Grandpa-Style no-more; Bringing in the New Age of Giants Football

Tom Coughlin’s grandpa-style football is not cut out for the modern day NFL. Five times this season, the Giants held a lead in the 4th-quarter and managed to lose the game. Why? Because Tom Coughlin plays too conservative.

I wrote that a month ago as a sour-giants fan and saved it as a “I will come back to this draft later.” Later is here. The Giants promptly parted ways (fired) Coughlin and after a week of interviews kept my man Ben McAdoo as the 17th head coach of their organization. McAdoo was the right shot-term choice, he will keep the offense that Eli is comfortable with together, as the Giants are now ALL-IN on the youngest Manning for the next three seasons. McAdoo will spice up the coaching tree in New York. The beloved Steve Spagnuolo ‘Spags’ is sticking around along with few other defensive assistance but for the most part this organization is getting a much needed injection of youth. Their 2015 campaign is over, it is time to look forward. Here are some of my thoughts as to what needs to happen for the Giants to become competitive next season. Let’s start with the impending free agents.

Resigning and Releasing the Fringe Core Players:

Jason Pierre=Paul’s hand injury could mean he will never be the same player again. But his late season return did spark some pass-rush improvements and the potential of an injury discounted contract would be a smart investment for the Giants. Especially in a free agency DE class that drops off after Muhammad Wilkerson and JPP.

The other ‘big-name’ Giant free agent-to-be is Prince Amukamara. Injuries have haunted him throughout his Giants career, his latest proving to be difficult to over come late this season; but looking at the corner market this year (yes, aside from Josh Norman) he may be the second or third best corner available. Since the Odell/Normal scuffle pretty much ruled out the possibility of the Giants signing Norman, keeping Prince on an incentive-laden deal (to hedge the injury risk) would be ideal.

Obviously, the Giants would like to keep both guys, but should the asking price be too high for either player, I would have no problem if they bowed-out of the race and turn their fiscal assets towards some other marquee free agents, which we will get to later.

The other ‘notable’ Giants who could be resigned, but the team may be better off moving away from are: Rueben Randle [pass — go more explosive/reliable], Robert Ayers [pass — go younger], Cullen Jenkins [pass — impossible not to go younger], Larry Donnel [pass — too many fumbles], and Will Tye [SIGN — he played well for a rookie TE thrown into a starting gig, give him a shot].

That is a lot of names to pass on, but what may be more surprising is the next section of our rebuild.

The Victor Cruz Conundrum; and what to do with Other Aging Cap-Hogs

This may be painful for the optimistic Giants fans to hear, but if Victor Cruz is unwilling to renegotiate his contract to a smaller cap hit, then he needs to be released. Before we get to Cruz though, there are two other moves that need to be made to provide the Giants with Optimum cap flexibility. Injured and potentially retiring Jon Beason, 31, and equally injured Will Beatty, 30. Assuming no current FAs are kept going into free agency, the Giants would have $46,766,292 in cap space if Beason and Beatty were released. Beason himself would clear approximately $5 million and Beatty another $4 million. That would provide the Giants a lot of dollar bills to play with as they look to, as Ben McAdoo said, “reload” the team.

The headliner for the Giants off-season will be how they approach Victor Cruz. Who has missed nearly all of the last two season due to a knee injury followed by a calf injury. He is set to make ~$9 million in 2016, and cutting him would allow a hefty $54,766,292 in cap space heading into the 2016 free agent frenzy. Will the Giants cut him though is the hard question. I think they will approach Cruz about a renegotiation, what he will say to that prospect is hardly feasible for me to say. Let us assume he would say, what I would say, HELL NO. Then The Giants need to cut him because and Oft-injured $9 million wide-out when you have Odell Beckham Jr. makes little sense to me. Who could Big Blue bring in to replace him? We will get to that below…

“You May Hate Me, but it Ain’t No Lie, Buy-buy-buy”:

If you are a 90’s kid your gonna hate me for that title.

There are two free agents out there that could be immediate game-changers for the Giants. The defense that finished 30th in the league in points (32nd in yards) NEEDS take a serious run at both DE Muhammad Wilkerson and FS Tashaun Gipson. Since the offense finished a commendable 6th in points on offense, without a playmaker besides Odell Beckham Jr; I am comfortable spending on cheap upgrades on that side of the ball and betting big on defense.

Wilkerson’s relationship with the Jets is fractured. Gipson, I am assuming, wants out of Cleveland because who wouldn’t? Let’s chase them both. Not sure if we will even sign one, but the lack of a pass-rush (even with JPP) and the lack of depth at safety were two of the biggest holes on the Giants defense. Yes, there are others… but the Giants tend to spend their high value assets (cash and picks) on the skill positions of defensive line and secondary. Hey, they both fit that bill! Lets continue to operate under the assumption that they cut Beatty, Cruz, and Beason. We have ~$54 mil to play with. Looking at the largest contracts from last offseason at their positions, DL Suh and DB McCourty we can set the ceiling price for each at $19,062,500 and $9,400,000 respectively.

My one suggestion on the offensive side of the ball is to bring in a larger reliable receiver to play on the outside opposite Odell, my favorite candidate for the position is Muhammad Sanu. He has played great in relief of injured Marvin Jones or AJ Green in Cincinnati and he has proven to be healthier than the incumbent second-string receiver Reuben Randle (whom we have theoretically let go).

The recommended moves above would be over half our eligible salary (with just a proxy-ceiling price), but we would also fill two of the largest holes in our weakest area and provide another win-now ready offensive weapon for Eli Manning. The Giants are always good at finding bargain-priced fillers, so I leave it to Jerry Reese to find the plug-and-play players.

Not Another Typical Giants Draft; Jerry Reese’s Redemption:

Speaking of GM Jerry Reese… Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. At a recent press conference he challenged a reporter who asked him about how to correct his previous drafts, which have been weaker than the rest of the leagues in recent history. Jerry caught rather off-guard, most likely assuming the 2013 and 2014 drafts has erased doubts told him to show him the facts… aaaaaaaaand he did. The Giants track record over the last eight years was abysmal. Now things have been better as of late, and those developing draft classes just might have been what saved Jerry from the ax this season. But the seat is scalding hot. If this years draft proves to be unsuccessful, then Jerry Reese may find himself out in the cold.

So who could be a difference maker for the Giants in this draft? Well they pick #10 overall, so they are in a very good position to add quality talent. If this was Madden and I could really pick the guy I wanted at this pick, it would be Ezekiel Elliott, the running back out of Ohio State. He is an offensive playmaker who could be an immediate spark (as David Wilson was before his career ending injury) for the offense. But #10 may be too early for them to take the risk, especially a year after they passed on Todd Gurley in the first round for a more stable long-term lineman. Honestly, if they are committed to this short-term window, Elliott is the perfect player here. Having reloaded the defense with Wilkerson and Gipson, they would welcome the pricey asset of a first round pick on a skill position. If they miss on one or both of those two defensive free agents then I think they take a defensive end or one of the versatile DBs at #10 and address the offensive playmaking in a later round.

A lot of mock drafts, and these are very early mocks, have the Giants taking Myles Jack. I do not see it. Not based on the typical track record of Jerry Reese. They do not invest heavily in linebackers. Even though it has been a glaring area of need since the real AP (Antonio Pierce) retired. Then again, with his back against the wall why wouldn’t Jerry Reese be thinking win-now?

My pick would be Elliott either way, but we won’t have a real indication of who they are looking at until late April. That is just my opinion on how the Giants could reload this offseason.