During the recent NFL meetings in Florida, New York Giants Co-Owner John Mara was asked about the recent spending spree his team has gone on in free agency and what their plans were going forward.
Mara, per Jordan Raanan of NJ.com, indicated that the Giants would need to rely on the current crop of unproven free safeties on the roster.
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That’s right; after spending over $200 million in new contracts for various free agents, the Giants will most likely lean on one or all 3 players they had last season at free safety that have never started an NFL game in Nat Berhe, Bennett Jackson and Mykkele Thompson.
While it’s not unusual for teams to rely on young players to step up, it’s clear from last season that the Giants need a free safety with some real experience that they can reasonably trust will stay on the field for the entire season. All three players mentioned never even made it out of the preseason last year with various injuries, and while they showed promise before being hurt, that only goes so far.
What’s more perplexing is that apparently, per Ranaan’s article, Mara and the rest of Giant’s management never even looked into any of the top free agent safeties that were available. Not one phone call or inquiry into what it would take to shore up a position that was a huge weakness last season.
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The numbers have been well discussed and are known by most Giants fans: Per ESPN, the Giants were last in the league in pass yardage given up, and had relinquished the most yards per game to opposing teams quarterbacks. Per Football Outsiders, the GMEN also had given up the most yardage per game to opposing tight ends.
All of these statistics can be tied to the free safety position in one way or another, and to lean on one of three guys that have never shown the ability to start and be the quarterback of the secondary is a huge risk. That goes doubly for GM Jerry Reese, who presumably is on a short lease after Big Blue’s failure to make the post season over the last several years despite spending big money on the team.
Assuming one of those three players works out and shows enough ability to not only start, but stay healthy for the majority of the season, the Giants big gamble might pay off.
Berhe drew a lot of praise from coaches before he had to be shut down; Thompson also showed a lot of upside, and it could be the hopes of team leaders that one of these two win the job as they are former draft picks of the Giants. Reese surely wouldn’t this as he needs some of his recent picks to pan out beyond players named Odell Beckham Jr.
The bottom line is this: New York had, and still has, the cap space to bring in a veteran player at free safety. They just don’t want to, and instead will apparently place all of their faith in unproven talent that hasn’t been able to stay healthy.
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It’s a faith that is misguided and could cost several team personnel their jobs when it is all said and done.