Blueprint For Success: How the Giants were built (and what the Dolphins can learn)

This is the 12th in a series that examines how Miami’s 2019 opponents built their rosters, and what lessons the Dolphins can glean as they build theirs.

Team: New York Giants.

Coach: Pat Shurmur (second season).

General manager: Dave Gettleman (second season).

Team owners: John Mara and Steve Tisch.

Franchise value: $3.9 billion.

2018 record: 5-11 (fourth in the NFC East).

2019 record: 2-11 (last in NFC East).

Last playoff appearance: 2016 (lost in the Wild Card round).

Last Super Bowl championship: 2011.

Total 2019 payroll: $184.4 million (20th).

Total 2019 AAV: $179.4 million (22nd).

Salary cap space: $2 million (30th).

Dead money: $41 million (third most).

Percentage of homegrown players: 42.

Overview: This is what the end looks like: Nine straight losses. Brutal back-page headlines. Talk radio derision. A coach who’s reportedly a dead man walking and a general manager whose professional health isn’t much better.

The Giants are somehow more of a disaster than the Jets. Let that sink in. And there will be repercussions.

ESPN reported Monday that Pat Shurmur is expected to be fired at season’s end and GM Dave Gettleman is “in trouble,” too. No big surprise, given they together have won just seven of their 29 games together in New York. Whom the Giants hire to replace them (assuming they are fired) could have massive implications on the Dolphins’ offseason plan.

If the Giants end up with the No. 1 pick, would they be willing to trade out? Or would they bail on Daniel Jones after just one season for Joe Burrow? Gettleman’s decision to punt on their 2018 draft class, passing on, among others, Sam Darnold and Lamar Jackson, could ultimately be his downfall. Compounding his blunder: He didn’t even seriously entertain trade offers for the No. 2 pick in 2018, which could have netted the Giants a sweet package, but instead took Saquon Barkley — a fine player, but not a transcendent one, at least yet.

Two other Gettleman-led anchors around the neck of this franchise: trading Odell Beckham Jr. (at a salary-cap cost of $16 million) and taking Jones sixth overall. When you get the big ones wrong — and there’s been little reason yet to believe Jones is going to be a star — the little ones don’t really matter. What’s more, the Giants are on the hook for more than $60 million in cap charges this year for Eli Manning, the recently released Janoris Jenkins, Nate Solder and Alec Ogletree.

Of that quartet, only Jenkins (four interceptions) has come close to living up to his contract. Manning is in his final days as a Giant, Solder has allowed 9 1/2 sacks this year and Ogletree has the same number of sacks and turnovers: one. There is good news, however: The Giants have an estimated $63 million in cap space next year even before making some easy, big-money cuts. Whether Gettleman gets to use those millions remains to be seen.

The lesson: Where to begin? Don’t spend $35 million guaranteed on a Patriots offensive lineman. Don’t trade your best player for spare parts. Don’t draft a second-round quarterback in the top 10. Don’t hire a guy who went 9-23 in his two years as the Browns’ head coach. And most importantly, don’t give Dave Gettleman the keys to the kingdom.

He said it: “I think it’s really important that you always address the offensive line needs. Nothing in the back end looks good if you can’t protect. We’re all, every week, facing fronts that can either put pressure on the quarterback or stop the runner from making yards. I think you always have to be aware of that. If you can get the quarterback in your building that you believe in in the long run, that’s obviously an important piece. And let’s not underestimate what the skill players can do, including the running back. Each team is probably different. We’re all looking for the same thing and it probably comes at different times, depending on what your team looks like when you get there.” — Giants coach Pat Shurmur.

This story was originally published December 12, 2019 at 2:56 PM.

Adam H. Beasley

Miami Herald

305-376-2387

Adam Beasley has covered the Dolphins for the Miami Herald since 2012, and has worked for the newspaper since 2006. He is a graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications and has written about sports professionally since 1996. Support my work with a digital subscription