It’s all about Dave Gettleman, and that’s a problem for New York Giants

Over the past week, we’ve heard a lot about New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman.

And that’s not good for the brand. In December 2017, Gettleman inherited a New York Giants franchise that had lost its way. The G-Men were no longer feared, in fact, around the league they were derided.

After all, with Jerry Reese’s dumpster fire drafts, bloated free agent contracts and a head coach who changed his hairdo after his first season, how could things get any worse?

Welcome to worse, without knowing if we have actually hit rock bottom. Right now, I’m not going to get into detail about Odell Beckham the player but will opine about what he meant to the franchise at another time.

The pressing problem remains that the team’s general manager is the story right now.

When the beat writers convene to badger Gettleman about this trade, it should be an atmosphere of acrimony. If it’s not, then the beat writers aren’t doing their jobs. Truthfully, there’s no conviction surrounding this franchise, and events just seem to happen in a vacuum.

I happen to like both running back Saquon Barkley and quarterback Eli Manning, but right now, Gettleman is all about force feeding those two guys upon us. Remember that the general manager doubled-down on both players last season, and the team still ended up 5-11.

And when Gettleman talks about putting on a “gold jacket” is he talking about Barkley, or himself?

Barkley still has a chance to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but unless Gettleman pulls a rabbit out of his hat, he’s got no shot. He will forever be remembered as the guy who traded Odell Beckham.

And if the Cleveland Browns end up winning a Super Bowl, then the team ought to erect a statue of Gettleman in front of the stadium. Unfortunately for Gettleman, he’s a victim of his own words.

"“We have met the enemy and he is us”, goes the old adage."

Other gems include, “You don’t give up on talent”, and the ever-popular, “We didn’t sign Odell to trade him”.

Except when you give up on talent, and actually trade Odell, then what are we to believe?

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Moving forward, I would expect a healthy dose of “things change”, and multiple uses of words like fluid, nimble and dynamic. I wouldn’t expect Gettleman to acknowledge mistakes or be contrite.

Why start now?

In reality, this situation started as an exercise to rebuild a football team, and has since morphed into ego-driven, “I told you so” endeavor.

Complicit in this situation are co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch. The optics of firing another general manager so quickly after belatedly firing Reese would be bad. So missing out of the NFL playoffs in seven out of eight seasons becomes a more desired option than a change in leadership?

Surely there are better run hot dog stands out there.

With the injection of Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News and Dan Duggan of The Athletic hopefully team coverage continues to change and hopefully gives us some checks and balance answers. At the very least some folks are asking the right questions, and demanding answers. (Not the majority of beat writers)

I especially enjoyed this tidbit by Duggan.

Per The Athletic (subscription required):

"“Say this for co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch: They haven’t allowed their checkbooks to stand in the way of football decisions. As mentioned above, the Giants paid Beckham $21.5 million for 12 games.”"

An old proverb tells us that a fool and his money are soon parted.

With this trade, the fan base should be mad as hell and demanding answers. That’s due to the fact that suitable framework is non-existent. Please tell us how this moves the franchise forward, and maybe, we’ll understand.

Instead there will be a fair amount of social media mavens who suggest we should trust the process. That would be fine, but we don’t know what the process entails. We have heard about a hundred different models out there.

How about one that shows results in the win column?

Sadly, folks will continue to plunk down hard earned money on season tickets, no questions asked. They go about being loyal Giants fans because they conflate loyal with complicit.

We haven’t heard the general manager verbalize anything resembling a plan, edict, strategic vision or mission statement. They seemingly run the franchise by the seat of their pants.

Even clueless James Dolan had the good sense to send out a rebuild letter to season ticket holders of the New York Rangers prior to the 2018 trade deadline.

Finally, to the social media trolls, stop shooting the messenger. Aim your venom at the folks causing the problem, not those who are actually seeing things for what they are. When we write that it seems the New York Giants are willing to trade Odell Beckham, it doesn’t mean that we endorse it.

One last thought, Gettleman will likely face a boatload of criticism for this move. Some of it will be warranted, and some of it won’t be. The issue may very well be, as I see it, is the fact that Beckham may have asked for a trade. If he did, then yes, the team was well within it rights to check its options.

The only other explanation is panic, based upon the Antonio Brown move. Neither scenario represents a worthy explanation, but it is what it is at this point.

Remember, if Beckham wanted to leave the Big Apple represents a monumental failure on the part of Gettleman to get a competitive squad on the field. An aging quarterback, with a bell cow running back, who is the focal point of this offense, meant that Beckham’s role was clearly undefined. That dynamic squarely falls on Gettleman.

All roads lead back to the general manager’s office, and that will continue to plague the New York Giants.