SERBY’S SPECIAL Q&A WITH ... MARA John
As the Giants open their 2017 training camp, co-owner John Mara tackled some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: Why do you want Odell Beckham Jr. to be a Giant for life?
A: Listen, he’s as exciting a player as we have had on this team in my lifetime, and he brings a lot of energy, a lot of big plays to us. And when you cut through everything else, he actually is a really good kid. He does a lot of wonderful things off the field that people don’t know about. He needs to work on controlling his emotions a little bit more. But when he is on the field, the other teams have to pay attention to him … and he strikes fear into the eyes of the other team. As long as you have that ability, he makes your team better. He just adds a lot to us. We really haven’t had a player like that here for a long time.
Q: Since No. 56.
A: He certainly hasn’t accomplished anything close to what Lawrence [Taylor] accomplished during his career, but yeah, when Lawrence was on the field, people always knew where he was.
Q: So you’re confident that he will grow up?
A: I think he’s a work in progress, I think he’s going to mature. I had a great conversation with him in the spring about that. I think he understands that. But he’s always going to be an emotional player, and we’re going to have to live with, hopefully, an occasional and rare outburst every once in a while because he wants to win so badly. But I think he is going to mature. He’s 24 years old. You weren’t the most mature guy at the age of 24 were you?
Q: I’m less mature now.
A: (Laugh) How old were you when [Richard] Todd threw you into the locker?
Q: I’m going to put that in the Q&A.
A: Put it in that you weren’t the most mature guy at that age (chuckle).
Q: Did it bother you that he wasn’t at the voluntary OTAs?
A: I would have preferred that he be here, but it didn’t bother me. They’re voluntary for a reason and, quite frankly, I was one of the people that negotiated with the Players Association to make that voluntary, so I’m not going to sit here and criticize him for that. The one thing I know about him is he’s going to come in here, and he’ll arguably be in the best shape of anybody. And when he gets here, nobody practices harder than he does. So, at the end of the day, it really didn’t bother me — just come in healthy and hungry.
Q: When might contract talks begin with him? Or have they begun?
A: They haven’t begun as of yet, but … they’ll happen at the appropriate time. I don’t think we have a time frame on it. But we certainly don’t want to see him playing in another uniform.
Q: When you had your conversation with him in the spring, did he bring up his contract?
A: He did not mention it, no.
Q: And he has not mentioned it to anybody here?
A: Not that I know of, no.
Q: Will you talk to his agent during the season?
A: That’s possible, yeah. I wouldn’t have a problem with that occurring. We certainly want to get him signed. Let’s not make it the headline that there’ll be a deal by October or November or something like that because I have no idea. I don’t think we’d be opposed to talking to his agents at some point during the season, yes.
Q: And possibly striking a deal that early? During the season?
A: It rarely works out that way, but if that were to happen, I’d be fine with it.
Q: Will there be a No-Boat-Trip clause in it?
A: (Laugh) I would prefer during the season that he stick to the Staten Island Ferry or the Circle Line. Listen, I think he learned from that experience. I don’t think that was the cause of us losing in Green Bay, but it probably focused too much attention on that and maybe added a little bit too much pressure to the guys that were involved [Sterling Shepard, Victor Cruz].
Q: He’s going to be goaded by Josh Norman — and others — again.
A: He’s been spoken to a number of times, with the coach and with Jerry Reese. I think having Brandon Marshall here is going to help. Odell being another year older and another year wiser, I think he’s going to be fine going forward.
Q: When was the very first inkling last year that you had picked the right man, Ben McAdoo, to follow Tom Coughlin?
A: I’m not sure that there was any one defining moment. I felt good about him right from training camp. I liked the fact that we had a couple of rough spots during the season and then rebounded quite nicely, and that’s always one of the things that you look for, is can a guy pull your team out of a slump, keep them from free falling? He has just the right temperament, I think, to lead this team.
Q: That temperament being what?
A: He’s not afraid to bark at them when they need that, but he doesn’t completely lose his composure. He deals with them on an even keel for the most part, and … he just has the right temperament.
Q: Would he be more like the young Parcells or the young Coughlin?
A: I see a combination of different coaches. I think his mentor has been Mike McCarthy, I see a lot of that in him, which is a pretty good mentor to have. Parcells was such a unique character, and Tom, particularly in the early days, was a very unique character, too. I think he learned a lot from Tom, but I think I see a little more of Mike McCarthy in him than anybody else.
Q: Your thoughts on McAdoo’s new hairstyle?
A: Yeah, I gave him some grief about that when I saw him the other day. I told him I’m not necessarily sold on that new hairstyle but whatever works, I don’t care. I thought he was fine with the old hairstyle, to tell you the truth, and the oversized suits, but now he’s a year in, so he’s changing his image a little bit. I don’t really care about that at the end of the day, just perform on the field. I’m confident he will.
Q: He’s upgraded the wardrobe?
A: He’s upgraded the wardrobe and he claims that the hairstyle is an upgrade. I’m not sure that I agree with that (smile).
Q: What have you observed about Brandon Marshall?
A: I’ve been very impressed with how he conducts himself, how mature he is. He looks like he’s got a lot of football left in him. He did a presentation for the owners at the league meeting in March in Arizona that was so impressive, had everybody in the room paying close attention to him, and you could have heard a pin drop. He talked about his experiences with mental health issues, and what he’s learned and how he deals with it now, how he wants to make an impact beyond football with that issue. He’s just been nothing but impressive so far.
Q: Is it safe to say that you want Eli to be a Giant for life?
A: Yes (smile). That’s safe to say. He’s been everything you could ever ask for in a player both on the field and off the field. We’d certainly like him to retire as a Giant.
Q: What is the realistic expectation for him at age 36?
A: It’s hard to say. He’s in good health, he had a good season last year, we think he’s got a number of good seasons left in him. I can’t sit here and tell you how many that will be. But he’s given no indication to me that he’s slowing down at all.
Q: What is the latest on the memorabilia front?
A: Because it’s an active litigation, it’s not really something that I can comment on right now.
Q: Inside the war room when Landon Collins was drafted at the top of Round 2 in 2015.
A: I remember Jerry saying just minutes after I arrived at the office the second day of the draft that ‘We need to go up and get this safety. He not only fits a need, but he’s the highest player on the board, he’ll probably be gone by the time we were picking.’ So I was all for that, to be able to go up and get a guy that we even talked about possibly later in the first round if we were going to move down. He was sticking out like a sore thumb on the board.
Q: How would you characterize the offseason emails you’ve gotten from Giants fans?
A: I’ve gotten far fewer this year, which tells me that people are feeling pretty good about our team right now. They very rarely write you to tell you how great things (laugh) are going, it’s usually to complain about something, and right now it’s been pretty light, so hopefully it’ll stay that way for the rest of the year.
Q: What was it like for you personally reading those emails after the Josh Brown thing?
A: It was tough. … That was a difficult situation for us, and one where we tried to do the right thing by the player and his family, and it didn’t work out very well for us. But that’s in the past now. I just wish Josh and his family healing and happiness in the future.
Q: Why should Giants fans be excited about this team?
A: Well, I like to think they’re excited every year, but I think we have a good combination of veteran leadership, veterans who have played very well in the past and a nice infusion of youth. So I think we should be a better team than we’ve been in recent years, but it all depends on staying healthy and players continuing to be hungry.
Q: The NFC seems like it’s wide open, right?
A: The NFC, I think, is certainly wide open. Any number of teams can win the NFC. In the AFC, until somebody beats the Patriots, you have to make them the favorites again.
Q: You’ve won four Super Bowls. Why are you so hungry to win five?
A: (Laugh) Because we’ve won the four and we know how special it is to win one. You know it’s been a while now. 2011 [season] is a while ago. It’s time for us to win another one. Whether we can do that this year or not, I don’t know. Let’s just play it one game at a time.
Q: No, no, no, forget that cliche. Why don’t you guarantee a Super Bowl?
A: (Laugh) I’d make you the most famous writer in America, wouldn’t I?