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Good morning, New York Giants fans!
John Mara: We’re moving in the right direction | ProFootballTalk
Here is Mara talking to Bob Glauber of Newsday”
“Absolutely, I think we’re moving in the right direction,” Mara said. “I certainly don’t think we’re a finished product yet, but I am happy with the direction of the team, contrary to popular opinion.”
Mara said “time will tell” if he’s right about the team being on the path to success.
GM Dave Gettleman certainly has not followed conventional wisdom in revamping the Giants. He might get the last laugh. He might end up being laughed at. As Mara said, “time will tell.”
NFL summer subplots: One burning question for each NFC team | NFL.com
For the Giants, it’s ‘who’s rushing the passer?’
The Giants ranked second-to-last in sacks last season. Then, right before the start of free agency, they proceeded to trade Olivier Vernon, who led the team with seven sacks in 2018. So, this set the table for Big Blue to track down some premium QB hunters in free agency and the draft, right? Not so much. New York handed DE Markus Golden a one-year deal, spent the No. 17 overall pick on DT Dexter Lawrence (whose main pre-draft knock was his lack of pass-rushing production) and took a third-round stab at small-school DE Oshane Ximines. While B.J. Hill provided some nice interior pressure as a rookie (5.5 sacks), the DT's hardly the kind of guy to spearhead a pass rush. So, what's the plan here? Well, there is an emerging line of thought in analytics circles that the back end of a defense is actually more important than the front, essentially flipping conventional wisdom on its head. Coverage > pass rush??! Yep, that's the argument Pro Football Focus is making. And maybe that's what Dave Gettleman has in mind, having drafted three corners last month -- less than a year after snagging CB Sam Beal in the third round of the 2018 Supplemental Draft. Calculated plan or disorganized madness? Stay tuned!
Ranking NFL QB commitment - How married all 32 teams are to their starters | ESPN
Eli Manning ranks 31st on this list, which is more about job security than playing ability.
If you don't know where things stand with Manning and the Giants, you just haven't been paying attention to NFL offseason news. The Giants say they're committed to Manning as their starter for 2019, but they also drafted Duke's Daniel Jones sixth overall, so it's clear they're not committed to the 38-year-old Manning for very much longer.
He has had no talks with the team about an extension, and it's possible, if he and/or the team struggle, he could cede the starting job to Jones at some point during the season, as Kurt Warner did to him in 2004. The end of the Manning era in New York is nigh. The remaining question is whether he gets (or even wants) an opportunity to play somewhere else in 2020.
Markus Golden is healthy and ready to go sack ‘hunting’ for Giants | New York Daily News
The Giants are gambling that Golden can return to something resembling the 2016 form that saw him net 12.5 sacks for the Arizona Cardinals. Golden wrecked his knee in 2017 and had just 2.5 sacks last season.
“Hey, I would retire if I didn’t feel like that,” Golden said. “As hard as I work every day, to make sure I can put myself in that position. So of course you want to feel like that. I know I can help the team … I don’t have no doubt (I can do that) at all. That’s why I wake up and work hard.”
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