New York Giants: Mara comes to Manning’s defense, again
By Curt Macysyn
The last vestige of the Ernie Accorsi era wears number 10 for the G-Men.
Perhaps that fact sticks in the craw of New York Giants general manager Jerry Reese. If this sentiment seems extreme, consider this.
Did the Los Angeles Chargers draft Philip Rivers replacement this draft?
No, the Chargers actually did the opposite. The team doubled down on Rivers by drafting a potential franchise receiver and two offensive linemen. The Bolts brought in Mike Williams, Forrest Lamp and Dan Feeney to support their veteran quarterback.
Now, the opportunity to draft quarterback Davis Webb did not simply present itself. Jerry Reese and the New York Giants sought it. Drafting a quarterback was a topic of conversation around Big Blue for the better part of four moths.
New York Giants: Reese’s Manning Blame Game
After the 2013 season, Jerry Reese indicated everyone had to “own” the team’s 7-9 season. Incredibly, the person most responsible for the 0-6 start that season (and subsequent season long meltdown) was Jerry Reese.
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Reese responded far too slowly to the declining abilities of former offensive linemen and franchise stalwarts David Diehl and Chris Snee. Nonetheless, he was seemingly anticipating the decline of his quarterback with this lukewarm response at his 2013 post season press conference.
"“There have been some really good quarterbacks who have had some rough seasons, had a high interception total, and came back to be really good players. We have a lot of confidence in Eli but he has to play better. We expect him to play better, he expects himself to play better. One of the things that attracted us, we’ve said this many times, one of the things that attracted us to him when he came out of Ole Miss was that he made everybody around him better and obviously there have to be some better personnel around him. But some of the things that happened, he’s got to own it as well,” Reese said back then."
It took John Mara to set the record straight.
"“Well listen, he did not have a good year. He’d be the first one to tell you that, but he had a lot of company. He had a lot of company there and I think with Eli, sometimes he tries to do too much. He competes so hard out there and he has so much confidence in his ability to get the ball into certain areas that, unfortunately, he makes mistakes sometimes, but I still have every confidence in him. He’s still the face of the franchise and we need to help him. We need to give him some better tools and do a better job around him next year,” the New York Giants co-owner said."
Now that the New York Giants have seemingly righted the ship, it appears that Reese would like nothing better than to win a Super Bowl without Manning. Could it be about shooing away the ghosts of Ernie Accorsi?
New York Giants: The Davis Webb Hype
Don’t get me wrong, I like Webb’s skill set. I advocated drafting him over guys like Nathan Peterman and Brad Kaaya. The difference was and is that I advocated drafting Webb if he fell to the New York Giants.
New York Giants
For a team like the Giants, who are competing for a Super Bowl this season, a third round draft pick needs to be an immediate contributor.
Webb is a project, who can definitely grow in Ben McAdoo’s system. But this draft was about the present. Normally, the Giants are as tight lipped as you can get before the draft.
Did anyone mock draft Eli Apple in 2016?
Did experts mock draft Evan Engram in 2017?
Yet the constant chatter starting in January was that the Giants were targeting a quarterback in the draft. But everyone within 200 miles of East Rutherford knew Big Blue was going to grab a signal caller.
A coincidence this was not.
And by drafting a quarterback with a relatively high pick, speculation about Manning simply grows.
It makes one wonder what would have happened if Deshaun Watson still existed at pick number 23.
Since the quarterback chatter has begun in earnest, it now has to be managed.
The New York Post reports that John Mara had direct comments about Webb when he was discussed on “The Rich Eisen Show” on May 9, 2017.
"“I think it’s a little premature to be anointing this guy as the heir apparent to Eli – he hasn’t set foot on the field yet. But he’s got a lot of talent, and we’re looking forward to seeing what we’ve got when he gets here. But let’s not, as Bill Parcells used to say, let’s not get his bust ready for Canton just yet.’’"
The most popular guy on a roster is the back-up quarterback. It also helps when he represents final validation for the general manager.