NFL executives give Giants “C” grade for offseason

Around these parts, reaction to the New York Giants’ offseason has been mostly positive. After the first wave of free agency, a BBV poll saw 61 percent of responders give a “B.” The draft was also widely celebrated with 56 percent giving it an “A.”

However, those around the league have not been as high on what the Giants did this offseason. According to an ESPN Insider poll in which “more than a dozen decision-makers around the league contributed their thoughts to this team-by-team review,” the Giants received a “C.”

The grading scale wasn’t just on football moves alone, as the intro clams the voters “took into account coaching changes, free-agency moves, draft maneuvering and shocking revelations that rocked two franchises outside the realm of football operations.”

That “C” grade was one of the worst grades handed out among the 32 NFL teams. The Giants were one of five teams to get a “C,” along with the Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, and Seattle Seahawks. Only three teams — the Miami Dolphins, Carolina Panthers, and Detroit Lions — were graded worse. Only the Dolphins, though, were worse because of football reasons. Carolina was docked because of the Jerry Richardson situation and Detroit was due to Matt Patricia.

Much if the hangup on the Giants’ offseason unsurprisingly came back to the debate about whether the team should have taken a quarterback with the second overall pick in the draft. From the article:

The danger is that the Giants might be bad enough in 2018 to miss the playoffs but good enough to miss out on a 2019 draft choice early enough to target a quarterback. That would be problematic if Webb or 2018 fourth-rounder Kyle Lauletta are not viable replacement options for Manning.

One executive lamented the stubbornness of holding onto the second pick when there could have been other trades available, noting “...imagine instead of getting Barkley, they end up with Quenton Nelson, Nick Chubb and [Will] Hernandez. I would trade Saquon Barkley right now for Nelson, [Nick] Chubb and a second.”

There’s also a knock for making Nate Solder the highest paid offensive tackle in the league when his play hasn’t matched that price range.

How you grade the Giants’ offseason probably relies on how much you grade on a curve. There’s certainly nits to be picked for many individual moves, but the overall sense is that the team should be better than it was in 2017. But given how low that bar is to clear, should that be enough to overlook possible future issues that came from trying to maximize a small and closing 2018 window?

So let’s ask again. Given the whole offseason, how would you grade what the Giants have done?