Dave Gettleman on hot seat? Giants owner John Mara says “no”

The offseason narrative around New York Giants GM Dave Gettleman has been that a fourth straight losing season on his watch would likely result in the 70-year-old being replaced.

Well, maybe that isn’t so cut-and-dried. In a wide-ranging Q&A with New York Post columnist Steve Serby, co-owner John Mara flatly said “No” when asked if Gettleman was on the hot seat.

Mara explained that he likes the work being done by the team of Gettleman and head coach Joe Judge.

“Listen, I was frustrated the first couple of years the way the [seasons] ended. But the combination of Dave and Joe has produced very good personnel decisions, be it in free agency and in the draft. It’s a very good combination. We’ve made a lot of changes to our football operations staff, added some talented new people. I just feel like we’re moving in the right direction. I think there’s a certain amount of confidence and a certain buzz in the building that maybe we haven’t had for a while. The combination of Dave and Joe is just the right mix for us.”

Gettleman has often spoken of how he view his work as a “collaboration” with the coaching staff. The GM engineered a pair of trades down (for Toney and Azeez Ojulari) and a trade up for Aaron Robinson in the most recent draft.

Here is part of what Judge said the other day when I asked him about working with Gettleman:

“One thing I was taught at a young age is you treat everyone with respect and you value people based on merit. I see myself as someone who can really work with anybody. I have no problem putting up with players or staff members or co-workers or GMs or whoever it is with different personalities or different backgrounds or different ages. That doesn’t bother me at all. At all. To me it’s all of our job to work together. Everyone who walks through that door, every player, coach, staff member, front office, doesn’t matter, we all have one thing we have to do every day and that’s put the team first. I think we all need to just keep the focus on what we have to do for the team. When that’s in mind you can put aside any kind of gaps, age differences, whatever it is, and then work together,” Judge said.

“It’s very important for me everyone understands what our mission at hand is and what we’re building as a coaching staff, and the kind of players that we need to get going forward. That’s a process that takes time. It’s not Fantasy Football. You’ve gotta have the ability to bring in guys and the ability to develop them over time as well. If you get the right guys, the right mental makeup and they have ability then you have an opportunity to build something.”