The Giants did it. They got their # 1 wide receiver.
They hired Kenny Golladay, the best free agent available on the job. Daniel Jones should not be the only one to celebrate this weekend.
Fans of the giants should too.
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Of course, there was a reason why Golladay was still available for a few days at a free agency, and that they were able to welcome him for a three-day visit without any real fear of losing him to another team, but that’s part of the reason why this signing is such a positive step in the right direction.
Golladay is the latest, greatest and best example that the Giants process at (and the approach to) the free agency has changed for the better. Joe Judge deserves a lot of credit. It wasn’t like that before he arrived and it’s not just about Golladay, but let’s start there.
In 2018, the Giants entered the off-season with a desperate need for an upgrade to the left tackle. Then, they quickly offered Nate Solder – widely regarded as an average player at best – a record $ 62 million contract. This was obviously a mistake in retrospect, but the Giants were desperate.
In 2019, the Giants had just switched Odell Beckham and general manager Dave Gettleman felt he needed to replace him on the wide receiver. So he offered Golden Tate a contract (four years, $ 37.5 million) that was well above its market value, thinking it would help improve the dressing room culture. Spoiler: He didn’t do that. Tate was a disaster: suspended, cornered, unproductive and cut after two years. The signs were also there. Tate was 30 years old and had a terrible half season with the Eagles.
In 2021, the giants waited. Everyone knew they needed a wide receiver. Everyone knew they asked about Golladay at the end of the transaction. But they didn’t rush in and offered him a big deal right away. They watched while other big free agent recipients (Corey Davis, Curtis Samuel, Will Fuller among them) signed for less money than projected. The Golladay market was never as robust as expected, although it had offers from Bengals and Bears.
The Giants made it clear: they would only hire you on your terms.
When actors are being considered for films, some are “just offer”, some are willing to audition for roles to get the offer. Golladay should have been offered only as the best receiver available at the free agency. But the Giants forced him to test it anyway.
He obeyed.
“I think they really just wanted to put their eyes on me, taking a different approach to the whole process,” said Golladay on Saturday. “It worked for both sides – I was able to go in and see what it was about, I could see what the installation was like. And they had a chance to get my brain. I think it worked. “
So he stayed in East Rutherford for three days. Thursday, he took a COVID-19 test and had dinner with the judge and other coaches. On Friday, he did a physical exam and met with the judge, Dave Gettleman and other chiefs for a full-day session to meet you. On Saturday, after the Giants decided they liked what they saw, negotiations started all over.
The Giants wanted to make sure he fit the culture. Golladay’s willingness to jump obstacles attracted him even more to the organization.
“To be honest,” he said, “I was just being patient.”
Golladay had to convince they it was worth signing. Not the other way around. At any time, Golladay could have signed the Bengals ‘or Bears’ offers, or another team could have joined, but the Giants didn’t budge despite the risk. And it was a risk.
Then, Golladay became a very rich man. He signed a $ 72 million contract for four years – with $ 40 million in guarantees – slightly above what some in the league thought he would do in a declining market.
If they had left empty handed, the fan base would not have forgiven them. Understandable. There are no other No. 1 quality wide receivers yet available, and the NFL Draft is a crapshoot.
It was a bold strategy to take with the player many considered the best wide receiver free agent available, one of the best players in his position in the NFL in 2018-2019, and again in 2020 before getting hurt. It is the perfect fit for the Giants, as a Plaxico Burress-style receiver that makes contested receptions better than any NFL receiver. He had 18 receptions launched with more than 20 yards on the field in 2019, tied with Stefon Diggs as the biggest in the league.
Jones should be salivating.
But the Giants wanted to ask questions and it seems that Golladay gave them the right answers.
A not-so-quick aside: the questions about Golladay’s maturity seemed a little exaggerated anyway. The two issues raised:
1. Your public disdain for Matt Patricia. For “public” and “disdain,” he simply liked an Instagram post that said that Patricia was fired as a Lions coach in November. It’s not like he’s the only Lions player happy with Patricia’s departure. The Bleacher Report reported at the beginning of the season that, on the last day of the 2018 season, a group of 10 to 15 Lions players drank champagne in the locker room to celebrate Patricia’s escape.
This is not the kind of behavior on social media that Judge will tolerate – just ask Tate – but it is an easy habit to control. Golladay does not have a known history of mischief on social media.
2. How things ended in Detroit. That is the real concern, supposedly. Golladay lost all but five games last season due to a hip injury, and some in the league think he could have returned before the end of the season, but he chose not to do so so he could preserve his health on entering in the game.
NJ Advance Media spoke with Dr. Jesse Morse, a Miami-based specialist in sports medicine and regenerative medicine, who said that Golladay’s injury is not a concern. If that’s what Golladay said he was – a hip flexor strain – he should also have recovered enough to play before the end of the season, said Morse.
In December, Lions coach Darrell Bevell said that Golladay was not making a “business decision”.
“The guy is competing, he’s working hard,” said Bevell. “The good thing for me is that I am here every day. I can see what he is doing. I can see what he’s doing to try to get back to us and his teammates … I love his competitiveness, I love what he’s trying to do, he’s just working on an injury he’s trying to overcome. “
The Giants have some in the building who probably also offered all the necessary information about Golladay. They hired Kyle O’Brien for his office after he spent five years as ex-GM Bob Quinn’s right-hand man.
Back to the Giants by becoming smarter at the free agency: Hiring Golladay is the culmination of two years of smarter, more forward-thinking actions at the free agency, which began as soon as Judge was hired last January.
In 2020, the Giants focused on attacking players they already knew, with no known characters or injury concerns, a smart approach with teams that could not receive players on visits due to the pandemic. The fruits of that work: cornerback James Bradberry, linebacker Blake Martinez and safety Logan Ryan, probably three of his top five players last season. Bradberry made it to the Pro Bowl.
They don’t make six wins without this trio, and all three are back in 2021.
In this off-season, the focus (outside of Golladay) has been on scraping the bargain box for low-risk, high-reward players. For a team pressed against the massively lowered salary cap, it was (and is) the right approach.
Wide receiver John Ross has been an unquestionable disappointment in the NFL, but he has elite speed (4.22 40) and was once a Top-10 choice. Defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo had seven sacks in 2019 and is only 26. Linebacker Reggie Ragland (27) is an update on David Mayo and Devante Downs as the best reserve linebacker. Quarterback Mike Glennon is an upgrade on the reserve quarterback as well, and cheaper than the previous one (Colt McCoy).
None of them cost more than $ 2.5 million and all were signed for one year.
They even paid dearly for some backups – running back Devontae Booker, striker Austin Johnson – and signed an aged tight end (Kyle Rudolph), but all three are expected to contribute in 2021, especially Rudolph.
The Giants have also stopped relying heavily on players they already know this year. This was less problematic in 2020 than in previous years, when the Giants paid dearly to older players (like Antoine Bethea) because of ties to the coaching staff.
None of the free agent hires, with the exception of Golladay, worked directly in the NFL for any Giants coach or staff.
The Giants still have work to do, certainly. They had the second worst attack in the NFL last season (17.5 points per game), the offensive line is a big question mark and there are still holes in the cornerback and the external linebacker.
But the Giants are better off now than when the off-season started.
There are reasons for optimism and it starts with the process.
Imagine: Giants fans can finally Trust in the process.
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