Reese has Super chance to build legacy
Jerry Reese spent more than $200 million of John Mara’s and Steve Tisch’s money wisely last offseason to get the Giants back to the playoffs in January. But is Big Blue’s 11th-year GM simultaneously also in the process of reassembling a deep, sustainable, winning roster that pushes Reese’s legacy to greater heights?
That is an intriguing question as the NFL combine (Feb. 28-March 6), free agency (March 9) and draft (April 27-29) arrive these next two months: Reese was spared but put on notice by Mara after four straight years out of the playoffs and Tom Coughlin’s ouster in January 2016. So can he continue his and the franchise’s resurgence and win once more, while still building well for the long-term?
Reese is charged with surrounding Eli Manning with enough talent to make a third Super Bowl before the clock on Manning’s career runs out. And so the general manager will need to make upgrades on the offensive line, at skill positions across the offense, and in the pass rush.
But the test of Reese’s continued endurance also will be his ability to identify, draft and develop talent that fits young head coach Ben McAdoo’s plan and makes the Giants an annual contender, as he has done with some key decisions in recent years.
As effective as Reese’s free-agent signings of Janoris Jenkins, Olivier Vernon and Damon Harrison were last year − turning one of the NFL’s worst defenses into one of its best overnight − some of Reese’s best recent work has not involved blockbuster contracts.
He made the gutsy 12th overall pick of Odell Beckham Jr. in 2014, which probably saved his job. He traded up two years ago to snag strong safety Landon Collins at 33rd in the second round out of Alabama. Collins was a finalist for NFL defensive player of the year this past season.
And last year’s first and second-round picks, corner Eli Apple and receiver Sterling Shepard, provided immediate, every-down contributors on both sides of the ball.
Still, Reese’s free-agent spending spree on defense wouldn’t have been necessary if he had a better track record in drafting and in identifying diamonds in the rough. The gold standard is his 2007 draft in his first season leading up to that first Super Bowl run.
That year, while Reese inherited Ernie Accorsi’s roster, plenty of Reese’s draft picks became significant contributors right away: corner Aaron Ross, defensive tackle Jay Alford, tight end Kevin Boss, safety Michael Johnson and running back Ahmad Bradshaw among them. Wideout Steve Smith and long-snapper Zak DeOssie, still a Giant, were important products of that draft, too.
Reese’s track record after that, though, has been spotty to say the least, coming up empty not only on some early-rounders − such as running back David Wilson (first round, 2012), linebacker Clint Sintim (second round, 2009) and wide receivers Rueben Randle (second, 2012) and Ramses Barden (third, 2009) − but also on the depth acquisitions that fill out a playoff roster.
Not a single player from the Giants’ 2011 and 2012 drafts was on last season’s roster. And Reese’s late-round misses include selections of quarterbacks Andre Woodson (2008, sixth-round) and Ryan Nassib (fourth, 2013).
Reese’s Giants have beaten the Patriots twice in the Super Bowl, granted. But AP teams in the NFL always emulate the reigning champion, and New England again is the envy of the league by winning with lowround picks and undrafted players in key roles: Tom Brady (sixth round), Julian Edelman (seventh round) and Malcolm Butler (undrafted) most prominent among them.
Even the second-round selection of Jimmy Garoppolo in the 2014 draft has the Patriots filthy rich at the most important position in the sport, likely to yield enormous return in an offseason trade. These are the decisions that not only help a team get good but stay good.
Reese’s 2016 Giants roster showed encouraging signs in that department. By season’s end two undrafted free agent rookies, Romeo Okwara and Andrew Adams, were starting on that formidable defense, along with Collins, a 2014 fifth-round pick Devon Kennard in a hybrid linebacker/pass rusher role, and 2010 first-rounder Jason PierrePaul of course on one end.
On offense, rookie sixth-rounder Paul Perkins became the starting running back by season’s end, Shepard played every down, undrafted free agent Will Tye manned tight end, and the regular starting offensive line was virtually all Reese: left tackle Ereck Flowers (first round, 2015), left guard Justin Pugh (first round, 2013), center Weston Richburg (second round, 2014) and right tackle Bobby Hart (seventh round, 2015).
Of course, the line was one of the Giants’ weak spots, so that’s an area where Reese must redeem himself. It is also not easily forgotten that he re-signed kicker Josh Brown, released since due to a domestic violence admission, and that Reese still has not explained himself, unaccountable to a huge blemish on the franchise.
This 2017 offseason, though, Reese has an opportunity to build on some important groundwork he has laid with both free agent splash signings and some savvy recent drafting and talent evaluation, including the hopeful blossoming of fourth-round linebacker B.J. Goodson in his upcoming second NFL season.
It will go a long way in determining whether Reese is able not only to recreate, but to sustain, the success of his past.