NY Giants Draft Day Philosophy has changed

When the NY Giants acquired Dave Gettleman to be the general manager many people felt their drafts felt old school and stale but not this time.

NY Giants general manager Dave Gettleman had never traded down in his professional career until this past draft. He did it twice in the 2021 draft. In both cases many experts felt he fleeced the opposing teams.

The NY Giants have panicked in the past when their guys came off the board but panic didn’t exist this time in the draft room this year. The knock on Gettleman has been that he hasn’t constructed teams the right way for the current game. That wasn’t the case this season.

The team clearly was targeting Devonta Smith the wide receiver and when he went to the Eagles they flipped the script. They traded back with the Bears adding a first round pick in 2022. At pick 20 they added a dynamic wide receiver in Kadarius Toney. Toney will pair up nicely with newly signed Kenny Golladay.

In Round 2 of the NFL draft Gettleman and the NY Giants had so many options that they traded back again and added more picks. Despite trading back the NY Giants still landed a top linebacker in Azeez Ojulari. The Giants were likely to draft Ojulari at 42 but still landed him at 50. With the extra picks they were able to trade up later in the draft to land corner Aaron Robinson.

The NY Giants addresses some needs for this upcoming season in the NFL draft. They also added some picks for next year most notably a first rounder. Last year the NY Giants didn’t have a lot of weapons for Daniel Jones. This year they have added a top wide receiver in the draft and in free agency. The one need the Giants have still is the offensive line but they have signed some undefeated free agents and will be active before the season.

As Dave Gettleman continues to grow and adapt and even change as a general manager the NY Giants philosophy has changed. Head coach Joe Judge is likely a huge reason for that. It’s too early to call it a “Joe Judge effect” but there’s a difference in philosophy and the way this team competes after one season under Judge.

The Judge- Gettleman pairing has worked well so far.

It’s no more excuses for this team as most of the defense returns, Saquon Barkley is back from injury and Golladay is in the fold. 2021 has plenty of potential for Big Blue especially after an excellent draft for the NY Giants. Zero panic for the Giants in the draft room and they will hope to continue that once the season starts.