Sephiroth

Yes, please inform us on what lessons the Giants can learn from the Cleveland Browns and their remarkable 40-year turnaround.

Excuse me if I skip this article and offer up a heartfelt, "is this guy fucking serious."

I like Vera-Tucker a lot too. Moves pretty well and looks powerful from what I've seen.

Honestly, we should skip out on Williams, feast at the dumpster this year and jump into FA next year with something like 120 million in cap space.

We HAVE to do something on the line in free agency. This is supposed to be the "see what we've got in Jones" year but we still don't have any WRs worth a shit, and now we jettisoned our best O-lineman. I understand Williams is a really good player but I don't think anyone will give a shit if he has 20 sacks this year if we can't evaluate whether or not to move forward with Jones as our quarterback. Honestly I'd much rather spend the money on one or two top-flight O-linemen than Williams; it's much more important to the future of the franchise.

I remember watching him at RT for a year before they moved him to LT and saying, "if the dude can't cut it at RT what the fuck is gonna happen when he moves to the more difficult side?" Whelp, I was wrong.

Hopefully means they're talking to Thuney.

I don't know what to think about Flaherty. He coached the Diehl-Mackenzie line but he never developed the James Brewers and Mitch Petruses on the roster. For years we'd have shit o-lines and all John Schmeelk would say is "let's not forget, we have Flaherty who made Diehl and O'Hara into stars" and I'd tell at the radio"THAT WAS TEN FUCKING YEARS AGO!" I don't know if he's necessary good at developing talent more than he's good at harnessing what's already there.

Dunno why everyone is so keen on getting rid of BJ Hill. Either Tomlinson or Williams is going to walk, he's an average-to-good DT, he knows the system, and he's in a contract year... all for 2 million. Not sure who you're going to find at that price to fill those shoes.

His blocking grades were in the high 50's. That's really not very good; you can get that kind of production out of almost anybody. I remember seeing him get blown up on numerous sweeps last year. I just don't understand the logic of paying for a 5 of year vet who we know sucks instead of looking for a rookie blocking TE that might at least turn out to be serviceable on a peanuts contract.

I'd love to see us keep both Tomlinson and Williams, but BJ Jill and Austin Johnson were both good players for us too. A line of Williams-Lawrence-Johnson-Hill is honestly still a pretty good line.

I just don't see the value of the blocking TE that can't block. We can use that roster spot to bring in someone who can block. He literally holds no value.

If Jones doesn't show something this year (assuming we actually get him NFL caliber players) he's not going to cost us anything.

Honestly we need to get rid of that guy. His blocking sucks, he brings nothing to the table.

My wife's cousin is a Chargers fan and said he was fucking horrible.

Worth a watch. Still probably the best moment if my Giants life. https://youtu.be/TY1-QqGXzMM

Zeitler on the trading block too. Nobody is going to take on these kinds of contracts in a cap-reduced year though; they'll both end up getting released.

If we sign Sriracha this off-season literally nobody will care.

It was. It makes it really tough to evaluate Jones when 3/5 of your line and all your Ears are bad.

Good. Let's see Engram go now too.

So I’m pretty sure at this point I should be the GM of the Giants. I’m not saying that I’d be great at it… I’m just saying that if the Giants had listened to me instead of Jerry Reese and Dave Gettleman, we’d be in a lot better shape than we’re actually in right now. With this in mind, I’ve set out to fixing the Giants. *Disclaimer - the roster is still a total clusterfuck, and there’s no way any human being could address EVERYTHING the Giants need right now. There will be holes in the roster, even with my genius handiwork. First things first… the dead weight. Golden Tate - 6 Million - too old, didn’t do enough this season, and we have guys that are already better slot players. Evan Engram - 6 Million - fuck this guy. I do not let my Soul Glow. Levine Toilolo - 3 million - Bizarro Evan Engram. The blocking TE that can’t block. Kevin Zeitler - 12 Million - this is a really hard one. I think Zeitler is the best O-linemen we have, but he’s not a 12 million player anymore. If he doesn’t take a pay cut to something more reasonable, that 12 million dollars can fix some problems in other spots. Again, I’m iffy on this, but ultimately I think he’s gotta walk at that price. Nate Solder - in this scenario, he won’t take a pay cut, so we’re stuck with him for another year. So in total, we’ve freed up 27 million in cap space. Who should we spend this on in free agency? The salary cap going down is throwing a real wrench into the gears right now, and I’d suspect there will be a LOT of veterans available on cheapy, 1-year contracts this year as expensive guys get cut, but for the sake of argument I’m going to give everyone what I think would be a fair market value for their services. Guys who walk - Leonard Williams, Wayne Gallman, Davonte Freeman, Probably Other Guys I forgot - We just can’t afford Williams this year. The good news is we should get a 3rd round compensatory pick for him in 2022. Gallman deserves out of here; he’s been a #2 back talent-wise but nobody ever gives him a legitimate shot. Freeman was too injured. Now on to the keepers and new guys: Dalvin Tomlinson - 4 years, 40 million, 10 million this season (spotrac estimates as 9 mil) - give him a little extra, but he’s done everything you’ve ever wanted him to. Good locker room guy, home grown talent. Dude deserves it. Austin Johnson - 1 year, 2 million - we re-sign him to another one-year deal in the same way we did for Fackrell, and for the same reasons. I'm ok with Tomlinson, Johnson, and Bj Hill with Dex Lawrence sometimes playing nose tackle. Honestly that’s a pretty nice group. Hassan Reddick - 4 years, 50 million, 9.5 million this season. I know he kind of looks like a bust by the numbers but Arizona just started to have him play the edge this year, and he had 12.5 sacks. Even if you take out the Giants game that’s still 7.5, which is pretty decent (for this team). I’d cheap him out this year, give him a ton of guaranteed money next season, and incentivize the fuck outta this contract. He graded out very well via PFF this year for what stock you put into that. Kyle Rudolph or Zach Ertz - 1 year, 5 million. One of these two guys is going to shake free because the cap is so low, and while both are past their primes they can still produce. I’d take either one in their “underproducing seasons” over Stone Hands Engram. So to this point, we’ve covered the DT problem and gotten a pass rusher that between him and Carter/Ximines, you’d think one would get you at least 8 sacks. There’s still the issue of making up for the loss of Zeitler, and TE/WR is still looking pretty weak. These holes we’re going to have to fill in the draft. For the draft, I did a PFF Mock with trades available. I’ve assumed that big-time guys are gone (no Ja’Marr Chase, Penei Sewell, Davonte Smith, Jaylen Waddle, or Kyle Pitts… basically the worst-case Giants scenario, like that year we drafted Ereck Flowers or that other year we ended up with Eli Apple). Still, I think we ended up OK. Here’s how it went: 11 - Rashawn Slater - honestly I worry about him a little bit because of the short arms and looks a little undersized, but his feet are amazing. Not going to wow anyone with his power but beats defenders with technique, finesse, and tenacity. You can plug and play him anywhere on the line and get adequate (tackle) to great (center) play out of him. Pick your worst O-lineman next year; that’s where Slater fits in. 42 - WR Terrace Marshall - I know the drops are troubling (I fucking hate Evan Engram… did I mention that?) but the skills are too much to ignore in this spot. He’s big, fast, has great body control, and wins the jump ball. He’d be a nasty red-zone target and I think would give you Plax Burress-like production the year after this one, but he’s going to need a little bit of work. TRADE with Pittsburgh - we swap picks in the 3rd, but also pick up an extra 5th. 76 > 87 (From Pittsburgh) G Ben Cleveland - Big, strong, nasty, and gives zero shits. Once again, should be able to open holes for our RBs. Between Cleveland, Slater, and the rest of the O-linemen, we should be able to field a decent unit. 116 - DT Jay Tufele - he’s a fucking Samoan, and we need to replace Williams. Just watch his game tape. The Giants need more Samoans. Not the Girl Scout cookies, either. 141 - (From Pittsburgh) TE Hunter Long - I was really hoping that Tommy Tremble (this year’s George Kittle IMO) would have been around the last few picks, but Hunter Long isn’t a bad consolation prize. He’s got incredible size and runs pretty well. Is just on OK blocker but he’s got the frame to eventually do well with it. Hard to imagine someone who’s 6’5” 254 lbs could be a bad blocker, but then I remember Larry Donnell. Hunter Long can probably learn the somersault butt block, which will make him at least as good as Donnell. 198 - WR Marquez Stevenson - I get that he’s had injuries, but I watch this guy’s game tape and have no idea why he keeps falling to the later rounds. He’s got a good release off the line and game-breaking speed… looks like a poor man’s Odell. If he finds a way to stay healthy I think he could be a top-end #2 WR, and offers value as a kick returner too. In the sixth round he’s a fucking steal… one of my top sleepers of the entire draft. 204- RB Pooka Williams, Jr - he’s a young Dion Lewis. Undersized, but great acceleration, good quicks, and top-end vision. Vision is one of those things that’s really underrated coming out of college; it’s easy to rack up yards when your OL is opening up holes that you could drive a truck through, but it’s another thing to understand blocking concepts, be patient, and see the hole once it’s there; Pooka has that. He’s extremely feisty and tough, and would immediately contribute since we have no other running backs. That’s it. There’s till tons of holes… RB is very weak, we have one maybe-decent pass rusher… but I think this would put the team on the right path to success. Also, if Dave Gettleman wants any more advice (I know he's reading this) I'm available for consultative work. What about you guys? How do you fix the team this offseason?

This is why I'm really warming up to the idea of Rashawn Slater at 11. Hernandez sucks? He's your LG. Peart doesn't work out? RT it is. Need to get rid of Zeitler? Slide him in there, or out him at Center and Gates back at Guard. Dude even looks good at LT. While I really want a skill player in the first, I think a guy like Slater could really solve a lot of problems (or Vera-Tucker if he slides to the second). About to start looking at Darrisaw too. His report reads great but the one game tape I watched (think it was vs Notre Dame) had his feet looking really slow.

I was having a "no screens" night last night and asked Alexa to play the NYG podcast... instead it played Ed Valentine's podcast, but he had Mike Tannenbaum on and it was very interesting. Tannenbaum basically said that re-signing Tomlinson is super important for locker room culture, in a "if you play well and are a good person, look what we'll do for you." He said he totally didn't understand that when he cut Jericho Cotchery and the players hated him because of it... which bled over into other things as well. From that perspective he thought Tomlinson was a more important signing.

I thought for retirement you got all of it?

If Solder retires I'm pretty sure it frees up 16 million dollars, which honestly would be pretty fucking sweet.