Big Blue View
Bryan Sachse asks: Many fans are complaining about Mara as an owner. My question is — assuming the season remains bad — might it make sense to hire a new team president or alternatively a consultant to lead the search for a new GM/coach — (or even decide to keep either or both) rather than have John Mara make that decision?
Ed says: Bryan, I don’t think more layers to the organizational structure is the answer. The Giants are already the only team with split ownership. The Mara and Tisch families have equal, decision-making shares. While we always say decisions are John Mara’s, the reality is that Steve Tisch has an equal voice because the families are equal financial partners. That brings a set of complications no other NFL team faces.
Think of it like a marriage. Neither party in a marriage always gets his or her way. There are always compromises. In the case of the Giants, that can sometimes cloud how things get done.
Remember, the Giants used former GM Ernie Accorsi as a consultant when they hired Dave Gettleman as GM. That led to a “search” where Gettleman and Louis Riddick were the only candidates, and Accorsi pushed for Gettleman. You think maybe that had something to do with Accorsi doing Gettleman a solid after he hand-picked Jerry Reese as his successor instead of Gettleman when he stepped down?
The Giants also used a consulting firm, Korn Ferry, to vet candidates before they hired Joe Judge as head coach.
No matter how the process works, or how many layers they add to it, major decisions like who the next general manager or head coach are going to be will continue to be made by ownership.
Patrick Morris asks: The Giants are one of only two teams in the NFL that have zero dollars in void years in contracts. The other team is the Patriots. And of course, the Eagles lead the league in void year contract value. The median team has ~$30 million in void year contract value.
In a salary cap imposed system, does an insistence on having no void years in any contracts put the Giants at a competitive disadvantage, if almost every other team is using this financial tactic?
*Jeffrey Jacobs asks: I was reading earlier today (Sunday, 10/5) that the Giants are actually going to play 2 men short due to not having enough cap space. For years we have been hearing about the Giants cap situation. Aside from managing the draft, managing the cap seems to be the most important part of the General Managers’ job – and it would seem to be one that Joe Schoen has done a terrible job at. Imagine what this defense would look like if Leonard Williams and Xavier McKinney had not been cut loose for cap reasons. I don’t understand why the Giants are always at the bottom of the league in cap space, and why they refuse to follow...
