Four Giant(s) mistakes by GM Jerry Reese in the offseason that cost Big Blue
BY
EBENEZER SAMUEL
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Wednesday, December 30, 2015, 10:09 AM
COREY SIPKIN/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Jerry Reese did Tom Coughlin no favors with his bad moves over the offseason.
This one isn’t all on Tom Coughlin.
The Giants’ longtime coach seems almost certain to take the fall for Big Blue’s third straight losing season, the franchise’s longest drought since a dark age from 1973-1980. But GM Jerry Reese deserves a good deal of blame.
All Reese did this season was hand a two-time Super Bowl champion coach a roster lacking in depth and talent, practically forcing Coughlin to perform a miracle. It’s no wonder Coughlin refused to “go down that road” when asked about the Giants’ talent level
Sunday’s loss in Minnesota.
No, Coughlin’s late-game blunders didn’t help. But this season was doomed from the start, thanks to these four offseason missteps by Reese.
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POOR CRUZ CONTROL
When Reese spoke at February’s NFL scouting combine, he seemed fully aware that the Giants couldn’t rely on Victor Cruz, who was coming off a
serious knee injury (torn right patellar tendon), saying the club couldn’t “put all its eggs in one basket.”
But it sure looked like he did just that, adding no receiving depth, content to trust inconsistent Rueben Randle behind Odell Beckham Jr. So when Cruz couldn’t play, Coughlin was left with Preston Parker manning the slot. Parker was cut after just two weeks and the Giants have struggled with complementary receivers all season; on Sunday, they were reduced to a pair of practice squadders — Myles White and Ben Edwards — working in three-wide sets.
The Giants could not be more reliant on Beckham for big plays. Beckham has eight of the Giants’ 15 catches of 40 yards or more this season.
ROBERT SABO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Victor Cruz (r.) never gets himself healthy and Giants have to rely on solely on Odell Beckham.
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SAFETY LAST
It wasn’t a bad move
to let aging Antrel Rolle walk this offseason. It was a bad move to completely ignore the position once top target Devin McCourty returned to New England.
But then Reese didn’t sign a single proven starter, experimenting with untested youngsters and washed-up vets, a setup that never insulated an injury-prone franchise against injuries. So Coughlin was left to count on a rookie with well-chronicled coverage limitations (Landon Collins) and two vets nobody wanted (Brandon Meriweather and Craig Dahl).
Dahl hadn’t started in three years — and he looked that way Sunday night, when he was easily beaten up the seam by tight end Kyle Rudolph for a 28-yard Vikings TD. Not that that’s surprising; the Giants have surrendered 58 passes of 20 yards or more this season, third-worst in football.
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LETTING THURMOND WALK
Not that the Giants had to go outside for a safety. In 2014, Reese had signed corner Walter Thurmond to cover slot receivers, although a torn pectoral abruptly ended his season. But the versatile Thurmond, an ex-Seahawk, could have easily converted to safety, providing an adequate — and affordable — back end solution.
JONATHAN BACHMAN/AP
Giants safety Landon Collins gets beat by Saints wide receiver Marques Colston in November.
That’s exactly what Thurmond wound up doing when he signed a one-year $3.25 million deal with the Eagles, and he’s pieced together the finest season of his career at his new position, with 71 tackles and three interceptions. Yes, Reese was outsmarted by Chip Kelly.
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COUNTING ON KENNARD AND MOORE
Reese flirted with several pass rushers in the offseason, but only made bargain-basement pitches, reportedly offering Philadelphia’s Brandon Graham, who has 6.5 sacks this season, a one-year deal.
And that smart negotiating left the Giants relying on youngsters Devon Kennard and Damontre Moore to generate a pass rush. The issue became dire afterr
Jason Pierre-Paul’s summer fireworks accident, and it never went away; the Giants have the third-lowest sack total (22) in the NFL.
But don’t blame Moore or Kennard. Moore, cut three weeks ago, had never proven he could be anything more than a situational pass-rusher. And nobody should be shocked that Kennard battled hamstring and leg issues all season and ends this season on injured reserve. In five years at USC, the 2014 fifth-round pick endured hip and thumb surgeries and missed a season with a torn pectoral, hardly the profile of a player who can be relied upon.
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