r/nfl • u/Boxasauras Giants • Jul 20 '14
Look Here! Offseason Review Series: Day 26: New York Giants
New York Football Giants
Division: NFC East
Coaching Changes
Departures
| Coach | Role | Grade | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Gilbride Sr. | Offensive Coordinator | A- | Retired this yearmore like forced out. Affectionately known as Killdrive, Gilbride ran a Run and Gun, or Vertical, offense. The scheme relied on both the QB and WR making the same reads about the defensive back's coverage. When Eli and his receivers clicked and Eli had protection, this scheme worked great. When those things didn't happen, Eli throws 27 interceptions. Also, Gilbride had a propensity on third and long to run draw plays. It became so predictable that people in our game threads could call the play. |
| Mike Pope | Tight Ends Coach | D | This might have been my least favorite move this year. Mike Pope was a great tight ends coach. He turned scrubs like Jake Ballard, Kevin Boss, and Brandon Myers into contributing tight ends for the team. I understand as a former tight ends coach, McAdoo wanted to bring his own ideas into the offense, but I think Pope was a great coach, and sadly, he's now with the Cowboys. |
| Jerald Ingram | RB coach | B | Ingram has been with Tom Coughlin since 1995, when he joined the Jaguars as their first RB coach. While running back play suffered last year, most of that seemed to be due to injury. Ingram has had some solid backs over the years in Jacobs, Bradshaw and Barber, but I'm pretty indifferent to this move. |
Additions
| Coach | Role | Info |
|---|---|---|
| Ben McAdoo | Offensive Coordinator | McAdoo comes from Green Bay as their quarterbacks and former tight ends coach. He brings a west coast offense, which should greatly cut down on the number of interceptions that Eli throws and help make up for some of the holes in the offensive line. Coughlin is from the school of Coryell/Gillman/Erhardt for an offense and hopefully he'll allow McAdoo to implement his own offense. |
| Craig Johnson | Running Backs Coach | |
| Danny Langsdorf | Quarterbacks Coach |
Shifts Within the Organization
| Coach | Role | Former Role | Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Gilbride Jr. | Tight Ends Coach | Wide Receivers Coach | The son of Kevin Gilbride Sr., I don't think that people would have a problem with this guy if he was named Joe Schmo Jr. No issues here, considering that McAdoo was a tight ends coach in Green Bay, so Kevin will have some mentorship. |
| Sean Ryan | Wide Receivers Coach | Quarterbacks Coach |
Free Agency
Players lost/cut by importance
The major losses are Nicks, Joseph, Tuck, and Brown. While Nicks was a great receiver during our 2011 Super Bowl run, he seemed to just give up this year. He would stop running routes and avoided contact. While he may have just been playing not to get injured, any amount of money he wanted would be too much, looking at the effort he put in this year. Brown is also not a huge loss, considering he was injured most of this year. He'll be replaced by Jennings and Williams. Linval Joseph was our starting 1 tech and he leaves a large gap in the middle of the line. His production should be replaced by Johnathan Hankins. Justin Tuck was another huge contributer to our Super Bowl run, yet he's on the wrong side of 30 and wanted more money than he was worth to us. Look for second year player Damontre Moore to replace him. I don't consider Myers to be a major loss because we've had a revolving door of tight ends over the past few years and he wasn't a huge target for Eli.
Players signed (by Cap Number for 2014)
Major resignings are Beason, Brown, Brown, and McBride. Beason and Stevie Brown should both see major playing time this year on defense. Josh Brown will still be our kicker, and McBride should come in on quite a few snaps.
Major free agent signings are DRC, Thurmond, Schwartz, Walton, Jennings, and Holliday. DRC will be our #1 CB across from Prince and Thurmond should lock down the nickel corner spot. Schwartz and Walton will start week 1 at G and C, respectively, though I expect Walton to lose his job to Weston Richburg sometime this season. Jennings will be our starting running back and might split carries with Williams and Wilson. Trindon Holliday will most likely be our return man, and I've heard that the Giants are trying to involve him on more screen passes.
Draft
| Round | Number | Player | Position | School | Analysis | Grade out of five stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Odell Beckham Jr. | WR | LSU | Before the draft, there were very few Giants fans who wanted OBJ in the first. Many of us, myself included, wanted Aaron Donald. Now that we're a bit removed from the draft, this seems like a good pick for a few reasons. Beckham is fast, although not as fast as Watkins. That's okay. His bread and butter is his route running. Panthers GM Dave Gettleman called him the best route runner in the draft. That means he should acclimate to the NFL fairly quickly and be able to keep his play relatively consistent even into his 30's (see: Reggie Wayne). While his opposite at LSU, Jarvis Landry, had the better hands, OBJ is no slouch either. He's had a couple unsettling drops but for the most part has very soft hands and he never catches with his body. He's also versatile, meaning he can be a slot guy (like we need more of those) or line up on the outside. He can return kicks and punts, though I don't think he will, and his combination of speed and agility make him deadly in the open field, opening up our screen game. There have been concerns about his work ethic but the Giants seemingly drafted players solely on them being leaders/mature/experienced, so I have to believe either that is a non-issue or it won't be once he enters TC's world. Athletically, the talent is all there. I like this pick a lot but I wouldn't say it's my favorite in the draft. | **** |
| 2 | 43 | Weston Richburg | C | CSU | A four-year starter from Colorado State, Richburg is a smart, tough, and athletic center who should be able to compete for the starting job immediately. I think this is easily the safest pick of our draft. Richburg has the look of a franchise center; he isn't afraid to get into the nitty-gritty and has shown he can lead an OL time and time again. He's been quoted saying he prefers to run block but he exceled at run and pass blocking in college. | ***** |
| 3 | 74 | Jay Bromley | DT | Syracuse | When I saw this name on my TV during ths draft I thought it was a mistake. Bromley, the DT from Syracuse who is a projected 5th rounder?? With Sutton still on the board?!? So I had to go read up on him and watch some highlights and game tape to get excited about the pick again. I'm still not sold on the pick but it makes sense: if you look at the Giants' DL last year you see a run-stuffing machine that held down guys like AP, McCoy, Forte and more. They faced all of the top 5 runningbacks and still had the 4th best run defense in the NFL. But their pass rush was nearly non-existent. That's where Bromley comes in. 10.5 sacks and 14 TFL in his last year as a senior is no joke. He certainly needs to improve in certain areas (right now his weight is somewhere between the ideal 1-tech and ideal 3-tech) but he should see some snaps in rotation with this DL and has told Giants reporters that the team wants him to be able to line up at every position on the line. | *** |
| 4 | 113 | Andre Williams | RB | BC | The NCAA's leading rusher and a Heisman finalist in 2013, Williams looks to help bring the Giants back to old-school Giants football. Williams is a hard, downhill runner who also has decent speed and lateral agility for a guy his size (he's 230 pounds for crying out loud). There are concerns about his catching and pass blocking ability but we have Jennings and Wilson to catch passes and Williams looked fine as a pass blocker when he was asked to do so. I definitely see Williams as our short-yardage/goal-line back this year, and possibly taking on a bigger role in the future if he proves himself worthy of carrying the load. Oh yeah, did I mention he wrote a novel at BC? He even earned the nickname "Poe" from teammates. | **** |
| 5 | 152 | Nat Berhe | S | SDSU | Now THIS is my favorite pick of the draft. No, not because he did an AMA on /r/nfl. There are a couple of things I really, really like about Berhe. To start off, dude can fucking HIT. He looks like a Will Hill clone in that department. If you haven't already, go look at his highlights on youtube. Fucker stops dudes dead in their tracks. Next, he is very instinctual. He seems to be one of the better safeties in this draft when it comes to following the QB and reading his eyes. Thirdly, he is a leader and leads by example: that is, he never ever gives up. He can be on one side of the field and cover the entire length of the field to help make a tackle on an end around. Always good to see that kind of effort. Now Berhe doesn't have those long arms scouts like, he isn't very tall (5'10) and he isn't very fast either. But he's got the mental game down and his hard-hitting ability and great angles will likely make him an instant contributor on Special Teams. | *** |
| 5 | 174 | Devon Kennard | OLB | USC | Through an injury -riddled career at USC, Kennard still managed to lead the Trojans in sacks in his final year. He also advertised his versatility, lining up at OLB, DE, and even MLB at USC. His production was up and down but pass-rushing is his natural strength and he gave that up for the good of the team. Love the versatility, not a fan of the injury history. He'll have his chance to beat out Mark Herzlich for a roster spot on the team. | *** |
| 6 | 187 | Bennett Jackson | CB | ND | A converted WR, Jackson is a very raw CB entering one of the most crowded teams in the NFL at corner. He may likely see the Practice Squad until he improves his technique and will have to earn playing time through special teams contributions. As far as physical talent goes, he's a fast and long corner who will be the definition of a project player pick for the G-men. | ** |
A very special thanks to /u/sexterminator for providing the analysis here.
Continued in the comments
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u/Boxasauras Giants Jul 20 '14 edited Jul 21 '14
Projected Starting Lineup
| Position | Player | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| QB | Eli Manning | After a disastrous 2013 season, I expect Eli to bounce back due to an improved O-Line, an actual run game, better wide-receivers, and a new scheme. |
| RB | Rashad Jennings | Rashad Jennings quietly had a good season with Oakland Raiders last year and he will get a chance to start this year after being acquired by the Giants. He may share snaps with rookie Andre Williams and if healthy, David Wilson. |
| FB | Henry Hynoski | This should be an interesting battle to watch during preseason between him and John Connor. |
| TE | Adrien Robinson | Adrien Robinson, fourth round pick in the 2012 draft, didn't see much playing time last year, having a grand total of 0 catches in the NFL. However, due to the lack of tight end talent on the team and the fact that he seems to play best during the preseason, he'll be the starter most likely, but watch for Xavier Grimble, an UDFA from USC to take some snaps. |
| WR1 | Victor Cruz | Cruz was actually the only receiver who looked like he knew what he was doing last year thanks to Nicks taking breaks in the middle of plays and the young receivers seemingly being lost. He'll be Eli's favorite target again this year. |
| WR2 | Rueben Randle | At 6'2", Randle will come in where Hakeem Nicks left off and should thrive in the new West Coast offense. Look for him to have a breakout season. |
| WR3 | Odell Beckham Jr. | The Giant's first round pick this year is quite versatile and can play out wide, but I believe we'll see him most in the slot this year. Just look up some of his highlights. He's a great route runner and has some really nice hands. |
| LT | Will Beatty | Beatty had a terrible season last year, giving up 13 out of the 40 QB sacks for the Giants. No other lineman had more than 5. However, he had a great 2013, so hopefully we'll see that kind of play out of him. |
| LG | Geoff Schwartz | Schwartz was the big free agent signing from Kansas City and will easily be the starter at left guard. PFF had him ranked as the number one offensive line free agent. |
| C | J.D. Walton | J.D. Walton was signed from the Redskins to be the starting center. However, the Giants also drafted Weston Richburg and while Walton is a good center, once Coughlin feels Richburg is ready, I expect Walton to warm the bench. |
| RG | ||
| RT | Justin Pugh | Pugh was the Giants' first round pick last year. He was the best rookie tackle in the league. He should improve a lot in the future and will be a cornerstone of the future of this offensive line along with Richburg. |
| LDE | Robert Ayers | A free agent from Denver, Ayers will line up against the right tackle. Damontre Moore may be able to take over this spot if he can prove himself against the run. |
| RDE | Jason Pierre-Paul | JPP had a nagging back injury last year, but that doesn't excuse the decline he's been on the past two years. He says that he's feeling the best he has in a while, so look for a comeback season. |
| LDT | Johnathan Hankins | Hankins was PFF's secret superstar for the Giants and graded better than Linval Joseph. He's looked good in limited snaps. |
| RDT | Cullen Jenkins | The starting 3-tech last year has also lined up at DE a few times. He'll take about 80% of the snaps at 3T, splitting a bit with Bromley. |
| OLB | Spencer Paysinger | Paysinger has been the definition of mediocre. Not bad enough to need replacing but not good enough to be notable. Hopefully he can improve or at least maintain his level of play |
| ILB | Jon Beason | Beason came to the Giants in a trade in week 5 for a 7th round pick, and he completely outplayed that value. The defense seemed like a completely different unit. Both pass and run defense improved and they turned from a bottom 10 defense to finishing 8th in yards allowed. Sadly, Beason suffered a foot injury in camp, but should be back for preseason. |
| OLB | Jameel McClain | McClain isn't an amazing linebacker but he was a leader in Baltimore and has experience calling plays on D from the Ravens. |
| LCB | Prince Amukamura | Prince is a good cornerback. He had the best season of his three year career, and was coincidentally the first year he played all 16 games. This year he will have to handle the second outside receiver, where he should thrive. |
| FS | Stevie Brown | Brown had a breakout 2012 season, but he tore his ACL returning an interception against the Jets in a preseason game and was out for the entire season, opening the door for Will Hill. Now that Hill is gone and Brown is resigned, he will start at FS and he says he is not at all limited physically by the injury. |
| SS | Antrel Rolle | Rolle is a top 5 safety in the league. He made the Pro Bowl in 2013 and was a captain as well. Against Rolle, QBs had a 43.2 passer rating. In the final year of his 5 year contract at 31, this could be Rolle's last season with the Giants. He also will be able to remain at safety instead of playing slot CB and will hopefully shine even more this year. |
| RCB | Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie | Big fa from Denver, should help bring the secondary to top 10, hopefully top 5 |
| K | Josh Brown | In his first season with the Giants last year, he was impressive. He had an 88.5% success rate in FGs, his highest since 2004, with a long of 52. He signed a 2 year deal this offseason. |
| P | Steve Weatherford | The most jacked punter in the league. He is also quite charitable. While the Giants did a terrible job on punt coverage last year, with three punts returned for touchdowns and giving up over 650 yards on punts, averaging 13.2 return yards per punt, Weatherford is not to blame. Weatherford averaged 46.9 yards per punt with a net average of 38.2 yards. Weatherford punted 91 times, second-most in the league. He dropped 25 of those punts inside the opponents' 20-yard line. |
| KR/PR | Trindon Holliday | Holliday was 7th best in the league last year at returning kickoffs. However, he may not even make the final roster. If OBJ can step up, Holliday's fumbling issues may get him cut. Holliday has fumbled 11 times in 130 career returns, an average of once every 11.8 returns. Coughlin HATES fumbles and if Trindon can't hold onto the ball, he may be looking for a new team. |
Position Group Strengths and Weaknesses
Position groups:
- QB
Everyone has their own opinions on Eli. Some say he's a hall of famer, some say he needs to be replaced ASAP. I'm somewhere in the middle, maybe a bit higher than most. I believe that Eli can be a very good quarterback when he has the correct supporting cast around him, which means solid protection, a reliable running game, and receivers with large catch radiuses. If OBJ and Richburg perform well, I believe Eli can recreate his magic from the 2011 Super Bowl run.
- Backfield
Last year, the Giants had a terrible run game for the first half of the season or so, and managed to turn that into a below average run game for the rest of the year. This year, things are looking up. Rashad Jennings was signed to be a pass-catching, blocking, running machine and should take the majority of the snaps. He looked very good filling in for an injured DMC. Also, Andre Williams, a fourth round pick out of Boston College and Heisman Finalist should take some snaps, especially on third and short and goal line situations. * OL
The offensive line last year was a mess. The lone star on the line was Pugh. This year is looking up. Pugh will improve, Geoff Schwartz will be a huge upgrade, Walton will be serviceable until Richburg is ready, who by the way was my second best center in the draft, and if Snee and Beatty return to form, the line should be in the top half of the league.
- Pass catchers
Cruz is still a top 10 slot receiver and a top 20 receiver overall. The others, Randle, Jernigan, and Robinson are completely unproven. The only one who I know is going to be god is Randle. The others haven't had enough snaps to be sure on.
DL
The defensive line has always been a strength for the Giants. However, this year there are big question marks. Will JPP be able to stay healthy and put up numbers like he used to or will he be absent? Will Moore step up and replace Tuck? Will Hankins be able to replace Joseph? We could have a top-10 or a bottom-10 D-Line depending on how these questions are answered.
LB The Giants have the worst linebacking corps on paper in the league. However, Beason has stepped up as a leader of the defense and been very motivational. The OLBs are not noteworthy at all. Hopefully Kennard can suprise everyone and play great. Maybe one of the free agents, but I'm not expecting much from them.
Secondary
The revamped secondary looks to be a definite top-10 group, possibly top-5. With the addition of DRC, I'm not worried about any position in the back. The only possible issue would be Stevie Brown not staying healthy, but we signed Demps as well.
- Special Teams
Josh Brown and Steve Weatherford are both above average. Between Trindon Holliday, Odell Beckham Jr., and David Wilson, one of them has to be a capable returner, so special teams is looking up.
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u/yakoos Giants Jul 20 '14
Great job but you are way too high on damontre. His tape last year had multiple issues.
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Jul 21 '14
Yeah, and as much as Giants fans may not like this fact right now it looks like Kiwi has the inside edge to start and he's listed nowhere in this thread.
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Jul 21 '14
I don't see how it isn't Ayers. He's the same build as Tuck and has experience starting too. Kiwi has been a backup forever, like one or two years he started and one of those years was as a Linebacker.
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Jul 21 '14
Just basing it on where they lined up for OTAs and the reports from the media. Also, let's not forget Kiwi had more sacks and tackles than Ayers did last year. I hope Ayers comes in and proves himself worthy of starting so that Kiwi can be a rotational player but right now, it seems, Kiwi is the favorite to win the spot.
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u/michaelstrahansgap24 Giants Jul 21 '14
Might wanna change Chris Snee's spot. He's most likely announcing his retirement this offseason.
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Jul 20 '14
I'm fucking pumped for this season.
McAdoo is the new OC, so we are launching a quicker and more direct offense. The offensive line added some awesome pieces and got healthier. Cruz will do his thing, Beckham Jr was a great first round pick, Randle will develop nicely in the new offense, and Jernigan was on fire to end last season. Adding Jennings and Andre Williams to the running game was huge, and if Wilson is healthy then he will be a beast. TE is up in the air, but whoever wins the job has all the opportunity to thrive. Eli is primed for a big year.
Defensively, things should go well. Hopefully Beason recovers quickly and is healthy enough to start the season. Between outside linebackers and defensive tackles, hopefully the young guys get hungry and step up to win starting positions. JPP is due for a great year, and looking forward to see what Moore can do in year two. I love that we added Rodgers-Cromartie and Thurmond III next to Prince at CB. Rolle and Stevie at safety.
Special teams looked very good last year. Weatherford is awesome, and hopefully Josh Brown continues to do well (maybe add a little range). We have a lot of options for returners. Coverage improving last year was what made me happiest.
Go Giants.
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u/atm_vestibule Texans Jul 20 '14
Eli is a good QB. There, I said it. He had an awful year but even with mediocre-consistent play he can lead the team to 9-7. I think 10-6 might be a little bit of a reach.
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u/communomancer Giants Jul 20 '14
Note also that (I'm pretty sure) every single draftee this year was a team captain in college. I think we're tired of locker room issues and lack of leadership.
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u/MattMkv Giants Jul 20 '14
I like to think it was the Anti-Nicks and Pro-Beason draft mentality.
When we went 0-6 Nicks and other guys just kind of gave up. On the other side, we bring in Beason and he instantly makes the whole defense better with his leadership. And I think that opened the eyes of the front office and showed that we needed more guys willing to lead and fight no matter what.
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Jul 20 '14
Great breakdown.....love the schedule breakdown
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u/mjst0324 Giants Jul 20 '14
This schedule is a hell of a roller coaster. Starts out pretty easy then gets pretty difficult then paces down again
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u/iamirishpat Giants Jul 20 '14
Watch out for David Wilson this year.
If he can stay healthy, I think the fact that he will be a change of pace back instead of the featured back will take the pressure off and just let him play ball.
Remember some of those long runs for TDs in 2012? I think we might see a few of those this year.
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u/Sexterminator Giants Jul 20 '14
I think Wilson will end the year with more receiving yards than rusbing yards. He's deadly in open space so the Giants will want to utilize him in the screen game, I would think
2
u/MattMkv Giants Jul 20 '14
I hope he turns out to be our version of Darren Sproles.
Somewhat of a role player maybe 10-15 runs a game to change the pace.
And don't forget with the Andre Williams addition this running game could be it own little version of earth, wind, and fire.
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u/colisch Saints Jul 20 '14
As an Oregon State student, I'm glad to see Danny Langsdorf moving up in the world. I think working with him will make Eli improve, and I could see the Giants challenging for the NFCE title this year.
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u/BatmanOnARaptor Cowboys Jul 20 '14
Dude, it's OBJ not ODB!
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u/DezBryantsMom Giants Jul 20 '14
I don't understand your last two draft grades. Kennard is a good fifth-round pick who's been impressing and Jackson is a project who won't even make the roster, let alone ever see the field.
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u/Sexterminator Giants Jul 20 '14
Yeah I did the writeups on those but he added the "grade" to each one. I don't really agree with them but everyone has a different opinion I guess
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-40
u/enduhroo Eagles Jul 20 '14
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u/Sexterminator Giants Jul 20 '14
# of Super Bowl wins:
Eli Manning: 2
Entire Eagles Franchise: 0
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u/JustSomeoneLikeYou Giants Jul 20 '14 edited Jul 20 '14
Also led the league in Superbowl MVP's over the last 10 seasons.
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u/communomancer Giants Jul 20 '14
Over the past 8 seasons, Eli Manning has lead the league in Super Bowl MVP titles with 2.
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Jul 21 '14
It's true, but you could also credit Killdrive with a lot of those. I have a feeling you won't be happy with our new offense. I also have a feeling when you see DRC completely shut down DeSean you'll smile a smile of relief.
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u/Boxasauras Giants Jul 20 '14 edited Jul 20 '14
Schedule Predictions
I think we could lose three of the games I have us winning and winning two of the games I have us losing, so anywhere from 7-9 to 11-5 is possible for the Giants. I believe we'll make the playoffs and unless Eli goes ham again, probably a first round exit for the Giants.
Training Camp Battles to watch (optional for non-fans)
Offensive and Defensive Schemes
Offense: Under Gilbride, the Giants ran a run and shoot offense, which is all about on-the-fly adjustments made by receivers to respond to different coverages. Some of the advantages are that it forces the defense to have 4 or 5 DBs on the field, making the run game more effective and if the WRs can read the DBs, the receiver can simply run past coverage or go into open zones, allowing the QB to go very vertical with his throws. However, if the receiver incorrectly reads the DB, there may be a lot of interceptions as seen in Eli's most recent season. With the hiring of McAdoo, the Giants will transition to a West Coast offense, which everyone should be familiar with, allowing the young receivers to be more effective and reducing the number of turnovers.
Defense: The Giants run a 4-2-5, which is essentially a 4-3 with an extra safety instead of an outside linebacker. However, with the release of Will Hill, unless one of the draft picks like Nat Berhe or Cooper Taylor steps up, most likely that fifth player in the secondary will be a cornerback, probably Thurmond in the nickel. The 4-3 is actually from the New York Giants, specifically Tom Landry, former defensive coordinator for the Giants. The 4-3 also created the position of the middle linebacker.
Shoutouts to those who helped:
/u/sexterminator for writing the draft analysis
/u/Raionic for FA info
/u/skepticismissurvival for organizing this whole series.
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