The New York Giants entered 2019 pushing the narrative that they would be able to compete while rebuilding, which essentially blew up in their faces after just two weeks.
It was immediately clear that New York had a plethora of problems, including a lack of depth at several key positions leading to the over-use of rookies and all of the problems that come along with that.
Coming up on Week 12, the Giants are 2-8 and in the running for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, which speaks volumes about just how far off they are from being legitimate Super Bowl contenders. But perhaps they can make a playoff push in 2020?
Not so fast, says former NFL Executive of the Year, Jeff Diamond.
“I think it’s too soon to make that statement. I think that they’ve added some pieces, but there’s a lot of work to do. It will help them to have that cap cleaned out a little bit,” Diamond told Big Blue View. “They’ll have an opportunity to kind of re-fortify. Not that free agency is a cure all; it’s not. I still believe that you build through the draft primarily and you augment through free agency.
“They’ll have opportunities to add some quality free agents and hopefully they’ll turn out better than they did the last time. . . We’ll see. It’s going to be incumbent on Dave Gettleman if he survives this he’s going to have to make better free agent calls.”
Diamond does believe Gettleman benefits the Giants with his knowledge of personnel and history of winning, but eventually some of that has to show up in New York or his resume will no longer keep him afloat.
“I do believe Dave Gettleman knows personnel, he knows the business, he’s built winners before,” Diamond added. “We’ll see how it shakes out.
“I think the next draft and the next free agent class [are] really important for this Giants team to take a step forward.”
Make no mistake about it, Diamond believes the Giants can turn things around, but he doesn’t see it happened in a one-year span. Rather, he’s looking at least a couple seasons down the line and assuming that if all goes according to plan, the Giants will reemerge as competitors.
Unfortunately for Giants fans, that may mean another down year or two.
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