2017 IS OVER? AMEN 2 THAT!
Giants clinch 2nd pick & can leave nightmare behind
It must be the Gettleman Factor. The Giants experienced the best possible ending to the worst possible season, even though they almost screwed up by beating Washington on Sunday, but still wound up with the second pick in the April 26 draft when the Colts finished off their victory over the Texans a few minutes earlier. Happy New Year, Big Blue. The last time the Giants had the second overall pick was 1981. They selected Lawrence Taylor. That worked out just fine.
“It only means something if you pick the right guy,” John Mara said in the middle of the locker room after the Giants won their first NFC East game of the season 18-10 before an intimate and frozen MetLife gathering. The paid attendance was announced at 76,269, but there were only about 38,000 in the house before fans started to head for the exits early.
Even so, Mara had a smile on his face and was in a good mood for one of the few times this season.
The Giants finished 3-13 instead of 2-14 — it just sounds better. More importantly, owning the second pick puts them in a position of power, especially if quarterbacks Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen apply for early eligibility by the Jan. 15 deadline.
If the Colts had lost to Houston, the Giants would have dropped down to the third spot and Indy would have jumped up to No. 2. With the expected return of Andrew Luck next season, the Colts would have likely traded the pick if Darnold and Rosen came out, possibly to the Giants, possibly to the Jets. Now the Giants are guaranteed to get one of them if they are both in the draft.
“It’s nice to win the game,” Mara said. “It was also nice for the Colts to win.”
Gettleman, who spent a minute talking to Eli Manning after the game with the promise they will soon get together, didn’t want to comment on his thoughts about having such a quality pick to work with in his first draft. “I’m going to leave it alone for now,” he said.
It would have been typical of this season if the Giants finally won their third game and took themselves out of position to potentially get their next franchise quarterback.
So as Gettleman watched from Booth Four on the press box level two days after he was hired as the general manager, the start of a new era for Big Blue got off to a promising start. Now comes the tough part: Fixing this dysfunctional team.
The Daily News learned Sunday that Gettleman will run the draft and free agency and not hire anybody to replace Marc Ross, the vice president of player evaluation, whom Gettleman fired Saturday. Although Gettleman worked with Ross in his prior time with the Giants, Ross was closely associated with former GM Jerry Reese, and Gettleman decided to take the personnel department in another direction.
Mara and Steve Tisch hired him to pick the players, so he will pick the players.
The coaching interviews will start this week with assistants on playoff teams with a first-round bye or whose seasons have ended. Mara will send out the consent forms Monday with he and Gettleman ready to hit the road. At the top of the list are Patriots coordinators Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia in a hotel in the Gillette Stadium parking lot in Foxborough — assuming they each are interested in the job.
Texans coach Bill O’Brien’s future, due to friction with GM Rick Smith, became a bit less uncertain. Smith announced after the Texans loss in Indy that he will take an extended leave of absence to help care for his wife, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Now it seems likely O’Brien will remain with the Texans. He has one year left on his contract, so he could wind up with an extension.
But if things don’t work out, the Giants will be very interested in speaking to him. Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur is under the first level of McDaniels, Patricia and O’Brien. Panthers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, held in high regard by Gettleman from his four years as the Panthers GM, will also likely get an interview.
The best news coming out of Sunday for sure was clinching the No. 2 pick. Even though Mara and Gettleman both have said they want Manning to return in 2018 and Manning said after the game he “100%” wants to be back and doesn’t want to play anywhere else, he will be 37 on Wednesday and had a bad season in 2017.
The Giants have so many needs, but with an aging QB and no idea if Davis Webb can play — he dressed for the first time Sunday and, of course, didn’t take a snap — they will likely take the QB that the Browns leave on the table. Cleveland finished 0-16 and will pick first and with John Dorsey, a veteran football executive now in charge, they are virtually guaranteed to take a QB.
If Darnold and Rosen come out, the Giants can take whoever is left. When a team is 3-13, it’s preferable to draft a player at the top of the first round who can provide immediate help, but it’s also important to invest in a potential franchise QB.
If only one of the QBs comes out and the Browns take him, then the Giants can stay at No. 2 and take Penn State running back Saquon Barkley or North Carolina State DE Bradley Chubb, or trade down a few spots to get either Notre Dame offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey or Texas offensive tackle Connor Williams.
Remember that Gettleman subscribes to what Tom Coughlin once told him: “Big men allow you to compete.”
But also remember the Giants have no intention of picking in the top five again for a lot of years. They haven’t been there since 2004 when they were picking fourth, drafted Philip Rivers and traded him to the Chargers for Manning.
There are two weeks until Darnold and Rosen have to declare for the draft. Once they are in, there is no getting back their college eligibility. Rosen doesn’t want to play in Cleveland. Darnold will make no demands. If they’re both in the draft, I think the Giants have to take one of them. The rookie can learn from Manning for a year and take over in 2019.
The Giants couldn’t wait for 2017 to end, and 2018 is already off to a better start.