New York Giants: Is it safe to say Dave Gettleman has improved?

Feb 27, 2019; Indianapolis, IN, USA; New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman speaks to the media during the 2019 NFL Combine at the Indianapolis Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

When the New York Giants moved on from Pat Shurmur, much of the fanbase wanted to see Dave Gettleman gone as GM too.

And understandably so. Sure. he’d made some moves like drafting Saquon Barkley, the team’s best weapon. But Barkley’s injuries have held back his progress and kept him from being as much of a slam dunk pick as he would have been healthy. Also, Barkley was the obvious pick – it doesn’t take a genius to take the best player on the board.

Gettleman also drafted Daniel Jones. And the verdict isn’t out yet on whether Jones is for real or a stepping stone. The pick didn’t do much to endear him to many, especially when neither the selection nor the free agency class would save the Giants from another bad year.

Many attributed Gettleman keeping his job to the Giants simply being a patient franchise, rather than skill. But has the situation changed since then?

A high level offseason

It’s hard to say things are the same as before. After all, the Giants are doing something they haven’t done in the past few years and welcoming a top free agent at a premier position, with wide receiver Kenny Golladay. They were counted out in the race for him earlier in the offseason, but the team management was able to make it happen and, while it’s said the Giants overpaid, they were still able to bring in another big addition to help the team.

That other big addition is Adoree’ Jackson, who looks like the team’s second corner and will finally fill the big gap left when the Giants moved on from DeAndre Baker. Also, Baker had a shaky track record when he was a Giant and Jackson represents an upgrade from the previous standard.

On the other hand, there’s decisions that some won’t agree with. Giving a big deal to Leonard Williams, most notably, overpaying Golladay, and watching Dalvin Tomlinson walk because of these decisions.

And it’s not quite possible to say yet, before we’ve seen just how well Gettleman’s judgement is here, whether these are good decisions or not.

So really, at the end of the day, the question of whether Gettleman has improved or not depends on how much you trust his view of things in this offseason’s biggest flashpoints.

Has he become savvy, adding premier free agents the Giants need for a quicker turn around after a sluggish rebuilding process? Or simply out of touch and throwing big money at players that don’t deserve it?

We’ll find out the answer this season – but the fanbase will likely be divided about that until then, and even going into it.