HE WON’T BE PICKY
Big Blue’s Bettcher says no offense taken after Giants pass on ‘D’ for QB
Dave Gettleman drafted a running back No. 2 overall last year. He traded Damon Harrison and Eli Apple midseason. He blamed his depleted defense for the Giants’ 5-11 record.
Then he let Landon Collins go, traded Olivier Vernon, and took a quarterback at No. 6 in April.
So it was interesting and understandable that defensive coordinator James Bettcher, unprompted, broached the decision to draft Daniel Jones over Josh Allen and Ed Oliver on Wednesday, when coaches spoke to the media.
“As we talk about the draft, I know probably the question is and will be about at six,” Bettcher said during an uncommonly long, seven-minute opening statement.
Bettcher’s primary message, however, was that he has Gettleman’s back, he has Jones’ back, and he’s excited about his new players. He admitted obvious bias toward his side of the ball, but he is not in the business of making excuses.
“I’m really excited about the guy we brought in at six,” Bettcher said of Jones. “And if you wanna ask me, ‘Would you have loved to have Josh Allen or — who else was available? — Ed Oliver? I think if you lined up 32 (defensive) coordinators. . . and you said, ‘Hey, you get picks one through five in the draft and you get to draft whoever you want,’ I got a pretty good feeling they’d probably take all defensive players.”
The Giants’ defense will continue to be a work in progress, though, even if first-round picks Dexter Lawrence (No. 17), the Clemson defensive tackle, and
Georgia corner Deandre Baker (No. 30) enhance their playmaking potential.
Gettleman did use seven of his 10 selections on defensive players in April’s draft, also adding edge rusher Oshane Ximines, DB Julian Love, linebacker Ryan Connelly, corner Corey Ballentine and defensive tackle Chris Slayton.
Still, five of those starters would be 23 years old or younger. The starting 11 would average 25.27 years of age thanks to its only 30-somethings, Bethea, 34, and Jenkins, 30.
That’s encouraging from a developmental standpoint, but that requires patience, and the Giants organization is hoping and expecting to win in 2019.
That will be difficult for this defense after losing so many top players from a group that just three years ago was the secondbest scoring defense in the NFL.
“All those guys I love. I do,” Bettcher said of Collins and Vernon. “I love all those guys, and those guys know that. And part of the National Football League is at some point in time guys move on. We all know that. And I do love those guys. And I wish them the best except for when they are playing us.
“But the truth is O.V. did not have a resume until he built it,” Bettcher added. “So Lorenzo Carter has to build his resume. Markus Golden has to continue building his resume. That is the only way that happens … And the only way the guys get a chance to do that is opportunity on the field getting snaps, getting their butt coached off.”
The Giants clearly have immediate high hopes for Golden, 28, one of Bettcher’s former players with the Arizona Cardinals who signed here on a one-year prove-it deal. Golden had 12.5 sacks in 2016 before tearing his ACL in 2017 and playing below 100 percent last season as he continued to get healthier.
Bettcher feels Golden is almost all the way back to his former self. He couldn’t speak as definitively on corner Sam Beal, Gettleman’s 2018 third-round supplemental draft pick coming off shoulder surgery.
Bettcher is excited about Lawrence and Baker, though. The D coordinator called Lawrence “one of the biggest humans that I have ever seen move as quick as he can move.” He said Baker was “one of the best — I thought the best — cover tackling corners in the draft, period.”
Bettcher said Gettleman was inclusive in the draft process, though, and he felt his voice was heard. By draft night, he watched as the GM made the decision he felt was best for the team.
“Dave does a great job — and this does not happen everywhere — that through the process he wants to hear your opinion, he cares about what coaches’ opinions are,” Bettcher said.
That’s not to say there aren’t emotions about passing on good players; just that Bettcher’s primary emotion is enthusiasm for the players the Giants do have.
“I’m excited,” he said.