When New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman took center stage for his end-of-season press conference on Tuesday, two of the main topics discussed were the team’s use of analytics and the thinking that went into acquiring Leonard Williams from the New York Jets.
Gettleman has received seemingly endless criticism for his decision to send two picks to the Jets — a third-round pick and a fifth-round pick that could become a fourth if Williams is signed this offseason — but maintains it was the right move.
“The thought process was, I really believe that as much as the style of play evolves, there are basic truths — you have to run the ball, you have to stop the run, you have to rush the passer,” Gettleman said. “If you are seriously deficient in any one of those three areas, it makes it tough. It’s going to be tough sledding. By bringing in Leonard, we looked at it, we obviously evaluated the film, by bringing him in, we felt he could be a disruptive force inside. And, he has been. He has been.”
But has Williams really been a disruptive force? A quick glance at his statistics show just a half a sack this season, which is where much of the criticism stems.
However, there’s much more that goes on beyond the box score that’s worthy of examining.
Entering Week 17, the Giants had trimmed .3 yards per carry off their opponents, and while that doesn’t seem like much, it also led to teams passing more. Opposing carries were down by nearly three per game, while the yardage average per game dipped from 122.4 to 104.1.
In terms of rushing the passer, Williams may not have recorded many sacks, but he was among the team leaders in QB pressure and QB hits since his arrival.
“We felt we needed him. Again, we felt good about it and we feel, and he’s proven, he’s disruptive in there. He improved our rushing defense with him in there, he buzzes around the quarterback, we’ve just got to get him to finish now. But, the bottom line is we felt it was worth the deal. The juice was worth the squeeze,” Gettleman added.
The juice is only worth the squeeze if the Giants are able to re-sign Leonard, which Gettleman feels confident they will be able to do.
“He was in my office yesterday and he told me he wants to be here,” Gettleman said.
The other side of the argument against the Williams trade is value vs. time. Why not just wait until Williams became a free agent and then sign him?
It seems like a fair question, but there appears to be a method behind that madness as well.
“Because now we know what we have, and we were willing to do that,” Gettleman said when asked why he didn’t just wait to free agency.
Had Gettleman signed Williams to a significant long-term contract this offseason and he didn’t fit in with the Giants’ personnel, it very well could have been a move that cost Gettleman his job. Instead, he risked a little draft capital on a potentially elite player to see if he was a sure fit.
He was in the eyes of this writer.
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