The Giants have gone 15-33 since Dave Gettleman took over as general manager, but president and co-owner John Mara wouldn’t go as far as to say the executive was on the hot seat.
“We’re all on the hot seat with our fans in particular, we’ve given them too many losing seasons…it’s time to start winning,” Mara told reporters today when he was asked about Gettleman’s spot on the hot seat (via SNY on Twitter). “But, no I wouldn’t say that’s an accurate statement.”
The owner didn’t reveal any specific mandate to make the playoffs, and he hinted that incremental improvements could be enough for everyone (including the head coach and quarterback) to keep their gigs in 2022. However, Mara also acknowledged that the organization can’t take a step back in 2021.
“I gave the same answer last year, I think, but when I walk off the field after the last game, whenever that is, I want to feel like ‘Does this group give us a chance to win the Super Bowl? Are we moving in that direction?’” Mara said (via Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.tv). “If the answer to that is yes, then we’re not going to consider making big changes. If I feel like we’re going backwards, that’s another discussion.”
“I’ll look at that at the end of the season and see whether I think we’re continuing to make progress and moving in the right direction, but I’m not issuing a playoff mandate,” Mara added. “I don’t think those ever do any good. I don’t think I need to say or do anything to motivate the people in this building any more than they’re already motivated. They all want to win.”
The Giants’ six wins in 2020 was their best showing in three years. While seven wins probably wouldn’t be tolerable among Giants fans, it just might be enough for Gettleman and co. to keep their jobs.
Gettleman just as bad as Zack Scott and Sandy Alderson. Fire their you know what’s outta NY. See ya!!!
So if the G-men are 7 and 10 this season will that be regarded as “progress”?
No writer said that not Mara.
But it’s not a regression, per the wins/losses….
Everyone knows Gettleman’s job depends on the success of Daniel Jones. If the kid washes out so will Gettleman…
A more accurate statement hasn’t been written.
Correct!
Sadly, Gettleman is sabotaging the QB he was so gung ho about.
By not drafting any linemen this year and missing on the one chosen on 2020, plus wasting draft picks and free agent money on speedy toys and frills that are useless on a club with a pourous line, he has laid the groundwork for a five or six win season.
That on turn will lead to his “retirement “ a new coach and GM and another quarterback being drafted in the first round next spring.
they drafted 3 in 2020. I also think its too soon to write off any draft pick in 2020 considering the way OTAs and practices had to be run. There is an argument that the progress made during the season was not as expected and also one could say Becton and Wirfs had better rookie campaigns. but time will tell.
We still have the future rumors of Bellichek coming in as President of Operations and a hybrid GM of Bill and Judge
Yeah, that Yiadom for Jackson trade really raised a lot of questions.
If they don’t show improvement over last year, he’s probably gone.
It’s not even a high mark is the sad thing. IT hinges on Danny Dimes progression. If he’s all he will ever be, Gettleman better get real comfortable as a consultant and not much more.
Gettleman has been rebuilding for a while now. Granted, that roster at the end of Reese’s career didn’t leave much of anything to work with, but Gettleman has a strange issue of moving one step forward and one step backward. He drafts a great DT, and trades for a DE who finally breaks out, just to let the DT walk and extend that DE to a big contract. He’ll draft a first round bust at CB, and then sign possibly the best free agent fit for his team at the position. He wasted four years with a mediocre coach and then hired an unheard of but seemingly impressive dark horse to succeed him. I would go on, but you get the point.
Gettleman’s fate ultimately will be tied to Daniel Jones this year-Gettleman bet on himself entirely there, saying that this is his guy and that he knew that there something that Jones had that most people didn’t see as being worth that pick. This will validate Gettleman’s instincts that people have questioned, and also validate the foundation that he’s been slowly building, one step forward and one step backward, for years. If Jones does not live up to expectations, even with the continued questions along that line, Gettleman will be proven wrong. It’s pretty much all been building to this moment for him.
A good GM is someone who can see both the forest and the trees, manage day to day operations competently while at the same time acting as an architect to achieve a vision. I don’t think Gettleman feels at all comfortable trying to be an architect and it shows.
Like drafting Dan because he was tall, and coached by a guy that coached both Mannings? Real GM strategy there!
In all fairness the Giants have not had the same mystique since the tom coughlin era and I think Gettleman is a big reason why. Jones has been a serviceable pro but I dont believe he was worthy of his position in the draft. He’s never going to be a top 10 QB in this league in my humble opinion. The Giants record the past 5 years has been amongst the worst in football and I believe Gettleman should have been fired already and replaced by a big name worthy of the Giants brand. I guess this is going to be a make or break year for him and judging by the lack of improvement to the offensive line I think this year is going to be a disaster.
I think you’re spot on. Jones isn’t a bad QB, I just think he was overdrafted. If you put a good team around him, he will win you games. He’s not that talent that will do it on his own, though. And Gettleman has really failed at team building, evidenced by the Giants record the past few years. I’m not a Giants fan, but the franchise used to have a mystique around it where you hated to see your favorite team have to play them. Now they’re just another team.
I seriously hesitate to call Jones servicable. I was pretty encouraged by his rookie season despite the naysayers, but he took a huge step back last year. He was awful, one of the worst starters in the league. He really needs to step up this year or both him and Gettleman will be gone.
I dont think you can put the step back completely on Jones, that offensive line was literally the worst in the league and the person the offense was built around was hurt. I dont think many would do well with that offense even a lamar jackson or josh allen as they would have been running for their lives the whole time. Even this year im not expecting a ton with this offensive line maybe a 1 or 2 win increase.
I agree i dont see him as a top 10 qb but i can see Jones being another Tannehill type QB late teens early 20’s in qb rankings. Put him on a team with a decent offense line and a couple of skill position weapons and he can put you in the playoffs.
I’m not putting it completely on Jones, especially with the lack of a receiving corps and a bad OL (though not the worst in football, imo*), but he was awful last year. There were so many times he held onto the ball waaaay too long, too many bad decisions, and too many poor throws.
This year, barring injuries, he should have no excuses. Saquon is back and Gettleman beefed up the receivers. The OL should be improved. If he’s bad again this year, he’s gone. I hope we see more of Jones’ rookie performance than his bad year last year.
*1700 yards rushing as a team, middle of the pack in all team rushing stats. Played much better as the season went on. Tied for second worst in sacks, but A) the Eagles gave up 15 more sacks and B) Jones caused quite a few of those sacks by holding onto the ball too long. They were a bad OL crew but I wouldn’t call them the worst, possibly the Chargers, Lions, Jets, Cowboys, and Dolphins were worse.
It all comes down to the O line. Are any of the five projected starters ranked in the top half of the league at their position? Is it too much to want just the 16th best center, tackles or guards? I am not saying Top 5, just name one Giant lineman who is the 16th best at his position?
To be fair, Jones was without the Giants’ best offensive player in Saquon Barkley last year and without any consistent receiving help all year, with the exception of Darius Slayton.
Really though, I’m not sure Jason Garrett helped at all. The worst part for Jones is that Garrett will be calling plays again this year and that the line is not much improved. He should, however, have better playmakers to throw to, especially in the red zone. The defense maybe got worse. Hopefully it did not, because New York probably still won’t be a high octane offense even with all the additions performing well. I honestly think that Jones was less well suited for Garrett’s offense than what he ran his rookie year, but it’s hard to tell what kind of impact Barkley directly had on that development.
Only the warts of the other teams in the NFC Least keeps a 7-10 record even remotely possible. Gettleman stinks; years and years of less than mediocrity. And we all know that at his ceiling, DJ is “meh”, with no potential to be better.
Judge seems OK; wonder what he would do with some talent.
Gettleman is a dinosaur in this league and not a good talent evaluator to begin with. His drafts have had the benefit of selecting very high every year (but have still been bad) and virtually all of his FA signings have been major flops.
This offseason was his best by a mile, though. Had a great draft, nice trades. His FA signings on paper look good. But he absolutely needs to be fired if the team doesn’t play well this year.
Not sure why gettleman didn’t draft at least ONE o-lineman in 2021 draft. Trading down in Rd 1 to take a WR made zero sense. Especially with an o-line whose ranking has gone down the past three years. Now relying on signing old free agents is coming back to bite him. Young line with no depth is a recipe for disaster. He rolled the dice good luck.
It’s all the o-line, the one place where Gettleman really didn’t pay much attention to.
If the line holds up well enough, at least produces average results, that allows Daniel Jones to max his potential. What is Jones’ potential? With a solid line I think he can be a bit above average QB, like 12th-15th in the league. Not exactly living up to draft status, but “good enough.”
The other thing that a functional (I’m not even asking for good, or decent) o-line allows is Barkley to find some room, which also helps Jones.
If that line looks like it has the past 3-4 years, its a disaster and a clean sweep of GM and coaches.
The defense took a huge step forward last year, if they can stay in the top half of the league they keep the team in games.
My highest expectation is flirting with a wild card spot or a division title if no other team steps forward as “good.” Gettleman and Jones stay if the team finishes 9-8 I think, and Jones takes a noticeable step forward.
Another 6 win season won’t do it.