Giants introduce Gettleman as GM
In the opening minutes of his introductory press conference as Giants general manager, Dave Gettleman joked that some media members have hurt his feelings writing about him being “a little bit older” man from Boston.
Gettleman, 66, doesn’t view himself as the caretaker of this position until a younger executive is ready to take over.
“My plan is to come in here every day and kick ass,” Gettleman said. “That’s my plan, and I’m going to keep doing it until they either take my key card or the Lord calls me home.”
Gettleman, most recently the Carolina Panthers GM from 2013-17, has been an NFL executive with four different teams for 30 years. He was the Giants’ pro personnel director from 1999-2011 and then the senior pro personnel analyst in 2012 before leaving for Carolina. He said this is a job he has “only dreamed about.”
The successor to Jerry Reese, who was fired after 11 seasons, Gettleman has learned from front-office icons such as Bill Polian, Marv Levy, Bob Ferguson, Mike Shanahan and Ernie Accorsi.
“I’ve been hired to win,” Gettleman said. “The only promise I can make is I’m going to do everything in my power to lead this organization back to where it belongs. That’s my goal, that’s my intention. It’s going to get done.”
As far as roster building, Gettleman said he is oldfashioned in the belief that offense scores points, but defense wins championships.
“Style of offense has changed. Obviously, there’s that college influence. So obviously, the style of defense has changed to a certain degree,” Gettleman said. “But at the end of the day, it’s the same three things you had to do in ‘35 that you’ve got to do now in 2018. You’ve got to run the ball, you’ve got to stop the run, you’ve got to pressure the passer. Everywhere I’ve been and with the great teams I’ve been associated with, those were three very big staples.”
Here are the key takeaways from Gettleman’s presser:
FIX O-LINE
Former Giants head Tom Coughlin once gave Gettleman a sound piece of advice.
“Big men allow you to compete, and that’s really just so true,” Gettleman recalled. “The o-line and the dline, I believe in the hog mollies. We’ve had some great groups here, we had great groups everywhere I’ve been, and we’re going to get back to that.”
The Giants’ offensive line has been a mess for several years now, and Gettleman went a route that Reese never did publicly: Addressing that the unit is a problem.
“We’ve got to fix the oline,” Gettleman said unprompted. “Let’s be honest. Let’s not kid each other.”
NEW HEAD COACH
Gettleman outlined the three critical components he’s looking for in the Giants’ next head coach.
“You need intelligence, you need leadership, and because on the assumption that you hired an intelligent guy, you’re going to have a guy with vision,” he said.
Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has served as the interim coach since Ben McAdoo was fired on Dec. 4. Gettleman said the new head coach will have autonomy with his staff, but that the Giants won’t necessarily clean house.
“There are good coaches on this staff ... and I certainly would encourage whoever becomes the next head coach to talk to these guys, absolutely,” he said.