HE’S GETT-ING

Critics of Gettleman moves are making Giant mistake

The Giants weren’t respectable last season. Not to rub salt in anyone’s wounds, but it seems everybody forgot. It appears the critics of new GM Dave Gettleman’s initial player acquisitions have erased the memory of ex-GM Jerry Reese’s constant draft failures and roster negligence that resulted in catastrophic deficiencies of offensive linemen, linebackers, character and depth, and in a 3-13 debacle of a 2017 season that blew it all up.

Gettleman’s ultimate goal is to win a Super Bowl obviously, but his first charge is simply to make this team competitive again, to put a product on the field that isn’t embarrassing, as the Giants were so often last season.

Gettleman, in other words, needs to undo Reese’s most glaring mistakes to simply give next season’s team a chance.

This is why it’s puzzling to hear criticisms that he overpaid Nate Solder an NFL-high $15.5 million per season for an offensive lineman to bring the Patriots’ free agent left tackle to New York. Would you have preferred Reese’s alternative from the 2017 offseason: not upgrading the position at all?

Gettleman himself the past two days has called Solder a “quality left tackle” in a team release and a “legitimate NFL left tackle” in an NFL Network interview. He did not call Solder “elite” because, echoing the scout I talked to on Wednesday, that’s not how he would characterize him.

But listen to what he’s saying: The Giants didn’t have a quality, legitimate left tackle. Now, they do.

Should elite money only go to the true elite players? Well, it’s fine to believe that, but Gettleman didn’t make this decision in a vacuum.

The Giants had a deficiency at one of the most important positions in the sport. They failed to address it

meaningfully year after year. Refusing to acknowledge the failure of Ereck Flowers’ selection at ninth overall in 2015 clouded Reese’s judgment. And that, along with some other swings and misses, devastated their offense and chemistry.

It costs money to dig out from that kind of colossal mistake. Not to mention, as Solder said himself on a conference call Friday morning, “the money was all somewhat equal” in the Giants’ bidding war vs. the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans. That competition, and the Giants’ desperation coming off their loss of free agent Carolina All-Pro guard Andrew Norwell to Jacksonville, set the market at Solder’s price.

Want to get mad at Gettleman for losing out on Norwell? Direct your frustrations instead at co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch, who presided over and enabled last year’s catastrophe —headlined by the disastrous Eli Manning benching — that plummeted this franchise to unprecedented depths and a rebuild while plenty of other franchises like the Jaguars ascended and evoked bright futures. Gettleman is competing against the Giants’ recent past.

That past includes this staggering stat: Only four of the 42 players Reese drafted between 2010 and 2015 remain on the Giants. Jason Pierre-Paul (2010), Odell Beckham Jr. (2014) and Flowers (2015) were first-round picks. Landon Collins (2015) was the first pick of the second round. And that’s it.

I know he has two Super Bowl rings, but Reese’s mistakes have gutted the roster of depth.

Look at linebacker: Gettleman’s trade for the Rams’ Alec Ogletree and signing of the Cardinals’ Kareem Martin didn’t necessarily blow the roof off Twitter when the news of them broke. Ogletree tends to struggle against the run. Martin isn’t a big name. And it was suspicious L.A. would sign Ogletree to a long-term deal last fall only to trade him the following spring.

But a few points here: Since 2012 the Giants have drafted just two linebackers if you count Devon Kennard, who was a defensive end coming out of USC in 2014, along with B.J. Goodson in 2016. Kennard just signed in Detroit. Goodson looks like he could be a special player but has battled

injuries. So again, there was a major deficiency at a critical position due to years of negligence, and new defensive coordinator James Bettcher’s arrival only increased the need for playmakers at the defense’s second level.

Taking on Ogletree ($10 millionplus annually) and paying Martin a reported $7 million average the next three years may make it seem Gettleman overvalued both players, but he’s paying the money because the need is there.

My understanding on Ogletree’s four-year, $42 million extension with the Rams, by the way, is that his versatility inside/outside and leadership made him L.A.’s priority at the position at the time, but that it was also a contract that had been on the table for a while and that Ogletree re-signed as he struggled coming out of the gate last season.

Also, the Rams at the time did not know corners Marcus Peters (Chiefs) and Aqib Talib (Broncos) would become available via trade this offseason. And they have to pay stars led by Aaron Donald on top of that.

That said, there was considerable shock in Los Angeles when Ogletree was dealt, especially given his leadership position on the team. And from the reaction it appears the Rams’ loss in that critical area is the Giants’ gain.

Martin, meanwhile, is an ascending player who brings familiarity with Bettcher’s scheme. And while I admittedly don’t understand a lot about the Jonathan Stewart signing, I at least can buy Gettleman’s comment Friday that Stewart’s experience in Mike Shula’s offense

can lend help on pass protections for the other backs.

It’s rationale grounded in a reality of trying to take a broken team and at least make it respectable on Sundays.

Now, as for Gettleman’s plan to build around Manning for years to come? That’s the head scratcher.

But just give him a few months here. First he needs to put a competitive team on the field.

DRAFT TALK WITH DAVE AND DORSEY

Browns GM John Dorsey owns the first and fourth picks in April’s draft. Gettleman and the Giants own the second. So both GM’s actions in free agency could tip their hands on whether they intend to go quarterback, Penn State RB Saquon Barkley or another player at one or two.

Dorsey’s recent activity seems to point to a quarterback at one, specifically his widely rumored preference, USC’s Sam Darnold, who likely needs a year to develop before starting.

Dorsey said Thursday that “Tyrod Taylor is our starting quarterback” in 2018, trading for the Buffalo QB who only has a year left on his deal. Dorsey did not even attend the pro days of UCLA QB Josh Rosen and Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield. And Dorsey signed 49ers workhorse RB Carlos Hyde to a three-year, $15 million deal that would seem to make Hyde the feature back.

“You never want to go into a draft hamstrung in terms of being forced to do this or forced to make a bad move up here,” Dorsey said at a press conference in Cleveland. “But if you can have the assets to play in free agency and you’re lucky enough to get certain players that can help this organization, you make moves like that because that will help and change your mindset and thinking as you approach the draft.”

Gettleman, by comparison, did not meet the media this week. He simply said to NFL Network of the second overall pick: “You have to say to yourself, ‘Do you picture this guy putting on a gold jacket (and entering the Hall of Fame one day)? It’s the second pick of the draft. You can’t make a mistake. You can’t.”