Charley Casserly was on Sirius radio yesterday discussing free agency winners and losers.
Casserly was particularly critical of the Giants.
To paraphrase Casserly.
" The Giants signing 10 free agents is an acknowledgement that they missed on their draft picks. The Giants are now attempting to correct their roster deficiencies that have resulted from their poor drafting. Jennings, Schwartz, DRC, McClain, etc. are needs due to fill holes created by poor drafting". |
He also added that
" the Giants are trying to build a competitive team to give Coughlin one more run at a championship". |
"The end result of poor drafting and the Giants attempting to send Coughlin out a winner has resulted in a very un Giant like free agency that will have negative long term effects". |
Casserly clearly dislikes the Giants and Reese, so I would take his comments with a grain of salt.
yeah, that's how I feel as well. he's spot on about the reason we've been so active in FA, but as for negative long term effects, that's nothing but speculation and the urge to create controversy.
give us a valid reason why signing these guys is going to negatively impact the team in the future. do thy have backloaded, player friendly contracts, for example? nope.
The catch is that the Giants have a 33-year-old franchise QB. That's the kind of situation where near-term overspending can be warranted, knowing that you can deflect the worst impact from poor contracts forward into likely-to-be-hopeless season(s) when the team is looking for and/or breaking in a new starting QB.
Impossible to say this line is 100% correct as the results have not been given to us
Now the drafting side of it? He is absolutely right.
If you step back and look at it, The only non-question mark players we have going into next year from all of our drafts back to 2008 is Amukamara and Pugh...and neither is really a pro bowl calibre player (yet).
Note: obviously having victor cruz offsets this a bit...but we are talking draft in this thread.
I think Reese needs to take the reigns, and Casserly is right, Reese looks like he's trying to cover up for the deficiencies in the draft, for which Reese cannot be excused either. He is the GM after all. However, I trust Reese's eye more than I do Ross' at this point.
I do agree that the free agent binge in the result of poor drafts after the 1st couple of rounds.
Looks like quick fix..
Worried me a little..
But probably is good since
Tc may be gone and a new
Coach will want his own
Guys. Also eli will have
Good line and running game
And weapons..so lets see
How good he does before
Signing for $$$.
If anything, I think the Giants have supported the Patriots theory that drafting your depth players isn't really necessary if you can plug holes with capable but average vets. The cost is marginally higher but the risk is less and you can target premium players, or players where you need them long term (i.e. OLine), in the draft.
Look what we did to the DT position last year. We blitzed the unit by adding vets for cheap and drafted one long term replacement for Joseph. The value we received for the cost of Patterson was tremendous imo. I see the same scenario for a lot of the cheaper players we signed this year.
Now we're set up to add premium players in the draft. WR, OT, TE(if he's a big receiving threat), DE, CB, etc.
That having been said, he was a below average talent evaluator in Washington and Houston.
With regard to Jennings - Wilson got hurt, that's hardly a drafting issue.
We haven't swung and miss at any guard prospects high, so its hard to say Schwartz is making up for poor drafting. Its more like making up for over paying and hanging on to vet OL too long.
So I don't see this FA as directly being influenced by the Giants drafting. Which is not to say the Giants have draft particularly well recently.
But for long term consequences, Casserly is way off and clearly did not look deeper into the contracts of the free agent signings beyond the sheer number. The Giants are slated to be able to clear the decks of basically every free agent they signed and additional money in likes of Snee and Kiwi, even Eli if it came to that.
The only two are DRC and Jennings both of which one could argue would be building blocks moving forward as part of a reset if it were to take place.
Yup.
Casserly's an entertaining guy, and what he said certainly has an element of truth to it, but aren't you supposed to use free agency to fill your more immediate needs? Whether it's due to bad drafting, bad luck, age, injury, etc., the Giants did have a lot of holes on their roster. Were they supposed to wait until the draft to fill all of them with six picks?
Link - ( New Window )
Happened quick.
Feels like there's enormous pressure to hit on 4 out of 6 this year. Even if the FO does exactly that, is there a staff in place to maximize that talent?
As much as I love TC, he has to gel this staff with this roster turnover under the new CBA....and that's a tall order. I'll never doubt him, he's proven he can build a winner from scratch in a hurry, but it feels like Jerry has CYA'ed with acquisitions and TC must win now, or he'll get Gilbrided.
so after 2015 we can get out without much or any impact if he fails to reach expectations. and if he continues his current level of play beyond 2015 the the deal is a steal for us.
so...how exactly is that deal a potential long term problem?
This.
Giants are set up fine long-term cap wise. Yes there might be a year here or there where they might be tight, but they ate the bullet last season because of the cap space problem, and we saw the results in the one season, but we've also seen teams like the Skins and Cowboys in our own division constantly restructure and be in the cap congo line every year and it's impact on roster building and team development speak for themselves. And teams like the Eagles and Jets who perpetually have plenty of cap space don't have any significant hardware to show for it. So it cuts both ways.
Giants likely only have a 3 to 4 year window here with Eli who needs to get his situation fixed as well. What the Cap situation is say 4-5 yrs from now is immaterial as we will probably be looking at a quick rebuild with a new QB anyway.
The mid rounds haven't been great but a lot of these bubble players will get another shot this season. If guys like Mosley, Jernigan and randle emerge in 2014 people will be lauding those same drafts that were recently deemed as failures.
Trust me I've seen bad NYG drafts. 2011-2013 were not bad.
Yes, the Giants are trying to give Coughlin one more run.
No, there should not be any real long term negative impacts if the signings don't pan out. Most of these guys are young, in their prime, and signed for reasonable deals.
In my mind its not so much about criticism, but just an aknowledgement that we have had a lot of draft picks that have no panned out.
Hopefully, Reese is trying a similar approach to get us another SB win.
Bottom line is Reese has to hit a home run in this draft. He's set himself up to fill our remaining holes using this draft's strength which is OL. We need to come out of this draft with a stud G or T and C. If not, on paper, the draft will be disappointing.
He's kind of a chucklehead anyway...
Draft some oline talent or maybe a QB to replace Eli if he chokes again this season. I don't think we are beyond our Eli problems btw. He is a chronic int machine like his brother.
Now the bad drafting part of the equation IMO unfortunately comes into focus with 3 distinct positions that were underserved with premium picks and poorly draft - LB, TE, OL. These were not high focus positions due to scheme, and they were allowed to continually deteriorate year after year as the few mid-late picks spent on them did not develop. Kehl, Petrus, Beckum, Dillard, Brewer, Tracy, Robinson, Mosley, etc.
Lastly - like every team - there have been some out and out busts. Sintim, Hosley, Austin, Wilson, etc.
2013 was the culmination of all of these factors hitting all at once. The RB and OL positions flat out busted and broke down due to injury and completely exposed the dearth of depth and talent. They got nothing from the TE & LB positions (until the Beason trade).
I would also make 1 point to Casserly in general that I think explains the "why" behind his mostly correct assertions - winning Super Bowls generally leads to faster than normal roster turnover. Players get overpaid and overvalue themselves. Some get complacent. You draft lower every round and that adds up. That's why the 2012 SB roster was so different from the 2008 roster, and why next year's roster is so different both as well.
Reese and Ross have shit the bed on multiple drafts and its been manifesting itself the last 2 years
drafts are cheap talent and are HUGELY important NOT to miss and get those key players
pissing away 2 draft picks to get Nassib was the final straw to me
Despite all the euphoria over the guys that Reese has signed, you can't lose sight of the fact that a team should get more for its salary cap buck with draftees and OFAs than with veteran FA signings. Given a team that already has a disproportionate amount of its cap funds concentrated in the QB, cap dollar efficiency is more important than ever.
But what would he have Reese do? Not sign FAs?
As to DRC, only $15 million of his contract is guaranteed. IIRC most of the FA contracts have low guaranteed amounts.
So, Yes Reese has done a poor job recently of drafting but he's doing his best through free agency to correct those mistakes and put a winning team on the field.
And I absolutely agree that they are gearing this team up to make a run this season. Going out of character in free agency and loading up. This could be Reese and Coughlins final season if they don't make some noise in the playoffs.
Second, I don't agree about the negative long term effects. For the most part there wasn't excessive guaranteed money. I was very critical of the McClain signing, but I think his bonus was only $600,000.
I agree that they have to get smarter in the draft to address the longer term needs of the team.
please tell me this is tongue in cheek
I love Mario Manningham in the WC offense. He is healing up, knows the NYG's, and I predict he'll flourish this year.
The key players for this year will be of course Eli Manning but also JPP and Kiwanuka. If the DE's can pressure the passer and the middle DT's plus Beason plug the run we'll have a superb defense.
Just stay healthy!
Yes, the Giants are trying to give Coughlin one more run.
No, there should not be any real long term negative impacts if the signings don't pan out. Most of these guys are young, in their prime, and signed for reasonable deals.
In my mind its not so much about criticism, but just an aknowledgement that we have had a lot of draft picks that have no panned out.
I'm no mathematician but I don't think 2 out of 3 = 75%
Quote:
Yes, the Giants are in the fix they are in because of poor drafts.
Yes, the Giants are trying to give Coughlin one more run.
No, there should not be any real long term negative impacts if the signings don't pan out. Most of these guys are young, in their prime, and signed for reasonable deals.
In my mind its not so much about criticism, but just an aknowledgement that we have had a lot of draft picks that have no panned out.
I'm no mathematician but I don't think 2 out of 3 = 75%
It seems to me like Jerry Reese's draft strategy is no longer working best player available is great when it's working but it also leaves gaps that you need to fill in FA and I think this year he learned that if you draft the best player every time that player doesn't always fill the needs you have open that said I'm happy with the FA giants signed this year and if they can couple that with drafting ebron , moncrief and and brandon coleman eli will have the size and speed he really needs to get back to his old self and maybe we can add some OL depth in the draft as well considering our starters are pretty much figured out and a much needed upgrade from last season the only comment I might make negatively about the giants at all was they wasted a pick on nassib last year and I think they do need a young QB to come in and be a backup a solid backup so we don't need to waste a roster spot on a third qb so maybe Taj Boyd will be available in 6 or 7th round solid potential and young definitely better than nassib in my opinion and going to be a great backup maybe starter one day somewhere not with the giants though but great for the future young talented backup now great trading piece later to build on whatever it is we need at that time.
And just a side note Ebron reminds me a lot of Jeremy Shockey even in personality hope the giants give him the nod at 12 if he is available if not I hope they draft Barr and maybe go Nikklas later to fill in their TE need or bring pascoe back to buy a year till theres another Grade A TE available