Best and Worst Moves the New York Giants Have Made in Free Agency
There’s still a little more than six months to go before the start of the 2015 NFL season, which means a lot can happen with a team’s personnel between now and opening day.
Yet when looking at some of the moves the New York Giants made in free agency, some of the transactions make good sense for a club that was given a win-or-else edict by its co-owner, while other moves, either because of the money and/or the player, are head-scratchers.
Which free-agency moves look to be winners, and which do not? Let’s look at three in each category.
Best: Signing RB Shane Vereen
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Last year, the Giants running game finished 23rd in the league, averaging 100.1 yards per game.
While part of the blame has to go to the inconsistent run blocking by the offensive line, the running backs were also partly at fault.
Per Pro Football Focus, not a single Giants running back who recorded at least 100 snaps on offense—this group includes Peyton Hillis (115), Rashad Jennings (427) and Andre Williams (530)—finished with a positive grade.
If that isn’t concerning enough, those three running backs combined to average 2.1 yards after contact.
Moving over to the receiving game, the five Giants running backs—let’s include Orleans Darkwa and Michael Cox in the previously mentioned threesome—caught 62 balls for 469 yards and zero touchdowns. They also combined for nine dropped passes and one fumble.
New teammate Shane Vereen also finished with a negative grade from PFF running the ball, but he rose above the Giants running backs as a receiver.
Vereen caught 53 passes for 447 yards, an average of 8.4 yards per reception, which tops the combined average of the five Giants running backs on the roster last year.
He also had three touchdowns, dropped three balls and broke 11 tackles in the open field (versus the 14 that the 2014 Giants running backs recorded as a group).
If by now Vereen’s value to the team isn’t evident, consider this: Not only is he projected to fill that David Wilson scatback role on offense, but Vereen can also carry the load if injuries should strike down Jennings and/or Williams.
In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if at some point the roles of the running backs are redefined a bit to where Williams, the only one of the Giants running backs last year to receive a positive pass-blocking grade from PFF, takes on more of that role, while Vereen gets his hands on more carries than originally anticipated.
Worst: Re-Signing LB Mark Herzlich
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Linebacker Mark Herzlich is a good guy, a football-savvy player and, of course, an inspiration given how he overcame a rare form of bone cancer in his leg to make it in the NFL.
He had his best year last season, at least from a statistical perspective, recording his first career sack and career highs in tackles (52) and passes defensed (two), with most of those coming from the outside linebacker spot.
However, when one looks at the linebackers the Giants have added in free agency, the one thing that Herzlich doesn't offer that newcomers J.T. Thomas and Jonathan Casillas do is foot speed.
Herzlich has always been a player who knows what to do, but getting there to do it has been another story; however, once he moved to outside linebacker and had less ground to cover, that seemed to make a difference.
Per Pro Football Focus, Herzlich recorded his best career grade against the run, an 11.4 mark, in 2014. On the flip side, his minus-8.1 grade in coverage was the worst coverage grade of his career.
His special teams play also declined last year, as his minus-3.5 mark was the second-worst special teams grade on the team ahead of long snapper Zak DeOssie.
Production-wise, Herzlich, who in 2013 led the Giants with 13 special teams tackles, finished with just three total special teams tackles in 2014.
Although his two-year contract isn’t going to break the bank—he’s due to count for $1.2 million this year and $1.4 million in 2016 if he's still on the roster—his return was still curious.
Why? Herzlich is just one of several linebackers who can play multiple positions and contribute on special teams.
The Giants like to have competition at every position, and right now, they have seven linebackers—Herzlich, Casillas, Thomas, Devon Kennard, Jameel McClain, Jon Beason and James Davidson—competing for what's projected to be five spots on the 53-man roster.
While it doesn’t hurt to have depth at the position, especially as the team prepares to hold its breath regarding Beason’s availability, it’s easy to wonder if the Giants might have been better off going in a different direction.
If the team had retained Perry Fewell as the defensive coordinator, the move might have made more sense, as Herzlich's knowledge of the system would have been instrumental in bringing any new teammates up to speed.
However, that's not the case; everyone on the defense is going to be starting from scratch to learn Steve Spagnuolo’s system, so it's not as though the returning veterans have any type of advantage.
For a team that needs speed and quickness on the defense to keep up with the read-option and the speed in the NFC East, there were probably better than Herzlich options available, especially in the draft where loads of hungry rookies will be looking to latch on with an NFL team.
Best: Signing DE George Selvie
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There’s a reason why defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul is probably thrilled to have George Selvie lining up at the other defensive end spot this year—and no, that reason isn’t limited to the fact that both were college teammates at South Florida.
What Selvie can potentially bring to the Giants’ defensive front is a pass-rusher who uses his long arms to fend off offensive tackles, something that Mathias Kiwanuka struggled to do in his final two seasons as a Giant.
When a defensive end can’t shed solo blocking, that leaves the offense free to double up on the other defensive end (Pierre-Paul) and/or release the running back and tight ends into pass patterns without them having to chip a defender on the way out.
Selvie, in that regard, should be able to help Pierre-Paul if he can fight off solo blocks from offensive tackles and disrupt the quarterback’s timing.
If he can do that, that could ultimately present a problem for opposing offensive coordinators, who will be forced to play for stopping both Selvie and Pierre-Paul on passing downs.
The good news is that there is no right answer for opposing offensive coordinators. If they choose to double-team Pierre-Paul, Selvie, with his long arms and ability to defeat an offensive lineman’s hand punch, should benefit with sacks.
If Selvie draws the extra attention, that will hopefully open things up for Pierre-Paul to have the monster season he’s no doubt looking for.
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Worst: WR/KR/PR Dwayne Harris' Contract
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In theory, the signing of former Cowboys receiver and return specialist Dwayne Harris is not a bad move considering that the Giants special teams struggled to win the field-position battle last year.
According to NFL.com, the Giants were tied with Buffalo for the 17th best kickoff return average (23.3), while their punt return average of 7.7 ranked 19th in the league.
But why, out of all the free agents signed from other teams, is Harris' contract the richest?
According to Over the Cap, he will receive $7.1 million in guaranteed money.
You read that correctly: He will receive $7.1 million in guaranteed money as a “return specialist” who plays maybe a dozen or so snaps and who, as a receiver, has 33 catches for 418 yards and three touchdowns over a four-year career.
So what are we to make of this signing and the money that goes along with it?
The first and most obvious is the ongoing concern the team apparently still has about receiver Victor Cruz returning from a torn patellar tendon suffered in October.
While we hear repeatedly how Cruz is ahead of schedule in his rehab and how everyone is optimistic—the most recent update came from Cruz about a week ago when he told Danielle Elliot of Yahoo Sports that he thinks he’ll be back—it’s clear the that Giants’ outward optimism isn’t as strong as they’d like everyone to believe.
If Cruz, who is unlikely to participate in the spring drills, isn’t ready for training camp—and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he starts camp on the PUP list—Harris then figures to have a better chance of competing for the third receiver spot behind Odell Beckham Jr. and Rueben Randle, at least until Cruz returns.
Speaking of Randle, that leads to the second theory why the Giants gave Harris such a handsome contract.
Randle is entering his contract season. If he has a stellar year, there is a good chance the Giants won’t be able to retain him, especially if they don’t address the cap-eating contracts of quarterback Eli Manning, defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and cornerback Prince Amukamara this season.
Then again, if Randle is inconsistent this year, the Giants will probably move on.
Either way, Harris has $2.125 million of his $2.975 million 2016 base salary guaranteed, making him the only one of the Giants’ new free agents to have that much of a base salary guaranteed in the second year of the contract.
Clearly, it looks as though the Giants view him as a bigger piece to the puzzle at receiver in addition to handling the return specialist duties.
However, that they have made such a financial commitment to Harris despite a receiver-rich draft class and not really knowing what the future holds is a questionable way to spend limited cap dollars.
Best: Signing LB J.T. Thomas
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Presumably, Devon Kennard will battle it out with Jameel McClain for the strong-side spot, and Jon Beason, if he is healthy, will play in the middle, which would leave J.T. Thomas as the early favorite to replace Jacquian Williams.
Thomas, who has missed just one game in his three-year NFL career, has 112 tackles, one safety, five passes defensed, four forced fumbles and two interceptions.
Last year, he was the Jacksonville Jaguars’ starting strong-side linebacker for half of the season until injuries necessitated that he move to the middle.
Prior to his move inside, he was solid in coverage as an outside linebacker. Per Pro Football Focus, he allowed 15 of 19 pass targets to be completed for 108 yards (7.2 average) and no touchdowns before he moved to the inside.
By comparison, Thomas’ average of 7.2 yards allowed in the passing game was better than any of the Giants’ outside linebackers in coverage.
The closest Giants linebacker last season to rival Thomas’ numbers in coverage was Kennard, who per PFF allowed an average of 8.3 yards per pass completion.
Worst: Letting S Antrel Rolle Walk
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If Giants might be secretly hoping one move doesn’t come back to haunt them, that would probably be the decision to let veteran safety Antrel Rolle sign with the Chicago Bears.
While one can argue that it’s better to let go of a player a year too soon than a year too late, the biggest thing that walked out the door when Rolle signed with the Bears is his leadership.
It’s probably not a stretch to assume that defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is looking for players who can not only grasp every nuance of his defense but also be an extension of him both in the locker room and on the field.
The good news is that the Giants have that in linebacker Jon Beason. The bad news is that given his injury history, the odds don’t favor him being there for all 16 games.
If Beason can’t go, who then becomes the “voice” or the extension of Spagnuolo on the field? Is it Jameel McClain? Kennard? Jason Pierre-Paul?
It’s going to have to be someone because just as the Giants need to have a backup for Beason at middle linebacker, they are going to need a backup voice in case he’s unable to go at any point.
Unfortunately, the logical choice is going to be playing his ball 800-plus miles away from New Jersey.
Was it worth it to the Giants, considering Rolle agreed to a three-year deal with the Bears that, per Over the Cap, does not have a prorated signing bonus or carry any dead money in the final two years of the contract?
Only time will tell.
Best: DT Kenrick Ellis
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As noted in an analysis from Tuesday, one of the things the Giants really didn’t have on their defensive line was a space-eater—a big-bodied defensive tackle capable of engaging multiple blockers.
In Kenrick Ellis, the Giants might have finally found that space-eater, a player who, like Shaun Rogers, Norman Hand and Fred Robbins before him, creates congestion inside of the tackles, forcing running backs to head for the edges.
Although Ellis was limited to 144 snaps last year for the Jets, he finished with a 2.1 run-stopping grade from Pro Football Focus, the second-best grade among the Jets’ interior defensive linemen.
Of the six tackles (five solo) that PFF credited Ellis with, five of them were stops for zero or negative yardage, which would support an old NFL.com scouting report that hailed Ellis for having a rare combination of size and explosiveness, a combination that should theoretically lead to him being a disruptive force in the backfield.
Even as a pass-rusher, Ellis did what he could with his limited snaps. He finished with a team-best 5.0 pass-rushing productivity score from PFF, recording four pressures and the only sack among the Jets’ interior linemen.
He probably isn’t going to be an every-down player, so he won’t have gaudy numbers by the end of the season. But if he can disrupt a few plays and perhaps set up a few sacks for the defensive ends, this one-year experiment the Giants are about to embark upon with Ellis will have been worth it.
Unless otherwise noted, advanced stats are from Pro Football Focus.
Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced.
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