Few Surprises on Giants’ Training Camp Final Roster

The New York Giants got down to the NFL mandated 53-man roster on Sept. 3 without many surprises. To demonstrate how conditioned this franchise has made the media, consider the shock that Geremy Davis (6th round, 2015) and Andre Williams (4th round, 2014) were actually cut.

Out of 20 players waived or cut on Saturday, Davis and Williams were the only two Jerry Reese draft picks to get cut.

And in the Big Apple, imagine the angst.

Roster Surprises: No Andre Williams

So the running back who averaged 2.9 yards per carry last year and graded out to a 54.7 by Pro Football Focus (PFF) was cut?

To put Williams production in perspective,  his 2015 PFF grade was lower than Bishop Sankey (59.6), who was basically run out of Nashville this week. The Tennessee Titans knew they had to upgrade the halfback position, so in came DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry.

“Andre is a guy that played some good football for us,” coach Ben McAdoo said in a statement released by the team on Sept. 3, 2016. “We’re going to miss him. It was another one of those really tough (roster) decisions to make. We feel that with Rashad, Shane, Orleans, Paul Perkins and Bobby Rainey, we have some versatility there to play all three downs, and on special teams as well.”

For the record, Darkwa has averaged 4.2 yards per carry with Big Blue, behind the same offensive line Williams operated behind. Besides the lack of rushing production, Williams had one reception last season. One!

Knock me over with a feather.

Roster Surprises: No Geremy Davis

Maybe the Giants are late to the party on this one, but today’s NFL drafts players ready to play. The developmental players belong on the practice squad. Dane Brugler of CBS Sports had this evaluation on Davis prior to the 2015 draft. “Lacks ideal speed and too leggy in his routes, getting too upright and taking wasted steps in his patterns. Doesn’t show much fluidity or burst in his breaks, lacking sudden footwork to consistently fool defenders or create consistent separation.”

Davis was similar to Williams in that both had stellar college statistics. Perhaps the Giants’ scouting staff thought he was more like his 1,000-yard junior season. Otherwise, the entire Davis tenure was a waste of time. He did not perform on special teams and never became a red zone threat. Davis was not able to be cast as the slot receiver and looked slow on the outside.

But unlike Jerrel Jernigan and Sinorice Moss, at least the GMen didn’t wait four years to figure it out.

“Geremy was a guy we drafted here that we think very highly of. Sometimes, you have to make those tough decisions,” McAdoo said about Davis.

This move makes sense.

Maybe because of the criticism Jerry Reese receives, the team feels compelled to keep draft picks. But the New York Jets just jettisoned a first-round pick (Dee Milliner) and a second-round pick (Jace Amaro).

Isn’t winning more important than scoring rhetorical points?

Roster Surprises: Media Reaction

Let’s face it. The New York Giants have done a great job of conditioning the media. For example, any time John Mara talks, Kim Jones of the NFL Network calls it “compelling.” Explaining your back-to-back 6-10 records cannot possibly be compelling.

“Yup, I’m pretty stunned by this one. I’ve always thought Orleans Darkwa has tremendous potential, and often outplayed Williams, but at the same time, I expected Williams had shown enough in the preseason for the Giants to give him one more season” said James Kratch of NJ Advance Media on Sept. 3, 2016.

Reaction to the Davis move was similar, as Jame Kratch said on Sept. 3, 2016. “A bit of a surprise move. Davis was a sixth-round pick in 2015, and he showed signs of progress during the offseason program and early in training camp. But he was hampered by a hamstring injury, and never really caught on as a special teams guy, while Tavarres King and Roger Lewis outperformed him as wideouts. There is potential there, so if he clears waivers, he could be a practice squad guy.”

Only Paul Schwartz of the New York Post got it right. “When a fourth-round pick two years ago is the biggest name and greatest surprise on cutdown day, you know the Giants did not go for any shock value Saturday as they trimmed their roster to the 53-man limit,” Schwartz wrote in an article on September 3, 2016.

In both cases, the guys who made the roster outperformed the guys who did not. And while the GMen may have turned over a new leaf, it was only a partial turn. Two players in particular did not pass the eye test: Mykkele Thompson and Bobby Hart.

Both of these Reese draft picks remain on the roster.