New York Giants Coach: Who Will New GM Dave Gettleman Choose to Replace Ben McAdoo?
The New York Giants will end a miserable season on Sunday against the Washington Redskins at MetLife Stadium assured of no more than three wins—the team's worst year since 1983.
Nothing much else about the Giants seems assured right now. On Thursday evening the franchise announced the hiring of 66-year-old Dave Gettleman as its new General Manager. "Given where we are as a team, we thought it was important to bring in someone with experience as a general manager and a proven track record," a joint statement from Giants President John Mara and chairman Steve Tisch and published by NFL.com read. "Dave's experience is unparalleled. He did an outstanding job as general manager in Carolina, and he was vital to our success during his tenure here. Dave is going to bring his own approach to our organization in how we draft and acquire players through free agency."
Gettleman previously worked for the Giants from 1998 to 2012 as a personnel executive, before joining the Panthers. Jerry Reese, the Giants’ previous General Manager, lost his job along with head coach Ben McAdoo in early December.
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The Giants will likely have the second pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, a tantalizing reward for a season of failure that could be used on UCLA quarterback Sam Rosen or USC’s Sam Darnold. Eli Manning, benched this season then returned to the starter’s job, needs replacing. Odell Beckham is out of contract in 2019. Eli Apple, the Giants’ first-round pick in 2016, has been suspended by the team and “will not return” in 2018, according to USA Today.
And that’s without mentioning the Giants’ other roster needs, or the fact that they, uh, don’t have a head coach. Finding one has to be Gettleman’s priority, before he goes about sorting all of the other stuff that needs to be sorted. The New York Daily News has a list of possibilities, the most intriguing of which involves raiding the Patriots for either Josh McDaniels, the offensive coordinator, or defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.
Big Blue View, the Giants blog, throws out a few more interesting names. John DeFilippo, the Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterbacks coach, has had a lot of success developing Carson Wentz into one of the NFL’s elite signal-callers and could fit in well as a mentor if the Giants draft Rosen second overall. Then there’s Bill O’Brien, the Texans head coach, who may be out of a job at the end of a season that effectively ended in Houston with the injury to quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Gettleman and the head coach the Giants decide upon have one of the biggest rebuilding projects in the NFL. But also one of the more enticing.