January 15, 2016
Peter Solari Follow @4PeteSakeNY
Ben McAdoo was formally introduced as the 17th head coach in Giants history on Friday, and even tipped his hat to the man he succeeded. With the exhausting search for a new coach behind them, the Giants are free to move forward with rebuilding. So what's next?
Mara has been steadfast in his proclamation that the Giants' roster isn't good enough, and knows it needs to be rebuilt. He also understands that the team has to do a better job in the NFL Draft. And Mara has made it clear that those past failures, as well as future responsibilities, fall squarely on general manager Jerry Reese's shoulders.
NJ.com's Jordan Raanan recently took Reese to task for his late-round draft failures, and The Monday Morning Quarterback has reported on the less-than-stellar list of draftees on his resume. With so much attention being focused on Reese now, it's become evident that Coughlin was merely a scapegoat for the front office's failures. But why is that?
Mara isn't the only one who has acknowledged Reese's shortcomings. On January 5th, NJ.com's Steve Politi wrote that his inbox gets "flooded" with messages from Giants fans criticizing Reese's performance and defending the embattled Coughlin. Perhaps Mara just thought the Giants needed a fresh voice, because there certainly wasn't an outcry from the fans or the players for the team to make a coaching change, but that didn't stop the owner from making one anyway.
Technically, Coughlin resigned his position as coach of the Giants, but don't think for a second that he wasn't pressured into doing so by the front office. Why they were pushing so hard for a change remains a mystery, but in fairness to them: keeping Coughlin could've very easily meant losing McAdoo to the rival Philadelphia Eagles, so rather than dwelling on the past, let's tackle the present, and embrace the future instead.
Right now the Giants are a broken team. They're coming off their third straight losing season, and statistically have the worst defense in football. However, it's not all bad. The team has between $50 and $60 million in salary cap space to spend this offseason and a top-10 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, which will begin on April 28th in Chicago.
Jerry Reese is on the clock and the spotlight is on him. It's time to put up-or-shut up. He's tasked with re-building a once-proud franchise and bringing them back to the prominence their fans deserve. If Reese fails to do so, we'll be talking about a GM change at this time next year. Stay tuned.
