There's no worse place in the NFL than the thin middle ground between a massive payday and an empty stat sheet. When a team drops crazy money on a superstar free agent, fans expect to see results on Day 1.
That's definitely not what the New York Giants got when they handed out a three-year, $45.3 million contract to safety Jevón Holland. Instead of fixing the secondary, that huge investment turned into an underwhelming first year in Giants blue that left Big Blue Nation not knowing what to do with our hands.
The disappointing debut has already put a target on Holland's back entering Year 2. Looking at every team's player facing the most pressure this year, Pro Football Network's Jacob Infante couldn't help but point the finger at the 26-year-old, writing:
"Jevon Holland is the ninth-highest paid safety in the NFL at $15.1 million AAV, but his first year with the New York Giants didn’t live up to that. He finished No. 29 in the NFL in PFN Safety Impact Scoring, and he missed three games to injury."
And while everyone is pointing fingers at the struggling safety (rightfully so), the truth is this flop puts just as much career-altering pressure on Giants general manager Joe Schoen as it does on the overpaid defensive back
Jevón Holland’s pricey contract is quickly becoming Joe Schoen’s problem
This isn’t just about a player missing a few games or having a down year -- it exposes the massive flaws in Schoen's decision-making.
Just one year before signing Holland, the 46-year-old made the terrible decision to let homegrown talent Xavier McKinney walk away over a contract dispute -- the irony.
When McKinney immediately turned into an absolute stud for the Green Bay Packers, the G-Men panicked, overcorrecting by throwing top-market cash at a replacement who proceeded to turn in a career-worst coverage grade (53.0) and overall grade (58.4) from Pro Football Focus.
Making matters worse for the much-maligned GM, Schoen is about to run out of excuses and anyone else to blame for his shortfalls.
This offseason, Big Blue cleaned house and brought in new head coach John Harbaugh and an almost entirely different staff. New defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson could be Schoen's savior -- he's known as the defensive back guru who runs an aggressive system perfectly designed to make safeties thrive.
If Holland can't get it together under a coach like this, it proves the problem wasn't necessarily the coaching -- it's that Schoen struggles to make the right roster decisions.
New York's GM has unintentionally backed himself into a $45 million corner. There’s a school of thought that Big Blue can just cut ties next year to save $13.8 million, but it's not that simple.
Cutting one of the biggest free-agent signings after two years is an embarrassing admission of failure -- something he hasn't been historically great with. For a guy who needs wins right now to make ownership feel good about extending him earlier in the offseason, watching $45 million go to waste isn’t something he can afford right now.
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