Dan Graziano, national NFL writer: New York Giants. They've made themselves an easy target, but it's all justified. You can't tell me they're better for trading Odell Beckham Jr., for letting Landon Collins leave and sign with a division rival instead of holding him in place with an affordable $11.15 million franchise tag, for trading pass-rusher Olivier Vernon then passing up on outside linebacker Josh Allen at pick No. 6 so they could take a quarterback who had a 59.9 completion percentage in the ACC. When your team has missed the playoffs six of the past seven seasons, what you want to know is that it at least has a plan and a vision for how to pull out of the malaise. There's little evidence that the Giants have that.
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Zietler is a stud lineman at a position one could argue of most need...
And they picked up 2 defensive starters in the first round...
Yes we’re missing an explosive WR. BUT the best RB IN THE GAME... will be better behind this new line... as will Eli. And when the baton is passed to Jones.... He will already be spoiled with more talent around him than ever before....
I think we will be pleasantly surprised... And I bet.... Jones gets a full redshirt this year...
I didn't want Jones (or any other QB) this year and would have been elated had they chosen Allen.
*However* not getting Allen does not make us or contribute to a decline. At best, it's "stay the same when you could have improved". So, the inclusion is phony.
Further, had we not picked Jones, he would have written a story about DG's failure to plan for a future without Eli. The Jones part is simply a scuzzy version of "damned if you do and damned if you don't."
If Eli is Eli of the past two years (no improvement and clearly not the future) and Jones shits the bed, this was a disaster of a draft no matter how much kool-aid anyone drinks.
I didn't want Jones (or any other QB) this year and would have been elated had they chosen Allen.
*However* not getting Allen does not make us or contribute to a decline. At best, it's "stay the same when you could have improved". So, the inclusion is phony.
Further, had we not picked Jones, he would have written a story about DG's failure to plan for a future without Eli. The Jones part is simply a scuzzy version of "damned if you do and damned if you don't."
This.
Victory is sweet and I feel this team has better leadership, less drama, and more talent on the OL and defense this year than last.
Yes, we don't have a #1 WR that can draw double teams but neither did New England. I see us using a traditional "quick hit" West Coast offense and we have WR C. Coleman for deep plays as well as rookie 5th rounder Slayer.
9-7, give or take a game, as long as we are healthy on the lines and Saquon.
- rebuild the defense
- draft a successor to Eli
- let go of overpriced vets
- create cap space for the future
- accumulate extra draft picks
Wonder when he’s going to start doing those things? Oh wait...
I won’t even remember Vernon was a Giant in a few years, but let’s act like “losing” him and Collins is like getting rid of Reggie White and Ronnie Lott.
I like this kind of nonsense, the Giants play better when they are repeatedly dismissed/written off by the media. Keep it coming!
So, loss of Beckham, also equals the loss revolving door at RG and RT(hopefully). You can't acknowledge loss of Beckham, without acknowledging at the very minimum the addition by subtraction on the right side of the OLine with Wheeler, the addition of one of the best right guards in football, the addition of Tate, to at least soften the blow of losing Beckham with a proven productive veteran RAC WR. You can't just talk about loss of Beckham as if he some god in cleats, who had no impact the ineptness of the offensive line last year and the dismal start to 2018. We had Beckham last year and the offense was a laughing stock to start the season, WITH Odell. The line needed to be addressed. What a lazy analysis by Graziano.
Vernon - not a good enough player to get excited about.
OBJ - arguably, at least one and maybe two of his prime years wasted on non-contending Giants while a contending team (Cleveland?) willing to give up assets to turn the Giants around faster.
Collins - No excuse. Write off last season. Team began 1-7, JPP and Snacks unexpectedly traded. Defense quit.
Jones - If he turns into an elite quarterback that is the only thing that will be remembered about this draft.
It will be nice to not have that "hey throw to me" that OBJ brought to each series where it seemed Eli had to force passes into tight areas so he could catch his slants.
Maybe we can get back to the deeper passing game again with this OL. Maybe we can see sparks of the old Eli again which would be wonderful.
CBs better
DL better
OLB better
OL better
only worse is WR and really we lost a big distraction and added a good blocking WR that makes people miss.
It was a brilliant move, but I guess guards aren’t “sexy”
It will be nice to not have that "hey throw to me" that OBJ brought to each series where it seemed Eli had to force passes into tight areas so he could catch his slants.
Maybe we can get back to the deeper passing game again with this OL. Maybe we can see sparks of the old Eli again which would be wonderful.
Eli forces the passes to everyone.. let's not make it out like obj was the reason for Eli forcing the ball..
CBs better
DL better
OLB better
OL better
only worse is WR and really we lost a big distraction and added a good blocking WR that makes people miss.
This. The team is much better as a whole.
Funny how quickly people forget the state of this team/run game 2 years ago
CBs better
DL better
OLB better
OL better
only worse is WR and really we lost a big distraction and added a good blocking WR that makes people miss.
A lot of those parts on defense are rookies and 2nd year players.
Solder, Zeitler, Tate; on the other side of 30. They may help NYG be respectable this year but are they going to be in the picture when Daniel Jones is ready to lead this team to anything?
Joe Thomas retired after his age 32 year. There are many more Joe Thomases, or guys just hanging on, than there are Andrew Wbitworths.
I was not opposed to trading OBJ but I wouldn't have spent the money saved on old Golden Tate and average Sterling Shepherd, who should be readily replaceable in the draft.
That's where the "no plan" criticism comes from. We'll see if the Giants can play the "in the middle" game to future success.
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Safeties better
CBs better
DL better
OLB better
OL better
only worse is WR and really we lost a big distraction and added a good blocking WR that makes people miss.
A lot of those parts on defense are rookies and 2nd year players.
Marcus Golden, Peppers, and Bethea 3 veteran starters. Sure we are mixing in a rookie CB DeAndre Baker or basically rookie Sam Beal to replace who? Love could get some play also at nickel. That is on the other side of our veteran CB. A first round DL rookie who should get playing time, but we also got Olsen Pierre who plays well. Really Carter, the CBs and Dexter Lawerence are our only young players that should plenty get minutes. I guess you can add BJ Hill but he started so many games he isn't really a question mark.
This season is starting to remind me of the year where everyone (especially Da Pope) was laughing at the cowboys and saying they wouldn't win 4 games because their defense was going to be pure trash. That team won the East going away and made a deep run in the playoffs.
Well put.
proven talent? I get your point, but proven talent finds wins for us.
There is not just personnel turnover, but there is team-building. This team is being built right now.
I hope we show significant improvement, but nobody can deny that it's in years 2020 and 2021 that we should see the effects of the 2019 offseason.
No pass rusher on this team right now that had more than 5.5 sacks last season. Huge gamble that Golden will recover and Carter will take a big leap.
Other than that, both lines are better. The secondary is vastly improved. I'll take the combo of Peppers/Bethea over Collins/Riley any day, and the CB position is pretty deep considering last year the #2 and #3 were Webb and Haley.
Its definitely a better team overall and the plan should be pretty clear to anyone who has paid attention. This season may not turn out great but I see a huge leap in 2020.
CBs better
DL better
OLB better
OL better
I'll give you the OL.
As for the rest, you must be looking into a very reliable crystal ball because I have no idea how you can be so firm in those conclusions.
I could argue the complete other way with all of the unproven parts.
Remember all of this, and hammer these guys accordingly, and never let them forget it.
I don't agree... We have more experience at Safety and I think a big upgrade just by not having Riley there. We replace Oliver Vernon with Markus Golden who has plenty of experience especially in this Def. We add Pierre Olsen and a big time rookie in Dexter Lawrence. What veteran players did we move out and not replace with veterans? Only position I can see is one CB spot and it won't be hard for that to be an upgrade with DeAndre Baker and Sam Beal.
I like Peppers upside a great deal, but he still needs to do it on the field, not just the paper. That's the case for all the young bucks, that's the point.
That's not how football works.
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he could be correct. Hard to argue the young talent is better than the proven talent we moved out.
proven talent? I get your point, but proven talent finds wins for us.
Sure, but there's no denying who has performed in the NFL and who has yet to provide more than a small sample size of hope. And, I say that as one who's glad the proven talent is gone, from a character standpoint.
As for Vernon, people know his name so they gasp when he gets traded, but his production wasn't great.
There's no guarantee that Collins would have accepted the tag, in fact, if I'm not mistaken he said he wouldn't. Regardless, he's regressed every year since his 2016 All-Pro season, and he's also a "shoulder-tackler" who's got a bum shoulder, and he's a liability in coverage. If you buy what PFF is selling, Jabril Peppers graded out higher than Collins in 2018. Peppers is an ascending player. You can't say that about Collins. And Peppers is a much better fit in Bettcher's defense than Collins is.
And, no, they didn't draft Josh Allen to replace Olivier Vernon, but they did sign Markus Golden to beef up their pass-rush, and no doubt they have high hopes for Lorenzo Carter and Oshane Ximines at ER/OLB.