Disclaimer - This is not meant to absolve any blame of Gettleman on the creation of this roster. The reality is that coaches do have a hand in player selection. Gettleman though is ultimately responsible for shopping and paying for the groceries. I thought this exercise would be interesting.
I took a look at the Shurmur and Judge regimes and tried to trace back some of the player's lineages. Obviously it is easier to do this now then try to remember over 2 years ago but here it is (with a high level version of results).
2018-2019 Offense
• Cody Latimer/Bennie Fowler (WR)-Tolbert - Both guys had their moments but also had their weaknesses exposed. I liked Fowler over Latimer and Latimer came here with a little more fanfare. Not much relevance.
• John Greco - (C) - Shurmur. Was brought in as a backup but was pressed into service. He was replaced by our current whipping boy Pulley and coincidently or not (Brown also was put in as a starter at G at the same time) the line improved. He was basically cooked.
• Zietler (G) Shurmur. I'm not really sure how much influence there was on this. This seemed to be a big improvement at the time but really hasn't panned out.
• Remmers (OT) Shurmur. Was serviceable. In reality, he probably is better than Fleming.
• Stewart (RB) Shula. I'll put the blame on Gettleman for this. It was ok to bring him in at backup money.
2018-2019 Defense (all Bechter)
• Kareem Martin (ER) - ineffective and then hurt.
• Josh Mauro (DE) - I thought he played fairly well and was pretty cheap.
• Antoine Bethea (S) - When I look at this year, I am grateful that our defense actually is playing with 11 players. With Ogeltree and Bethea, I couldn't say that last year.
• Olsen Pierre (DE) - Cut midway through the year.
• Deone Buchanon (LB) - Came here mid-year. I think his familiarity with Bechter's system helped. Not sure if we shouldn't have brought in a younger upside player.
2020 Defense
• Johnson (DT) Spencer- Has provided good snaps as the 4th/5th lineman.
• Fackrell (LB) Graham – Nice signing. Would be even better if we had an alpha pass rusher.
• Martinez (LB) Graham – He did cost more than most if not all on this list but there were a lot of people questioning him over some others. He has proven to be worth it.
• Lewis (CB) Judge – Looks like he could be a solid 4th corner. Unfortunately he is pressed into duty as a starter.
• Ryan (DB) Graham/Judge – Again they spent more than most on this pick but he is a solid veteran type that you need with a young team. Has played well and I think will look even better when we get our safeties healthy.
• Colbert (S) Graham. I think he got picked on with the calls but has been in the right place at the right time and has played generally well.
2020 Offense
• Cooper Rush (QB) Garrett - Cut a few games into the year. Not sure if he was as good in the room as Tanney:)
• Dion Lewis (RB) Judge - Flashed in game 1 (or 2). He didn't look great in space against Dallas.
• Albert Morris (RB) Garrett - older veteran on the practice squad.
• Damien Ratley (WR) Kitchens. Has shown nothing and is now gone.
• Fleming (T) Columbo/Garrett. I’m not giving these guys a pass and calling him a swing tackle. Backups don’t make $4M/year.
The punchline is that there is a decent amount of influence on the bottom of the roster from coaches. The other is that although we paid more money on defense for this year for ‘known’ (by the coaches) entities, they have currently outperformed the others in the Giants recent past. What also is an eye opener is the complete lack of personal stamp that Shurmur put on this team. Looking back, he kept a lot of the offensive coaches and really didn’t bring in many of ‘his’ players.
Disappointed with Shurmur who didn’t step up when given his second chance as a HC.