The New York Football Giants have cleaned house for the second time in 5 years.
Although this is obviously not the outcome that fans wanted out of the Joe Judge/Dave Gettleman era, it is a necessary one. Judge was dealt a poor hand from the beginning because he was hired by a GM on the hot seat. Keeping Judge as Head Coach next season would have been risking doing the same thing to the new GM. With the Giants cleaning house, it allows them to do this thing the right way, by having whomever their new GM is hire their own Head Coach with no interference from ownership. Speaking of new General Managers, the Giants have began to interview a list of 9 candidates. This is a drastically different approach than the one the Giants took back in 2017, and that is a very good thing to see.
2017 was one of the worst years in New York Giant History. Without getting into details, it led to the dismissal of long time General Manager Jerry Reese, and second year Head Coach Ben McAdoo, in the middle of the season. This led to the Giants having a jump start on interviewing General Manager candidates. Despite their head start, the list was short, and not very extensive. The Giants interviewed just four candidates: now former Giants GM Dave Gettleman who was just two years removed from a Super Bowl appearance as GM of the Panthers, their Vice President of Player Evaluation at the time Marc Ross, their Interim General Manager at the time Kevin Abrams, and ESPN analyst Louis Riddick. So the Giants went outside the building for just two candidates, and one of them was with the Giants for 14 years from 1998-2012 (Dave Gettleman). The Giants ended up hiring Gettleman just prior to their last game of the season and well, the rest is history. This wasn’t unusual for the Giants at the time, because it was the, “Giant Way”, to hire in house guys, which had mostly worked to that point. Admittedly, I liked the Gettleman hire at the time (I was obviously wrong), but it’s clear 5 years later that the, “Giant Way”, is a broken process. Looking at the 2021 Giants GM search, I think ownership has finally realized that as well.
The Giants have compiled a list of 9 worthy and diverse GM candidates to interview for the job. Some are former NFL players that have climbed the ranks in their front office like Quentin Harris, Adrian Wilson, and Ran Carthon. Others are veteran front office executives in successful organizations like Joe Hortiz and Monti Ossenfort. Some have risen to prominent roles in NFL contender’s front offices the last few years like Joe Schoen, Ryan Cowden, and Adam Peters. There’s also a guy like Ryan Poles who is just 36 years old and has flew up the ranks in the Chiefs front office. The Giants have casted a wide net on their GM search, which is a necessary move as the Giants need to get this hire right. Although some of the candidates have very loose ties to the Giants, there is one very important aspect each candidate shares:
None have worked in the Giants front office before.
John Mara’s press conference yesterday brought about some negatives for sure, but one thing that was perfectly clear is that he knows how bad this team has gotten and how pissed off us fans are. The Giants appear to be going about this process the right way. They are taking their time, and they are throwing out their old process.
It has been 43 years since George Young was hired as General Manager and saved the Giants. Hopefully this GM search results in the next George Young, and a new, “Giant Way”, can be adopted.
(Photo: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
