Why Does Giants GM Jerry Reese Undervalue Linebackers?

Each year, around draft time, something curious happens within the Giants fan community. Once the Super Bowl parties end, the pizza boxes and beer bottles are in the recycling bins, and the nation collectively gets the shakes from football withdrawal, Giants fans once again start beating their well-worn drums. At first, the sound is so low you might not even notice it. Once March rolls around, the rumbling noise is distracting. By April, the volume has increased to a deafening roar, equal parts plea and rage: “Draft a linebacker in the first!”

Even the youngest diehard fans remember our most recent championship run. It was only 2011, after all, and it followed on the heels of the still-fresh memories from the 2007 team’s Super Bowl victory. Those of us with a few more years on this earth still get the warm-and-fuzzies reflecting on the 1986 and 1990 teams as well. Yet, despite all this success, watch a jovial Giants fan’s expression turn into a withered, thousand-yard stare once you broach the subject of the team’s needs at linebacker.

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With the First Pick

We’ve witnessed, with increasing exasperation, the same horror story unfold year-in, year-out: opponents gashing the Giants up the gut with the run game; the inability to defend against quick slants and tight ends crossing the middle of the field (see Witten, Jason); blitzes that don’t get home; opponents dinking and dunking up the field; the defense’s general inability to get a stop on third and short; dogs and cats, living together; mass hysteria.

Not all of these things are solely the fault of the gaping hole in the middle of the Giants’ defense, but it’s a significant one all the same. This is why the Giants faithful begin their war chant at the start of every off-season. You can set your watch to it and, frankly, it’s beginning to feel like Groundhog Day (how’s that for two Bill Murray references in one piece?). As a fanbase, we’re a broken record. That’s because our cries are falling on the deaf ears of Jerry Reese.

Since assuming the role of General Manager in 2007, Reese has undervalued the linebacker position, typically spending a late-round draft pick or two on linebackers as an afterthought. Only once has he drafted a linebacker in the first three rounds; he took Clint Sintim in the second in 2009. And while Devon Kennard, drafted in the fifth round of the 2014 draft, shows a great deal of promise, the simple truth is that Reese mostly looked to patch the holes at LB in free agency, paying out the nose for injury-prone players like Jon Beason (who retired after being cut by the team last week) and J.T. Thomas, whose wheels fell off once we got them on the highway. Needless to say, used car dealerships must love Jerry.

Granted, the wasting away of the linebacker position for the Giants is partly due to the fact that the Reese needed to devote several high picks in recent years toward a massive rebuild of the Giants offensive line. Unfortunately, this was also because Reese ignored these positions until they became an emergency. But while Reese was busy plugging those particular holes in the Giants’ dam, the linebacker portion of the roster continues to spring leaks from years of neglect and spit-and-a-prayer fixes.

It has been far too long since we’ve had an elite linebacker like Lawrence Taylor or Carl Banks. At one time, guys like these cemented the Giants reputation as having a fearsome defense. Probably the most memorable play from a Giants linebacker in the past several years is Chase Blackburn intercepting Tom Brady in Super Bowl XLVI by out-jumping an injured Rob Gronkowski. It was an awesome moment, for sure, and I’ll always love the guy for it, but most teams have enough depth at the position that they don’t have to rely on substitute teachers getting off the couch to play for them in the Super Bowl.

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Once again, the offseason is upon us. Now that the dreaded Giants staff hot-seat has claimed its latest victim in Tom Coughlin, it appears that Jerry Reese will be its next occupant. Following Coughlin’s exit, the media world immediately fired shots over Reese’s bow, with Jerry’s reaction bordering on unprofessional. The next few months of free agency and the looming 2016 NFL Draft will be crucial in deciding how much longer he will retain his role with the Giants. Whether or not he can see what needs to be done and act on the opportunities in front of him will make all the difference.

For example, this coming draft has a handful of intriguing prospects at OLB and ILB, many of which will still be on the board when the Giants pick at 10th overall. In addition, Beason’s recent departure has even further eroded the depth at middle linebacker. Big Blue Nation is once again playing that old, familiar tune. The question is, will Reese heed the call this time? Can he afford not to?