“The search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions.”
―
I see Giant GM Dave Gettleman get roasted on Giant message boards because of the Giants record. Dave Gettleman in my view makes an easy scapegoat but I feel he has done okay as GM. I believe the majority of Giant fans were fine with his draft picks when they were made. If you look at the players chosen in rounds 1-3 they have performed well.Those are the critical rounds as that is where most of the top talent goes. The rest of the draft is a crapshoot. Here are his draft picks for the first three rounds.
| Year | Round | Pick | Player | Position | Notes |
| 2020 | 1 | 4 | Andrew Thomas | T | PFF’s top OT in the draft, Consensus Big Board at 11 |
| 2020 | 2 | 36 | Xavier McKinney | S | Round 1 talent – PFF, Consensus Big Board |
| 2020 | 3 | 99 | Matt Peart | T | Peart is an explosive mover with rare length and his ceiling is quite high in the NFL. – draftnetwork |
| 2019 | 1 | 6 | Daniel Jones | QB | Record Rookie Season |
| 2019 | 1 | 17 | Dexter Lawrence | DT | 2019 All Rookie Team |
| 2019 | 1 | 30 | Deandre Baker | CB | Bad Pick |
| 2019 | 3 | 95 | Oshane Ximines | DE | College performance indicative of a potential All-Pro to Pro Bowl players since the 1989 NFL draft class. |
| 2018 | 1 | 2 | Saquon Barkley | RB | 2018 AP Rookie of the Year |
| 2018 | 2 | 34 | Will Hernandez | G | 2018 All Rookie Team |
| 2018 | 3 | 66 | Lorenzo Carter | DE | Carter and Bradley Chubb only 2 active players that in first 35 games had 9+ sacks, 27+ QB hits, 66+ solo tackles and 15_ TFLs. Rookie year PFF had Carter as top five rookie at his position |
| 2018 | 3 | 69 | B.J. Hill | DT | PFF – B.J. Hill finished in the top five rookies at their respective positions. |
Throw in the pick of Darius Slayton in Round 5.
| Year | Rnd | Pick | Player | Pos | Notes |
| 2019 | 5 | 171 | Darius Slayton | WR | 2019 8th in Receiving Touchdowns; tenth in the league in yards before the catch per reception with 12.9 yards. |
Then add in good off-season free agency signings
| Year | Player | Pos | Notes |
| 2020 | Blake Martinez | LB | Martinez is second among all Giant players in total tackles thru the first five games. Only Jessie Armstead in 1999 had more with two more |
| 2020 | James Bradberry | CB | 2020 1st in Passes Defended. Pro Football Focus has Bradberry ranked at 2nd out of 116 cornerbacks. |
| 2020 | Graham Gano | K | His 92.9% field goal percent this year is tie for second best among kickers with 10+ attempts. |
| 2019 | Golden Tate | WR | For 2019 tied for second highest graded WR lined up in the slot by PFF. In 2019 was highest Giant WR in YAC. He was 2nd among Giants in receiving 1st downs and yds/target. |
| 2019 | David Mayo | LB | Earned a run-defense grade of 90.1 that ranked second among all linebackers from PFF. |
| 2019 | Markus Golden | LB | Ninth in the league in 2019 in QB pressures. Sixth in QB hits. 15th in sacks. |
| 2018 | Nate Solder | OT | In 2018 first year on Giants he was the 9th highest graded left tackle by PFF for OT with 1,000+ snaps. |
The there were the trades shown here.
| Year | Player | Pos | Notes |
| 2019 | Leonard Williams | DT | Leonard Williams ranked 11th in total pressures among interior defensive lineman in 2019. In just 13 games on the Giants Leonard ranks third on the team in QB hits and first among interior linemen. |
| 2019 | Jabrill Peppers | S | This trade needs to be evaluated in it’s entirety. The Giants wound up with Dexter Lawrence, Oshane Ximines and Jabrill Peppers. Based on the first year performance of O’dell Beckham on the Browns and the Giant players obtained the Giants came out on top. In his first season on the Giants from Weeks 9-12, Peppers was the eighth-highest graded safety in the league.In 2019 Peppers recorded three consecutive games with coverage grades above 70.0, according to Pro Football Focus. He did not miss a single tackle during that stretch while picking up six pressures. |
| 2019 | Kevin Zeitler | OG | From PFF – One year after the Olivier Vernon-for-Zeitler swap with the Browns, it appears as if the Giants got the better end of the deal. Vernon struggled to stay healthy yet again, and Zeitler was once more one of the best guards in the NFL. In 2019 Zeitler ranked seventh overall at the guard position with a PFF grade of 76.4. |
The old saying that even a broken clock is right twice a day. However these players Gettleman brought in have excelled for at least one whole season in the NFL. You do not do that without talent, The heights they reached such as making the All-Rookie team, or Daniel Jones breaking numerous Giant rookie QB records as well as a two NFL ones, show the talent is there. Free agents Martinez and Bradberry are having career years. The Beckham trade looks like a win for the Giants.Darius Slayton was a steal of the 2019 draft. Gettleman has addressed the offensive line and they need time to develop together in a topsy-turvey NFL season. I am sure he will continue to see that task through in the 2021 draft if need be.
The Giants are not a deep roster. the injuries over the last three seasons have hurt them more than a team with more depth. Daniel Jones has played only one game in his career where he had his full complement of skill players of Saquon Barkley, Evan Engram, Sterling Shepard, Golden Tate and Darius Slayton all active. In that game against the Bears they lost Barkley. However with a healthy roster the talent appears to have been brought in.
Rather than blame Gettleman for the state of the Giants, I would question the coaching staffs we have had. Have they developed these players, used schemes to maximize their talents, called good game plans? The Giants are on their third head coach in five seasons and that does not count Steve Sapgnuolo’s interim position. Gettleman holds partial responsibility for that. Of the three parted head coaches (including Steve) none have landed a head coach position. It is too soon to judge Judge.
From a player talent evaluation the case can be made that Gettleman has done a good job based on the players listed above and their accomplishments. It does not appear that Gettleman is a good evaluator of coaches. This Giants team has acquired a good core of players that have shown talent. In my post The Dust Has Settled After Week Five For The Giants I propose the Giants are only about three good to elite players away for being a playoff competitive team. Gettleman has put that together from the ground up. He should not be the scapegoat in this rough stretch. The 49ers went four seasons of under .500 and thru 4 coaches over four seasons before they made the Super Bowl in 2019. It takes time to build up a playoff team.
