By Ben Kelly - InReeseWeTrust.com 7/17/10
New York Giants General Manager Jerry Reese’s approval rating following the 2008 Super Bowl shot well above 100% among loyal Giants fans. New York’s roster, built by personnel guru Ernie Accorsi, was sprinkled with all the right pieces from Reese’s first draft. In the game, first rounder Aaron Ross started at corner back opposite New England’s Randy Moss and Wes Welker. Second round wide out Steve Smith caught 5 passes for 50 yards, including a clutch first down reception on the final drive. Third round defensive tackle Jay Alford recorded a thumping sack of Tom Brady with less than thirty seconds remaining. Fifth round tight end Kevin Boss from tiny Western Oregon University proved a reliable starter in the wake of Jeremy Shockey’s late season injury and exile. And diminutive running back Ahmad Bradshaw led New York runners in playoff rushing yards after being selected 250th overall out of 256 draftees. Reese’s first draft, by all measures, was a complete and total success; one different pick and the Super Bowl could have been a missed opportunity.
The success of Reese’s first season at the helm granted him a deserved honeymoon. The Giants’ boy wonder could do no wrong, nabbing fan-approved choices of Kenny Phillips and perceived third round steal Mario Manningham in the 2008 draft, and continuing to supplement the roster with solid core picks. Even the most skeptical fan could accept a poor draft pick given Reese’s initial success. Fans generally prefer homegrown talent transforming into all-stars rather than free agents, and Reese’s knack for selecting impact rookies and popular college players pleased the Giant fan base.
Winning is another way to please the fan base. Hoping to avoid a post Super Bowl hangover, the 2008 Giants stormed out to an 11-1 start and all was well in East Rutherford. However, the burden of expectations, Plaxico Burress’s absence and other reasons contributed to a 1-3 finish and a first round bounce from the playoffs by division rival Philadelphia.
The following approach to the 2009 off-season was atypical than Reese’s previous two. The 2007 team employed primarily homegrown stars in Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Eli Manning and Brandon Jacobs. Burress was added in 2005 as a marquee free agent, and solid but unremarkable starting linebackers Antonio Pierce and Kawika Mitchell were free agent additions as well, but not at the big money level. Urgent to erase the humiliating conclusion of the 2008 season, the Giants swept into a free agent spending frenzy.
Uncharacteristic from previous off-seasons, Reese opted to spend $67 million on two players: former Dallas defensive lineman Chris Canty and former Atlanta linebacker Michael Boley. These positive headlines brought the Giants back into conversation in a good light. Many analysts and fans believed Canty improved one of the best defensive lines in football and Boley fulfilled a position of need.
But throwing money at experienced NFL veterans who thrived in different systems is often a recipe for disaster- just look at the Washington Redskins’s recent history. Canty, a 6 foot 7, 300 pound behemoth defensive end in Dallas’ 3-4 defensive scheme, seems an unnatural fit as a 4-3 tackle with the Giants. Boley gained recognition as an athletic coverage linebacker, another questionable fit for former coordinators Steve Spagnuolo and Bill Sheridan’s heavy blitz packages. Both players were not able to showcase their talents early in the season to fans: Canty missed weeks two through nine with injury, and amassed only 13 tackles and 0.5 sacks on the season, nowhere near the anticipated production of a $42 million man. Boley missed four games yet still finished with 84 tackles and a sack.
Despite Reese’s spending spree in the offseason, including $16 million for backup defensive tackle Rocky Bernard, the Giants total defensive yards allowed per game decreased from fifth overall in 2008, at 292 yards per game, to thirteenth overall in 2009 at 324.9 yards per game. Part of the drop-off can be attributed to the loss of Spagnuolo, who took the St. Louis Rams head-coaching job. Spagnuolo’s replacement Bill Sheridan lasted only one season and received much of the blame from fans for the defensive regress.
Giants fans can only hope new defensive coordinator Perry Fewell will maximize the production and value out of two of the highest paid Giants defenders. Fewell, fresh out of Buffalo, coached the Bills to 19th overall in defensive yards allowed per game at 340.6 yards in 2009. He will have a new toy to play with in the secondary, with the acquisition of former Arizona safety Antrel Rolle.
This off-season, Rolle signed a five-year contract worth $37 million, making him the highest paid safety in NFL history, though he was not even the best safety on his former team: Adrian Wilson earned three Pro Bowl selections to Rolle’s one. Rolle’s contract is another questionable decision from Reese considering Rolle’s name is rarely mentioned in the upper echelon of NFL safeties, including Baltimore’s Ed Reed, Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu and Indianapolis’ Bob Sanders, who, by the way, are all homegrown talents.
For now, Giants fans must put their faith in Reese’s game plan, hoping he understands the balance between spending on free agents and developing draftees. Reese should understand the concept better than anyone; he was promoted from within the organization following the retirement of predecessor Ernie Accorsi, a personnel guru with thirty years experience.
With one Super Bowl under his belt, Reese has earned a level of trust among the Giants faithful. But if he persists on buying high profile free agents that do not gel with the current Giants team, the roster will implode and New York will be starting from scratch again in five seasons, this time with a new General Manager in place.
