read the piece I had Nick Falato put together<\/a> on this a few days ago. I will say I\u2019d be all-in on 300-pound fullback Patrick Ricard.<\/p>\nEdward Mcgowan asks: We don\u2019t know how important it was for Harbaugh, (or any other prospective coach), to want to bring in his own GM but wouldn\u2019t that have necessitated a complete rebuild of the scouting and personnel side of the business just four years after Schoen did just that after the Gettleman years. My question is does ownership view the organization that Schoen built positively or does it also need a remake? It would seem to me that if Harbaugh is not reporting to Schoen and Schoen is not reporting to Harbaugh, the owners must feel that the front office is in decent shape or they just didn\u2019t have the stomach for another rebuild after just four years? What is your take?<\/p>\n
Ed says: Edward, if ownership did not view the front office Schoen has created positively and did not feel good about the way Schoen works with his front office and with ownership they would have fired him. My take is the fact that he is still the GM is the answer to how they feel.<\/p>\n
Chip McCoy asks: Hi Ed, I love Tom Coughlin and think it\u2019s great that he\u2019s in the Giants Ring of Honor. As I recall, he was also honored live at a home game a few years ago. I\u2019ve always wondered, though, why Jerry Reese hasn\u2019t received any similar honors. In fact, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve heard anything about him since he was fired. I know the final season was messy and the last few years were very disappointing to put it lightly, but we won two Super Bowls during his tenure. Yes, one was his first year, but he had been in the org for years and helped build that team. I think it\u2019s time to give him some recognition. What do you think? How does ownership view him? Was the end too acrimonious? How do you think fans would react?<\/p>\n
Ed says: Chip, I think the reaction to Reese is a mixed one. I really don\u2019t know how ownership feels, unless you want to read into the fact that he is not in the Ring of Honor. I think there is a feeling of wanting to give him credit for the early part of his tenure, but pointing the blame at him for the final few years and for how the Coughlin tenure ended.<\/p>\n
Jason Kurtzman asks: We are all well aware of the recent woes of the Giants in the kicking department. To me, isn\u2019t one of our 6th round picks absolutely worth using on best kicker available? A 6th rounder at almost any other position rarely turns into a useable NFL player but you can often get best player available at K\/P in the 6th round, and isn\u2019t the return on investment extremely high if you are able to take BPA? Taking BPA in a draft at any position has to have a higher hit rate than 6th round value, right? Hopefully we\u2019ve \u201cSaulsed\u201d our problem at kicker but why not spend a 6th on someone like Lucas Carneiro, who one of the commentators on the broadcast called a \u201cweapon\u201d in Ole Miss\u2019s CFP game? What if he\u2019s our Brandon Aubrey? Thanks!<\/p>\n
Ed says: Jason, I might agree with you had Ben Sauls not been so impressive in his three-game stint at the end of the season. If the Giants think Sauls is their answer, and I don\u2019t know why they wouldn\u2019t, it makes no sense to use a draft pick on another placekicker. I could see bringing in a veteran kicker as competition so that the job is not simply handed to Sauls. I don\u2019t see the need for drafting a potential replacement, though.<\/p>\n
M2-0 Buscemi asks: I know Harbaugh has interest in some of his Raven players that he would bring to the Giants two are center Lindenbaum and safety Gilman.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think the Giants have this kind of cap money to sign these players. So what magic is he going to use? He might have to go to a plan. B.<\/p>\n
Ed says: Let\u2019s not obsess over the salary cap situation right now. It is true that the Giants have only $1.8 million in space on an estimated $295.5 million cap for 2026, per Over the Cap. That, though, is highly misleading.<\/p>\n
There are 12 teams \u2014 yes, 12 \u2014 in worse shape than the Giants. Those 12 teams are all in the red right now and will have to make moves to simply get under the cap.<\/p>\n
Between now and the start of free agency in March, John Harbaugh and GM Joe Schoen will be assessing the roster and a number of moves that will free up cap space will be made.<\/p>\n
An easy one is cutting placekicker Graham Gano ($4.5 million in savings). James Hudson ($5.38 in savings) is another easy one. Bobby Okereke ($9 million in savings), Jon Runyan ($9.25 million in savings), and Devin Singletary ($5.25 million in savings) are obvious cut candidates. That\u2019s more than $30 million in savings, and there are other moves that could be made.<\/p>\n
A big one? What if the Giants decide to trade Kayvon Thibodeaux? That\u2019s $14.75 million in cap savings if they do it before June 1.<\/p>\n
Just let the offseason play out. The Giants will make the moves they need to make to chase the players they want to try and bring in.<\/p>\n
Bob Donnelly asks: John Harbaugh (thrilled to have him) is described as a CEO style HC who relies heavily upon his coordinators. We have a young quarterback who is early in his development and needs the right coach to bring him along. Jaxson Dart is already going on his second OC in his young career.<\/p>\n
If the Giants have a season like NE or Denver had this year and make a deep run in the playoffs we could see our OC becoming a HC target for some struggling franchise in which case our young Quarterback would be working with a third OC in three years.<\/p>\n
Can an NFL team contractually require an OC to commit to a minimum of two years in position before interviewing for a HC position?<\/p>\n
Ed says: Bob, no, teams cannot prevent a coach from interviewing for a promotion. They can deny permission to interview for a lateral job, that\u2019s all. Losing coaches or executives is the price of being good.<\/p>\n
Brian Misdom asks: Hi Ed, relieved and excited that we finalized terms with Harbaugh as our next HC but hoping you could clarify some of what contributed to the delayed announcement. <\/p>\n
I understand part of the delay was that Harbaugh wanted to ensure he was directly reporting to Mara rather than to Schoen. Prior to Daboll, wasn\u2019t this always the case? Coughlin\/McAdoo and Reese, Gettleman and Shurmur\/Judge were peers, no?<\/p>\n
The shift with Schoen and Daboll was supposed to help drive better alignment on the operations. If this has been the normal way of things, was it really that much to unpack and update how things will be with this new regime? <\/p>\n
Ed says: Brian, no the change of Harbaugh reporting directly to ownership was not the case before Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen. The Giants have had a structure with the GM at the top and the coach reporting to or working under him since the days of George Young. Probably before that.<\/p>\n
Andy Engel asks: From your mailbag last week: in the second letter your response to drafting wide receivers Tate or Tyson was that it wasn\u2019t a good idea because WR is a \u201cplace where (we) are already overstocked\u201d; then in the fifth letter you state \u201cI do believe they need another big-time pass catcher, even with Malik Nabors and Wan\u2019Dale Robinson\u201d. You are usually on target with things so I\u2019m asking which do you really mean? I believe they do need one.<\/p>\n
Ed says: Andy, perhaps that was a poorly constructed answer on my part. The Giants are overstocked at edge defender, which is why drafting Arvell Reese makes no sense to me. Even if you trade Kayvon Thibodeaux, you still have three players for two positions and have to play one at a spot where he won\u2019t be utilized to his fullest potential. They do need wide receiver help.<\/p>\n
Philip Dunne asks: Any thoughts on whether the last two games played into Harbaugh\u2019s decision to come to New York? I feel like coaches respect a team that keeps fighting, even if fans see it differently. Maybe he looked at a young team that managed to squeak out a few wins and thought it was something he could build into a solid program.<\/p>\n
Ed says: Philip, Harbaugh has been clear that he likes the quarterback and he likes a lot of what he saw when he watched the Giants on film. I don\u2019t honestly think the late-season victories had much, if anything, to do with his decision. It\u2019s more about the talent he saw, and the fact that it\u2019s a job with an iconic franchise.<\/p>\n
Marc Boucher asks: With rumors of Tyler Linderbaum being a potential free agent signing for the Giants, where would that leave JMS? Not sure of cap ramifications, but would a trade, release, backup role, or move to G be the move for JMS?<\/p>\n
Ed says: John Michael Schmitz has improved year over year, but is not as good as Tyler Linderbaum. If the Giants sign Linderbaum I see only one realistic path for Schmitz, and that is for the Giants to trade him in exchange for whatever draft assets someone will give them. I can guarantee the Giants would like to acquire a third-round pick, which they don\u2019t have right now after the Jaxson Dart trade.<\/p>\n
JMS is not a guard, and you need that flexibility if you are going to be a backup. If Linderbaum is a Giant, Schmitz\u2019s value is as a trade chip.<\/p>\n
Stephen Turcotte asks: It certainly seems as if the Mara family ownership succession plan has been revealed by Chris Mara\u2019s increased visibility and role in the pursuit of John Harbaugh, as well as his role in addressing the media after Harbaugh\u2019s press conference.<\/p>\n
What is the feeling regarding Chris\u2019s more public role amongst the media and Giants executives, and what does it tell us about John\u2019s ongoing cancer battle and prognosis?<\/p>\n
Ed says: Stephen, I think that everyone should appreciate what Chris Mara has done. He stepped up and did what needed to be done when his brother wasn\u2019t physically able to do so. If John Harbaugh changes the organization for the better then Chris Mara will have had a lot to do with that.<\/p>\n
As for John Mara\u2019s situation I am not a doctor and I won\u2019t speculate. He is a 71-year-old man in a cancer battle. That\u2019s a serious thing.<\/p>\n
Have a Giants-related question? E-mail it to bigblueview@gmail.com and it might be featured in our weekly mailbag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Dunleavy asks: Help me understand the idea of the coach reporting directly to the owner and not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2067],"tags":[7,519,1917,56,14308,2321,2469,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-701696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-giants","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-giants","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-giants","12":"tag-new-york-giants-mailbag","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkgiants","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115950653568979175","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}