In the darkest of nights, a sliver of light

I get the doom and gloom. I get that it looks bad and it is bad. I completely get the attitude towards Shurmur. I kind of get that Gettleman doesn't have the equity from most of you to get the benefit of the doubt even if a reading of his record might show he does deserve better. I am a little less understanding of vitriol towards John Mara but so be it. This post is not about the owner, the GM or even the HC. It is about personnel.

First, it is important to recognize that the team that Gettleman inherited was in a lot worse shape than anyone wants to recognize. The talent was poor in many places. But somewhat worse is that where there was talent, it was not foundational talent. It wasn't talent that you build around, it wasn't talent that would lead the team forward. OBJ, Snacks, Jenkins, even Collins are examples. They are not necessarily bad people. But they were islands at best. To the extent they were leaders, they were leaders in the wrong way. The locker room was rotten, the talent was weak, the resources to improve were not there.

People point to San Fran as an example but this is year 3 of their regime and they had been bad for years before that too. So have we? Yes but the picks made by the last GM proved useless to this regime. In San Fran, they are using at least SOME players from before they got there in big roles. Gettleman could not do that here. Apple and Flowers were busts for various reasons, the 2nd rounders were by and large non-existent as well and the talented, productive 1st rounder in OBJ was a drain and poor alpha.

But the truth is that there is some young talent here that could be the foundation of the next good Giants teams.

If you go position by position, you will see guys who you feel pretty darn good about, others you think might be answers, some you aren't sure about and others you know you need to replace. Maybe we differ on some of those categories but I doubt by too much.

Pretty darn good/think they might be answers
Offense:

QB: Jones
RB: Barkley
TE: Engram
WR: Shepard
LG: Hernandez
RG: Zeitler
WR: Slayton

Notes: I know Shepard is a question mark but he is an answer if healthy. Slayton and Shep are answers to 2 of the top 3-4 WRs.

What's missing? Center, RT, LT and probably a red chip WR.

Defense:

DL: Tomlinson
DL: Williams
DL: Lawrence
DL: Hill

Edge: Golden
LB: Connelly
LB/Edge: Carter
LB/Edge: Ximines

S: Peppers
*CB: Baker
*CB: Beal
*S/CB: Love
*CB: Ballantine

Notes: I am assuming resignings for this exercise. Really, the only one who might not be back is Golden. Williams will be tagged if we don't get a deal done.
The DL is pretty stocked. The LB position is lacking next to Connelly but Carter and X-Man have both shown a lot to like if they are allowed to play to their strengths. But they are a little bit of a projection. The asterisks are the larger projection. It's been open season on Baker and I get it. And Beal has not played. So projections on those guys are probably more in we don't know yet. But the pedigree is fairly good and the skillsets are fairly good. So if you are a glass half full guy, you say at least 2 of the 4 CBs come through. Maybe 3. And if you aren't, CB is a need.

So what are the needs on defense? I see the major need for a blue chip pass rusher who will push Williams, Golden, Carter, Lawrence and X-Man down a notch and by doing so, making them much more effective. A great pass rusher takes attention and allows more favorable matchups for those other guys. He creates pressure which means that those guys get home because the QB has to escape but if Williams and Lawrence are pushing the pocket, he can't move up. And Golden, X-Man, Carter coming from the other side make it an avalanche.

Even so, this depends on CBs covering for some time at least. We haven't seen that this year. So a lot hinges on their improvement. Many rookies struggle and then improve. Many don't. So yes, optimism that our needs are not huge depends on some of those 4 becoming players we can depend on.

What I see missing? The top edge guy, a LB to play with Connelly, a safety and a CB to hedge my bets.

Combined with the offense needs, there is still a nice sized list. But it isn't insurmountable. It might need 2 more offseasons. But with the cap space and a high pick, we should make major inroads this offseason and begin to see improvement next year. I figure with resigning Williams and Golden, we may make 2 bigger signings as FAs. In this, I give some possibles for RT and for ILB next to Connelly.

RT: Williams or Conklin are options
C: I think this is a bridge guy still unless we get someone in the 3rd/4th round.
LT: Either the high first round pick (Thomas??) or the 2nd round pick (maybe a tradeup). The draft has a number of well regarded tackles.
WR: You could list Amare Cooper and pine for him but I think we spend our money closer to the ball like at the tackle or LB positions. My guess is we go for a bridge type vet and hit this in the draft again, probably 3rd-5th round.

Edge: Same as LT. Either the high first round pick (Young) or we see about trading up from the top of the 2nd.
LB: Joe Schobert or Blake Martinez are options
S: Justin Simmons would be one option on one tier. Karl Joseph is a different type option on a different tier.
CB: You could list Byron Jones but I don't think we play at that level. I think more realistic options are guys like Kendall Fuller (for nickelback), Daryl Worley, James Bradbury (former DG picks) and a couple of others with the hopes/belief that our guys take big steps forward for next year and after.

Lastly, on STs, Rosas is going through a not atypical kicker's year. The best guys figure a way to minimize the variation from year to year. Rosas now has to do that. But like relievers in baseball, there is a lot of year to year variability in production. There is reason to believe he will be better next year so let's consider PK a filled job. But at Punter, Dixon is a UFA. I would definitely love to upgrade to a guy who is top notch. Paying punter top dollar is not a huge investment and I would look into Tress Way as he is a UFA this offseason.

Bottom line to me: There is a realistic path to fill many of the needs this offseason with real talent. The biggest needs are the tackles and top pass rusher to me. The 1st round pick will fill one of LT or pass rusher and free agency should give us an opportunity to get the RT. The 3rd major need (LT or pass rusher) will depend to some degree on how the draft falls. Almost every other position will get a lot better when those needs are filled and by growth from year 1 to year 2 or year 2 to year 3. And the other needs are not major. If we draft well, we should get a LB, center, safety and/or WR who can contribute after the 1st two rounds or as a bridge in FA.

Lastly, every player but Engram, Shepard and Tomlinson that I listed in the positions roundup as "Pretty darn good/think they might be answers" was acquired by Gettleman. If you think about that and the fact that there aren't more players from before that we could tab as likely (or even possible answers), that tells you just how huge the job is that Gettleman inherited. For those of you who are impatient, you can't fill 22 starters (really about 30 starters when you add in 3rd and 4th WR, 2nd TE, nickleback, dimeback, rotation DLinemen and even punter and PK) in 2 offseasons. You just can't. If there were holdovers worth keeping, the job would be quicker. But there weren't and aren't. Guys like Kennard and Okwara are ok but they aren't difference makers in Detroit. Apple was rotten. Flowers stunk and was rotten. OBJ and Collins are the ones that were and are debatable but the team didn't feel they were worth the trouble and/or money.