whom Reese held on to for too long and who didn’t develop into the player the team hoped for include tight end Travis Beckum, wide receiver Ramses Barden, linebacker Clint Sintim, offensive lineman James Brewer, wide receiver Jerrel Jernigan, cornerback Jayron Hosley, defensive end Marvin Austin, offensive lineman Brandon Mosley and tight end Adrien Robinson. 

Simply put, if a player doesn’t show progress from by the time he hits his third year, cut bait and give the roster spot to someone who is more deserving, even if that someone isn’t a draft pick.

Stop Drafting Square Pegs to Fit into Round Holes

Uncredited/Associated Press

If a collegian excelled as a 3-4 defensive player, such as was the case with defensive end/linebackers such as Clint Sintim (shown above), Adrian Tracy and Damontre Moore, then don’t spend a Day 2 pick on a square peg and hope to fit him into a round hole.

The biggest head-scratcher about this past organizational practice is that the scouts and personnel folk have mainly seen these young players play in 3-4 systems.

Yet for some reason, these prospects somehow received higher grades on a draft board for a team that has run a 4-3 base defense for years. It’s been maddening, to say the least.

While on this vein, sometimes the safe pick is the best one.

For example, last year, the Giants drafted defensive back Mykkele Thompson in the fifth round, who later admitted that the Giants were the only team interested in him.

When a team has had so many poor drafts as the Giants have had, it can no longer afford to get cute in a quest to outsmart the rest of the league—not if it wants to get back on track.  

Count on Players Contributing

Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

Yes, every team needs to have a backup quarterback. And yes, it’s probably not a bad idea to develop a backup quarterback.

Here’s the problem, though: When a team trades up in the fourth round to draft said developmental project at a time when its franchise quarterback is in the prime of his career, and then the general manager says he hopes that pick never plays, that’s a wasted pick, no matter how you slice it.

That was the mistake made with Ryan Nassib, who in 2016 will enter the final year of his rookie contract and has yet to see any significant playing time behind iron man Eli Manning. Again, the concept of having a quality backup quarterback isn’t a bad idea; it’s a must, actually.

Still, would it have hurt the Giants to have picked up an undrafted rookie and developed him as a potential backup?

Would they have gotten better results by nabbing a young veteran who already has the experience and keeping the draft pick they gave up to select Nassib?

We will never know.  

Stop with the Run on Draft Picks and Rookie Free Agents from the Same Schools

Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

According to the FCS website, there are approximately 128 college football programs nationwide. Yet since general manager Jerry Reese assumed his role, the Giants have drafted from 51 of those schools, with 11 schools—Syracuse, USC, Virginia Tech, Eastern Carolina, UConn, LSU, Nebraska, Texas, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Southern Florida—yielding multiple draft picks.

Going back to the well is fine, but when one goes back to the well too soon, such as when the Giants drafted Justin Pugh (2013), Ryan Nassib (2013) and Jay Bromley (2014) out of Syracuse, or when they added draft pick Cooper Taylor (2013) and undrafted free agents Kerry Wynn and Ben Edwards from Richmond, then that can be seen as cutting corners.

If that’s not convincing enough, ever since general manager Jerry Reese challenged a reporter to present evidence of the team’s failures in the draft, ESPN.com’s Mike Sando did some research that uncovered this startling fact: "The players the Giants drafted since Jerry Reese became GM in 2007 combined to play a league-low 10,767 offensive and defensive snaps in the NFL this season. Other teams' picks over the same span averaged 16,448 snaps per team, or about 53 percent more snaps than the Giants' selections."

Ouch.

Be More Judicious Regarding Guys with Injury Histories

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Football injuries affect every player who steps between the white lines. However, some seem to get hit harder than others, and then there are those who have injury histories that are hard to ignore.

Football has become a year-round proposition thanks to the increase in competition. Whereas just a few short decades ago players would finish the season and then go off to regular 9-to-5 jobs, now many of them take a couple of weeks off after their season ends and jump right back into training for the new season.

Therein lies the problem. Many players do not allow their body to recover from the grind of the season.

What’s more, many athletes think nothing of it to take part in multiple workouts in the same day, thereby never really giving themselves a chance to recover.

With that all said, how many players coming off serious injuries are truly allowing themselves to heal and recover?

For example, a player who has ACL surgery realistically needs up to a year, if not two, before he’s truly as good as new. Unfortunately, the calendar doesn’t permit for that kind of recovery time, which is why it’s not uncommon to see guys coming off ACL injuries suffer second or third tears when they start to put themselves through the grind that is football.

While it’s true that injuries are part luck, when considering a draft pick or a free agent with a lengthy injury history affecting a body part the player needs to have 100 percent in order to excel, the chances are probably not going to be in that guy’s favor that he’ll stay healthy—not with the short turnaround time from the end of the season to the start of his training.

Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced.

Follow me on Twitter @Patricia_Traina.