Meritocracy. From Dictionary.com, here is what it means.<\/p>\n
An elite group of people whose progress is based on ability and talent rather than on class, privilege, or wealth.A system in which such persons are rewarded and advanced.<\/p>\n
New York Giants assistant GM Brandon Brown said this week that one of the most important things head coach John Harbaugh has brought to the Giants is the idea of meritocracy \u2014 players earning what they get based on what they do now, rather than what they have or have not accomplished in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarbs has preached meritocracy, right?,\u201d Brown said. \u201cSo, what has got you here is not necessarily going to keep you here, and you\u2019ve got to have daily deposits.\u201d<\/p>\n
The idea of meritocracy is something every coach talks about. The dirty little secret, or perhaps not so secret, of the NFL is that meritocracy on an NFL roster is rarely real. Players with big paychecks usually play even if there is a better player on the roster at their position. Their paycheck, after all, has to be justified. First- or second-round draft picks get far more opportunities than undrafted free agents, even if teams tell you \u2014 as they always do \u2014 that how a player got to a team doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
It does. Almost always. Teams will often go to great lengths to prove they weren\u2019t wrong to use premium draft capital on a player.<\/p>\n
The fact that Harbaugh\u2019s Giants are running a true meritocracy is impressive. And should help to make the on-field product better.<\/p>\n
Brown said that what Harbaugh has done is \u201craise the floor\u201d of expectations from players.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just being objective. It\u2019s not having any governor on guys. It\u2019s earning it,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAnd as you guys have seen through the practice rotations in terms of at certain positions, which guys are getting more reps, which guys are getting less reps, maybe that flips on a certain day. It\u2019s all a part of the meritocracy of earning it.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is no better example on the roster of a player benefiting from this meritocracy than Deonte Banks. Yes, Banks is a former first-round pick. After two miserable seasons, though, it looked like Banks was a failed cornerback who would hang around the NFL because of his big-play ability as a kickoff returner.<\/p>\n
Harbaugh, though, had an \u201cI want to see these guys for myself\u201d approach with failed high picks like Banks, Evan Neal, Jalin Hyatt, and the now-traded Josh Ezeudu.<\/p>\n
From early in the spring, Banks has been impressive. Many of the things that seemed to be missing the past two seasons \u2014 like being sound in technique and assignments, and being aggressive in run support and willing to tackle \u2014 have been evident.<\/p>\n
The thought all along has been that Banks and veteran Greg Newsome were competing for the CB2 job across from Paulson Adebo. Now, judging by the reps being doled out in practices, Banks and Newsome could push Adebo and his team-high $24.199 million cap hit to the bench.<\/p>\n
That would be a development that seemed impossible in the spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he [Banks] just has belief in himself right now,\u201d defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson said this week. \u201cHe has a good group of DB coaches in that room that believe in him. The players believe in him, and he\u2019s playing with confidence. He\u2019s out there, he\u2019s making the plays he\u2019s supposed to make. He\u2019s detailed on his assignments, being where he\u2019s supposed to be, and that\u2019s giving him an opportunity to make plays.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as he keeps doing that, he\u2019ll continue to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are other examples across the roster:<\/p>\n
The idea that Chauncey Golston, who floundered without a real role a year ago, seems to have emerged as a starting base defensive end. He has made plays all summer, and that is being recognized.The competition that has developed between practice squad player Bryan Hudson and veteran offensive lineman Lucas Patrick for the job backing up John Michael Schmitz at center.The competition for both roster spots and playing time at wide receiver. Odell Beckham might make the roster, but it will be because he has earned it. Not because of his name. Former undrafted free agent Dalen Cambre could make it, too.Trading guard Daniel Faalele, a player who started for Harbaugh for two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, showed Harbaugh would not be emotionally attached to a player when there were others available who could do that job.The Giants appear likely to go with undrafted long-snapper Ben Mann and undrafted placekicker Dominic Zvada. Because both have earned the opportunity.<\/p>\n
Brown said the idea of meritocracy extends across the organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarbs makes you earn it,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWhen you go into a team meeting room, first thing you see is a big sign on the back wall that says, \u2018Earn the Right.\u2019 It\u2019s right in front of the room, and it just doesn\u2019t extend to players. It\u2019s to staff, and it\u2019s understanding a good idea can come from anywhere, and the way that Harbs seeks and solicits opinions keeps you on your A-game.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day you want to make a deposit. Every day you want to have an idea or thought or something to contribute to making a good decision. Again, he\u2019s hard on the coaches in terms of teaching and getting the technique right, and also on the personnel department along with (Senior Vice President and General Manager) Joe (Schoen) in terms of, hey, we have all of our contingency plans ready to go, and we understand what the marketplace looks like, and if it\u2019s something that comes about that we\u2019re not a part of, we\u2019ve done our due diligence, but we\u2019re never going to sit on our hands.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meritocracy. From Dictionary.com, here is what it means. An elite group of people whose progress is based on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":984637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2067],"tags":[7,519,1917,56,1870,1207,4040,2321,2469,6],"class_list":["post-984636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-giants","tag-football","tag-giants","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-giants","tag-new-york-giants-analysis","tag-new-york-giants-news","tag-new-york-giants-transcripts","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkgiants","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117167814329645546","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984636","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=984636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/984637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=984636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=984636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=984636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}