New York Giants: An open letter to Dave Gettleman, we aren’t sheep
By Ed Stein
Earn it!
What I’d like to get back to is that you feel as if you have already earned the respect from the New York Giants community, that frankly, you have not earned. In your presser you said:
"“Give us some credit for the experience in our résumés. It’s just one of those situations … they just gotta trust.”"
I’m not going to address the entire scouting staff, because this letter isn’t for them. Additionally they aren’t the man in charge and nor have they acted with condescending disdain to those who dare question your methods.
You ran the Giants Pro Personnel Department when they went to three Super Bowls (2000, 2007, 2011). It’s a great achievement, and no one doubts that you added valuable insight into building those teams. What you seem to gloss over is the fact that at no time did the buck stop with you. Having input and make the final decision as to what to do are two completely different things.
If you think your tenure as Carolina Panthers GM from 2013-17 should earn you the props you feel entitled to, think again. Yea, Carolina went to the 2015 Super Bowl. Too bad they scored one touchdown in a 24-10 loss to Denver.
Do you really take credit for a team whose head coach (Ron Rivera), quarterback (Cam Newton), top two running backs (Jonathan Stewart and Mike Tolbert), best receiver (Greg Olsen), and three best defensive players (Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis, and Josh Norman) were all in Carolina before you got there.
You ask for the New York Giants fans, media covering the team, and those who follow the NFL to blindly put their trust in you because you say you know what you are doing. At the same time, you are astonished when any of the above think you are wrong.
What have you done to justify your statement “they just got to trust?” Absolutely nothing.