There are myriad reasons an NFL team needs to strike gold in the draft.
First, you need playmakers, so the higher the pick, the more fertile the field of talent. Then you gain control of said player by paying dimes on the dollar for his production for at least four years. (In some cases, even the fifth year.) Also, adroit drafting means you don't have to pay top dollar for free agents or trade your best players for other players. Lastly, there is the provincial pride fans take in rooting for a homegrown stud, not to mention the mutual sense of loyalty that grows organically between the team and talented player.
Why convey something so self-evident? Because the Giants don't seem to understand some of the basic tenets of team-building.
How do we know this? They just let their best defensive player, Landon Collins, walk away from the Meadowlands instead of placing a wholly reasonable $11.5 million franchise tag on the three-time Pro Bowl safety, who's also the co-captain of your defense. So it's fine to keep the Mesozoic Eli Manning at quarterback with a $23.2 million cap hit. Just stay away from a 25-year-old stud safety in his prime because you're afraid to spend half that amount.
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Not only was Collins a gold mine of a draft pick, Big Blue moved considerably up the board just to grab him out of Alabama. In 2015, the G-Men traded the 40th overall pick plus fourth- and seventh-round picks to the Titans for the right to Collins. And it worked. Collins has averaged 100 tackles a year. He also was voted first-team All-Pro in his second season, which is many rungs above the Pro Bowl, which he was selected to three times.
Two quotes stand out and alone in this comedy of errors: "I want to retire a Giant," Collins said during an interview last year. Which makes general manager Dave Gettleman's quote a little confusing, if not conflicting, with team-building. Just last summer, after Big Blue paid big bucks ($95 million) to Odell Beckham Jr, Gettleman said, "You don't give up on talent." Presumably, the GM of the G-Men meant that you take care of your own guys as long as they produce while handling the eccentric personality as part of the electric performance.
Now no one can possibly know what Gettleman means, or what the Giants are doing. If you watch the CBS Sports Newtork, Adam Schein hurled a few flaming barbs at Big Blue, asserting that Gettleman is not only the wrong man for the job, but also never should have been hired. He basically called Gettleman a minion for the Mara family, there to take orders, not question them.
If you want irrefutable proof of the Giants' draft impotence, consider some numbers mined by The New York Times. In 10 drafts from 2008 to 2018, the Giants selected 70 players. Only seven are still with the squad. Sure, Gettleman wasn't the GM for all those whiffs, but he was a loud voice in the front office for several of them.
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Consider the player taken before Collins in 2015 -- Ereck Flowers. Then consider that Collins is -- or was -- the only player from the 2015 draft still on the roster.
Guess how many players are left from the 2014 draft? One. Odell Beckham Jr.
Guess how many players are left from the 2013 draft? None.
But the Giants really struck NFL oil in 2016, actually keeping two players from that draft.
Whatever. Who wants 428 tackles, 22 tackles for loss, 32 passes defended and eight interceptions? Who wants a surefire perennial Pro Bowler who plays the game with the fun and ferocity every team covets? In fact, who needs gifted players, team goals or a winning football franchise?
Not the New York "Football" Giants.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel
