Giants GM: Narrative on Manning ‘a crock’
Dave Gettleman is asking for patience and trust.
Whether the Giants’ general manager has earned that, or if he deserves it, that’s another story with where the franchise is right now.
The Giants have a losing record in four of the past five seasons — Gettleman was GM for just one of those — and they’ve only made the playoffs once since winning Super Bowl XLVI in 2012.
The team acquired thirdyear strong safety Jabrill Peppers, a former first-round pick, with a 2019 first-rounder and 2019 third-rounder for Odell Beckham Jr. last week.
“You’re not going to be able to give a Roman Coliseum thumbs up or thumbs down on this trade for a little bit,” Gettleman said.
“We have to see how Jabrill develops, and we’ve got to see who this (first-round pick) is, who this (third-round pick) is. And you guys will obviously follow Odell’s career and we’ll go from there. Then in two or three years, you can have your opinions. Just like you have them now.”
Gettleman is still hammering away at what he believes is a narrative to negatively criticize 38-year-old quarterback Eli Manning’s play.
“This narrative that overpaid and can’t play crock,” Gettleman said.
Gettleman is adamant he did not trade Beckham, a player with a Hall of Famecaliber start to his career, “straight up” for Peppers, but Peppers was a significant part of the deal.
That nugget, in and of itself, comes with pressure for Peppers, replacing Landon Collins (a Pro Bowl safety who signed with Washington) to boot, even if the Giants won’t publicly put it on him.
“Obviously there is a lot of stuff that factors in,” Gettleman said. “At the end of the day, in order for us to move Odell, the other team was going to have to knock it out of the park. It was just too much for us to pass up. You look at everything, but it’s about football. We’ve got positions to address. This was about us having the ability to address more.” Eli’s is a