Although the New York Giants took massive steps in the right direction this season, their loss in the divisional round against the Philadelphia Eagles was humbling. It put on display their talent deficiencies and showed that may be a ways off from being a true contender.
General manager Joe Schoen was handcuffed from retooling the roster in his first year given the salary cap situation he acquired from former GM Dave Gettleman.
Schoen acknowledged as much on Monday during his year-end press conference, acknowledging the Giants are more than a single player away.
“I think it goes back to almost my opening press conference. We wanted to see progress. The question was, ‘What’s a successful season?’ We wanted to see progress, and I think you saw that throughout the season,” Schoen said. “Again, credit to my personnel staff. They were relentless in terms of eating up the waiver wire, waiver claims, and practice squad. Did a really good job.
“But again, we had to honestly evaluate the roster, whether it was the trade deadline or not. I don’t believe in the, ‘you’re one player away.’ I think it’s truly a team game. And that’s where we were and the holes that we had. I thought it was best just to stay pat where we were. We have nine picks going into next year’s draft. We do have a little bit more financial flexibility. As a group, we thought that was the best thing to do.”
Daniel Jones was the most improved player on the roster this season but many feel the Giants could have made greater strides with a premier wide receiver.
It is believed the Giants will add a wide receiver at some point this offseason, whether in free agency or the draft, but Schoen emphasized continuing to build the roster as a whole.
“I think we want to continue to build the entire team. Again, I know a number one wide receiver can be important, but there are some number one wide receivers that are home right now. You can go through this past weekend; you can go through a couple of weekends ago in the playoffs. A number one receiver doesn’t guarantee you anything,” Schoen said.
“I think it’s important that we continue to build the team, and there’s multiple positions where we want to upgrade throughout the offseason. So, yeah, I’d love to have a number one wide receiver. But we’ve got to place value on everything we do, and if it makes sense, that’s something we’ll look to do.”
On paper, top to bottom, the just Giants don’t stack up against the premier teams in the NFL with so many holes on the roster. Ideally, with a little more cap flexibility, Schoen can make the necessary moves to close the gap between the Giants and the top teams in the NFC this off-season.
