New York Giants GM Dave Gettleman blows another draft

Early draft

New York Giants fans hoped that after last year’s sixth pick debacle, Gettleman would have learned his lesson. To briefly recap the Giants GM got played by his peers into using the No. 6 pick on quarterback Daniel Jones. Not many had a problem with Jones, in general. Especially after his productive rookie season.

What they did have a problem with is the fact Jones would have been available with the 17th overall pick. New York could have used six to take a badly needed defensive standout, such as Josh Allen, who had 10.5 sacks as a rookie for Jacksonville. I’ll leave the trade up for DeAndre Baker alone for now.

He learned nothing from the 2019 draft. After a 4-12 season, much of which had to do with the substandard talent Gettleman assembled, Big Blue had the fourth overall pick in 2020. A chance for redemption and to put some solid pieces in place for the future. Yeah right.

Even the people who thought the New York Giants should have drafted defensive weapon Isaiah Simmons can understand the need for a long-term solution at left tackle. No one who follows the team or the draft can believe what they did. Granted, the Raiders set a low bar with last year’s fourth pick, Clelin Ferrell.

Andrew Thomas,  he’s the “Gold Jacket” guy?

Most analysts and scouts had Thomas as the fourth-best tackle in this draft, not the fourth-best player. For reference, I had Thomas as the third-best tackle after Tristan Wirfs and Jedrick Wills.

I understand they liked Thomas, he’s a good football player. There isn’t much bad to say about his abilities. That doesn’t make him worthy of the pick. But once again, Gettleman was out of touch with the market place. They could have had him at eight, nine, or maybe as late as 12. In his video conference with the media, GMDG said there wasn’t much interest in a trade up.

There is no way I believe he couldn’t get a fourth-round pick from Carolina so the Panthers could lock in Derrick Brown. Meanwhile, Gettleman took his OT, the next two teams went quarterback, and Brown fell to Carolina a No. 7. He could have played off the Carolina against Vegas or Atlanta and gotten something. GMDG’s ego didn’t afford him the flexibility to do what was right for the team.

Fortunately, safety Xavier McKinney fell into Big Blue’s lap in the second round. He’s a player and will do well paired up with Jabrill Peppers in the deep secondary. I am left to wonder what would have happened if a “hit in the head” pick wasn’t available.