The New York Giants have been in need of adding a true No. 1 wide receiver to its arsenal ever since they traded Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cleveland Browns two years ago.
The team signed John Ross earlier in the day on Tuesday and remain linked to Lions free agent Kenny Golladay, but former NFL receiver and current analyst Steve Smith offered an interesting theory as to why the Giants are lagging in finding that top dog in the receiving corps.
“They don’t want an alpha,” he said, per NJ.com. “They can’t take Juju [Smith-Schuster] because he plays the slot and that’s where [Sterling] Shepard plays. They already have a tight end. So what they want are robots who aren’t going to make a stink, who are gonna fall in place, which will end up stunting the growth of your franchise quarterback because you either want a robot or 6-foot-2, 215 or above wide receiver.
“You don’t want a playmaker. You want cheap. You want people that aren’t gonna make a stink in the locker room. And that means you want to be…average.”
Smith, who spent 16 seasons in the NFL with the Panthers and Ravens, appeared to be basing his criticism on general manager Dave Gettleman, who happens to be the Panthers GM who cut Smith in 2014.
Smith was unhappy with the way things were handled by Gettleman, ripping the GM at the time for not having the “cajones” to tell him to his face.
His mention of alphas appears to be a not-so-subtle reference to both himself and Beckham — two star receivers with big personalities, both of whom Gettleman showed the door.
When Smith’s TV partner, Michael Irvin, chimed in about Golladay and the Giants, Smith appeared to further criticize Gettleman without mentioning his name.
“That general manager knows exactly what he wants,” Smith said. “He wants ot be able to sit in front of everybody and say ‘look what I did.’ If he bring in an alpha, the alpha gets all the attention and not him. That’s what ran him out of Carolina, and that’s what has them very pedestrian in New York right now where they’re shopping for value when they got $180 million.
“But what are they gonna do? They’re gonna get a guy [Ross] who wasn’t very good, who had 12 or 13 healthy scratches, and they gonna make him something now. Not gonna happen bro! I’m telling you. From here, sitting at the house with a suit and some sweatpants on, it’s easy to pick these dudes apart.”
Needless to say, Smith’s opinion on Gettleman has not seemed to change over the years.
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