The Giants have won just 15 games in Dave Gettleman’s three years as general manager, but owner John Mara preaches patience from fans
NY Giants owner John Mara saw enough from his 6-10 team to retain Dave Gettleman as general manager, and asked Wednesday for fans to continue being patience.
"“I thought that Joe [Judge] and Dave [Gettleman] worked very well together,” Mara said on a video conference with reporters Wednesday. “All of our personnel decisions improved significantly this year. They were able to agree on basically every decision.“I thought our draft was solid and our free agency moves were solid, and we have the foundation for something that can be very successful going forward.”"
It is difficult to see the same progress from the Giants this season, who would have finished four games out of first place in any division other than the historically weak NFC East, under a general manager that is now 15-33 in his tenure.
Within the NFC East, and the NFC, the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, and others have made the NFL Playoffs in their quarterback’s rookie or second NFL season, underscoring that rebuilds in the modern NFL do not need to be three-to-four offseason sojourns.
Meanwhile, Daniel Jones, chosen by Gettleman and the Giants No. 6 overall in 2019 regressed dramatically this season with 10 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, while guiding an offense that finished 31st in yards and points during the NFL’s highest-scoring season ever.
Despite bringing Gettleman back for a fourth season, a decision he made “never seriously considering” firing the 69-year-old, Mara acknowledged that there have been errors, some significant in recent years.
“We made some miscalculations in 2018 in some of our personnel decisions,” Mara admitted.
However, despite those miscalculations such as signing offensive tackle Nate Solder, offensive guard Patrick Omameh, running back Jonathan Stewart, and retaining Eli Manning — who are no longer on the roster, and retaining only three players from that spring’s NFL Draft, Mara did not view those mistakes or their long-term ramifications on the organization’s ability to compete as fireable offenses for Gettleman.
“We saw improvement in decisions this season,” Mara said. “And we’re optimistic about the way Joe and Dave work together.”
It remains to be seen if the power structure in place, with Gettleman retaining final say over personnel decisions can yield enough progress in 2021 for the Giants to make the postseason for the first time since 2016 and second time since 2011. Mara is committed to seeing this process through, though, and is asking fans to join him.
"“There’s no defending the record,” Mara said. “We haven’t won enough games. Listen, we made some miscalculations in 2018, but in the past two years we’ve seen significant improvement. To break that up now, to bring someone new from the outside was not going to be beneficial for us.“If our fans continue to stay patient with us, they’ll see a winning team soon.”"
Matt Lombardo is the site expert for GMenHQ, and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday for FanSided. Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattLombardoNFL.