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These are the final days of Dave Gettleman’s tenure with the Giants, as the team will soon be looking for a new general manager. This is not yet official but it will happen, as ownership is well-aware that a record of 19-44 and far too many swings and misses in player evaluations makes it a necessity to find someone new to lead the entire football operation.
There is rampant speculation as to Gettleman’s successor, on how this affects head coach Joe Judge and what co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch are thinking as they attempt to rebuild a franchise that has lost its way. In talking to those who have a sense of what the Giants will do, here is an attempt to wade through the misinformation and guesswork and bring some clarity to what will happen next:
Theory: Mara is set on staying in-house and promoting vice president of football operations Kevin Abrams, the Giants’ assistant general manager the past 20 years.
Reality: This is simply not true. Abrams is certainly a candidate, but the fact he has been with the Giants for 23 years and is considered part of the family could actually work against him. If the environment, as far as public unrest, was not so toxic, Mara could justify promoting Abrams, but he knows this would be viewed as status quo and thus wildly unpopular with the fan base. Usually, Mara does not cede to outside perception, but these are not usual times. His franchise is viewed as incompetent and adrift and the paying customers are ready to revolt. For the first time, ever, Mara seems to realize hiring someone with no previous ties to the Giants could be the best course of action.
Theory: Abrams is a salary cap specialist and thus not qualified to be the next general manager.
Reality: Top-level NFL executives can come from a variety of backgrounds. Howie Roseman of the Eagles and Mickey Loomis of the Saints were cap guys before taking over their respective teams. Abrams is as sharp as they come and a fantastic communicator. He is fiercely loyal to the Giants and to the chain of command. For more than the past decade, he has added scouting and player evaluation to his résumé. The command he showed was impressive as the interim general manager for the final four games of the 2017 season. But where in the history of the franchise has someone without a background steeped in scouting been hired for the general manager role? You can bring up Ernie Accorsi, who started out as a sportswriter (God bless him) before delving into personnel. Accorsi’s mentor, George Young, was a coach and scout. Jerry Reese was a scout. Gettleman was a scout. Mara believes in scouts. The feeling here is Mara will do what he is most familiar with and hire someone with primarily a scouting background.
Theory: Promoting Abrams would just be an extension of Gettleman.
Reality: Nope. There is every reason to believe Abrams has his own ideas and that his management style would differ greatly from the way Gettleman ran the show. Remember, Abrams was not the last word on any of the major decisions the past four years — there were certainly instances where he would have done things differently than Gettleman. And the reason the Giants are salary cap strapped is much more of an indictment of the players in free agency brought in based on the desperation created by the need for quick fixes than any poor contracts written by Abrams.
“Absolutely,” an NFL source who has worked many contracts with Abrams told The Post, when asked if Abrams is qualified to be a general manager. “First of all, he’s a good negotiator. He’s been in the game a long time, his experiences are perfect for a GM job. He really is good. He’s developed more of a personality over the last 10 years. He can be assertive if he needs to be. I think he’s ready to be a front man as opposed to the back-office guy that got no credit but did a lot of stuff.
“He’s spent so much time evaluating over many years and on his own, really learning. He can talk the talk.”
Theory: Any new general manager has to share some decision-making with Chris Mara, the de facto general manager.
Reality: Yes, he has the last name (he is one of John’s younger brothers, one of the late Wellington Mara’s 11 children) and a fancy title (senior vice president, player personnel), his bio in the team media guide comes right after the co-owners and his one page comes before Gettleman’s two pages. But to state, as others have, that Chris Mara runs the scouting department is patently false. He is a longtime talent evaluator and thus is a respected voice in the room. He has no veto power during the NFL draft. He is not assigned to college games on the road. He no longer attends the NFL scouting combine. He could have left the organization for general manager jobs with several other teams but opted to stay with the Giants. He owns thoroughbred horses as part of Starlight Racing, has two famous actress daughters (Kate and Rooney) and is not really involved in the day-to-day football operation any longer. He evaluates a few players and gives his opinions.
Theory: The next general manager will have ties to Joe Judge.
Reality: This is not a prerequisite by any stretch of the imagination. Ownership still believes in Judge, but he has not done anything this season to warrant having a role in hiring whoever replaces Gettleman. In some ways, having ties with Judge could be a detriment to any potential candidates. John Mara wants to know what the next GM thinks of Judge without any preconceived opinions based on past relationships. Sure, Mara might ask Judge what he thinks or knows about a candidate, but Judge is not underlining his favorites or crossing anyone off the list. This will be a wide net cast, and if at the end of the process Monti Ossenfort or Dave Ziegler — guys with ties to Judge from their days together in New England — come out on top, so be it.
Theory: Ownership has already decided to keep Judge and stick with Daniel Jones and any new general manager must agree to these decrees.
Reality: False. Ownership wants to keep Judge and will keep Judge unless someone in the interview process lays out compelling reasons why Judge has to go — and offers a compelling replacement for head coach. Likewise, ownership sees enough in Jones to give him another season, unless the new general manager has a different plan that includes a more intriguing quarterback scenario.
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