Everyone knows that the New York Giants are in need of a rebuild, but not everyone is in agreement on what method that should take. The team has more cap space this year than they did in the recent past and a high draft position will bring at least one high value rookie into the lineup, even if that won’t be Chase Young thanks to the Giants’ failure to beat the Redskins out for the second pick.
The one that has the most control over the direction that the Giants go this offseason, of course, is John Mara, as the co-owner of the team who tends to act as the public face and make more of the big decisions. It was likely by Mara’s decision that the Giants retained General Manager Dave Gettleman for another year despite the disastrous results from his first couple seasons with the team.
Mara is also the one that recently spoke to WFAN about free agency and what strategy the Giants might be going with headed into it.
“The thing with free agency, it’s a double-edged sword. I mean, you can fix some holes pretty quickly, but long-term, I’m not sure that it really works… You still have to build your team through the draft. I think the best thing in free agency is it allows you to fill some needs so you can go into the draft and just take the best player available,” Mara said.
The Giants have done alright in the draft since Dave Gettleman showed up, but have still made a number of moves that can likely be considered mistakes at this point. Gettleman, however, has promised to put more faith in analytics from here on – we’ll see if that’s true or not starting with the upcoming draft and free agency period.
“If you think free agency is going to fix all your problems, you’re going to be sadly disappointed. So yes, we do have probably the most space we’ve ever had before, but we’re not going to go hog wild in there and spend it all,” Mara continued. “I think if you do that, you’re making a big mistake. We’re going to try to do it wisely, try to get the right guys in here, guys that we hope are going to be here for a while.”
At the end of the day, the Giants still have a number of holes to fill and whether they use all their cap space or not, free agency will be a crucial part of the offseason. One of the most interesting times of the year will almost certainly be when the Giants begin making acquisitions and giving fans a better idea of what their lineup will look like going into the 2020 season.