Big Blue View
The mail’s here!
Alex Sunderland asks: Really liked the recent column on Schoen’s drafting through the years.
It got me wondering just how much he felt limited by the lack of basic tech he inherited from Gettleman. If I recall correctly, it was a literal magnet board upon his hiring.
Do you know specifically some of what was overhauled? How bad was it, and how good is it compared to now?
Ed says: Alex, I am sure not having the setup he was used to in Buffalo was a nuisance during that first offseason. The way the Giants scouts had been trained to grade prospects and build reports was different than the way Schoen wanted it done, and there wasn’t time to re-train the staff and revise how things were done before that draft.
The Giants built a completely new technology-rich draft room after that offseason that gave Schoen all the tools he wanted. Schoen also replace several scouts and revamped the front office by bringing in several people he had worked with previously and trusted.
I do believe all of that — having the tools he wants, scouts he trusts and who are trained to evaluate and write reports giving Schoen and Brian Daboll the information they are looking for, and front office executives he wanted around him — is part of why Schoen’s last two drafts have been well-received.
Brian Misdom asks: Schoen is receiving mostly high praise for his work in the draft. Coupled with his moves in FA, it has been generally viewed as a strong offseason.
Schoen did though, spend the fourth-most of any team in FA this year. Previous regimes have, at best, seen very short-lived success with major retooling in the offseason.
Do you see Schoen’s moves as having a greater chance for sustainable success and if so, how would you see it being different from Reese and Gettleman when they splurged for quick gratification?
Ed says: Brian, to have a chance for sustainable success you have to draft well, then develop those players and try to build a core of players deserving of second contracts. The 2024 and 2025 drafts appear to be a step in the right direction, though we still need to see the proof on the field.
Free agency is generally for filling holes in the short term. I was actually a bit surprised by the number of free agents Schoen signed this offseason. He took a volume approach on the defensive line, linebacker and even added two potential swing tackles.
What Schoen did not do, and really has not done at all in free agency, is overpay.
In 2016, Jerry Reese gave Olivier Vernon five years, $82.5 million, Damon Harrison five years, $46.5 million and Janoris Jenkins five years and $62.5 million.
In 2021, Gettleman gave Kenny Golladay four years and $72 million ($40 million guaranteed) while bidding against himself and ignoring Golladay’s 2020 hip injury.
This offseason, Schoen gave Paulson Adebo three years and $54 million,...
