Theoretically, heavy use of press-man coverage would be best for Banks. That is the system he was drafted to play in. I do think the role you describe is one that Banks could fill. Whether he does that with the Giants, where there is a history of questionable effort John Harbaugh might not want to deal with, I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
Michael Feldman asks: Schoen and Harbaugh have said they are too busy filling out their new staff to attend the Senior Bowl.<\/p>\n
This sounds bogus to me since, in the past, the Senior Bowl was of paramount importance to Schoen and such a big deal was made over it.<\/p>\n
The more likely explanation, to me, is that Schoen realizes – or has been made to realize – that he placed too much emphasis on the couple of days of staged performance at the Senior Bowl and his personal meetings with the players.<\/p>\n
Admittedly, I haven\u2019t tracked how well the Giants have done drafting guys who attended the Senior Bowl.<\/p>\n
Maybe there\u2019s some other explanation for why Schoen and Harbaugh are not attending the Senior Bowl this year but, if they still believed it was as important to them to physically be there as in prior years, they would be there, regardless of their other responsibilities. For whatever reason, they are clearly leaving all that to their scouts, where they now believe it should be.<\/p>\n
Ed says: Michael, I am going to disagree with your take that not attending the Senior Bowl because hiring staff was their top priority is a \u201cbogus\u201d excuse. There are 10 NFL teams needing to hire entirely new coaching staffs, which means assistant coaches have options. I\u2019ve seen the Giants hire bad coaching staffs too many times. Getting the right coaches is a big part of the process and you have to be aggressive to get the ones you want.<\/p>\n
As for the Senior Bowl, I am also going to disagree that it is \u201cstaged performance.\u201d It is the last time players are in pads and do competitive football drills. They do these under the direction of NFL coaches, so it is critical to the evaluation.<\/p>\n
The vast majority of general managers and coaches attend the Senior Bowl. Every evaluator I have ever spoken to says teams rarely miss on the evaluation of a player\u2019s skills. They miss on the person. How do you get to know the person? By being around him. These all-star games like the Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine Bowl provide the first opportunities for NFL decision-makers to get around these kids and talk to them face-to-face. Every interaction, every touch point matters.<\/p>\n
Harbaugh and Schoen made a decision that their time was best spent building the coaching staff and front office this year. They left that to others this year because there is an incredibly compressed period of time to hire a staff, assess the current roster, get ready for free agency, prepare for spring practices, and get ready for the draft. They felt that skipping the Senior Bowl was the best thing they could do this time. That\u2019s all.<\/p>\n
Lou Catalano asks: Ed, over the years you have frequently commented that the Giants, especially under Schoen\u2019s leadership, have not taken advantage of void years as the Eagles and others have done. I saw in your piece about creating cap space that you wrote that void years are \u201cyears that do not extend the contract, but are only as placeholders for the proration\u201d. <\/p>\n
Could you please provide some examples of how void years would actually work?<\/p>\n
Ed says: Lou, look at the example below. It is Jalen Hurts\u2019 contract with the Philadelphia Eagles.<\/p>\n
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