Just when you thought Rex Ryan left a void for loudmouth local football coaches, New York Giants HC Ben McAdoo picked up where he left off.
Ben McAdoo Should Drop the Mic:
If you’ve been in baseball and basketball mode, you might have missed Ben McAdoo’s offseason talking spree — a few gems as of late.Announcing the rebirth of former New York Jets QB Geno Smith in blue as the heir to the Giant throne in MetLife Stadium had to be the most outrageous thing he has said so far, right? Not soon after, McAdoo once again outdid himself by unofficially naming the starting left tackle, via Dan Duggan of NJ.com. Surprise, last year’s fan-favorite Erick Flowers won’t be moving anywhere for the second straight offseason, according to the Giants fearless sideline leader.
Instead of waiting until after the NFL Draft, the New York Giants head coach told the New York Daily News that Erick Flowers would most likely be the starting left tackle on offense. Yes, it is a Jerry Reese problem to deal with, but McAdoo seems to be endorsing the idea. Offseason acquisitions of D.J. Fluker, Rhett Ellison and resigning John Jerry will no doubt help the struggling first round pick Flowers, but how much?
Regardless of the inactivity in fixing the left side of the offensive line, there is no need for McAdoo to announce his moves before entering training camp. Not only does this allow Flowers the mentality that he is guaranteed a starting spot sans competition that will affect his work ethic, but it now paints a clear picture of Giants draft strategy to other NFL general managers.
For those who think it is to throw other GMs off about the Giant’s targets in this year’s draft, what happens to Flowers if Jerry Reese drafts an offensive tackle? Flowers’ promised job could indeed be reneged upon and would lead to even bigger locker room problems than last year’s assault on a sports writer.
Giants to Brandon Marshall: Just Catch the Ball
The front office of the New York Giants might want to address the availability of McAdoo to the media if he is going to continue throwing out outlandish comments. McAdoo’s love for camera time and attention from NY media hasn’t gotten to Rex’s level, but it’s headed that way. That energy could be used in evaluating potential draft picks or free agent acquisitions, but, instead, is focused on telling anyone who will listen that Brandon Marshall is not expected to be a mentor or leader for the Giants.
Marshall could be exactly what Odell Beckham Jr. needs to take his game and maturity to the next level, but McAdoo quickly shot that idea down. Ben McAdoo said while talking about expectations for Marshall, “we didn’t sign Brandon for that. We signed him to be a football player.”
Maybe the newest Giants wide receiver, Brandon Marshall, has some advice in return for his new coach on not being a Rex Ryan repeat. McAdoo said he is often his biggest critic, asking his coaches and assistants to evaluate him on a regular basis. Well, it might be time for that heart to heart sit down about becoming the strong silent type the New York Giants thought they hired.
More Giants Notes:
The Giants offered a contract to free agent tight end Nick Truesdell.
The featured columnists at Bleacher Report provided a Giants 2017 NFL Mock Draft.
Via the New York Post, McAdoo claims he’d like to fix the Giants predictable offense.
“Ideally you’d like to have more personnel groups, yes,’’ McAdoo said this week at the NFL owners meetings, via The New York Post. “That’s the way it shook out. Moving forward, we’ll see how it goes.’’
While on the Rich Eisen Show, Brandon Marshall explained how he believes the Giants offense will improve in 2017.
“It was all about a championship. I just wanted to be in a championship environment. I want to go out the right way; I want to go out a winner,” Marshall said to Deion Sanders on the Rich Eisen show earlier this week, hosted by Sanders.
“The number one thing I needed, obviously, was a quarterback,” Marshall said. “Number two, a defense, Number three, stability within the organization. And number four, I wanted to be a number two [wide receiver].”
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. re-grades the Giants 2016 NFL Draft.
If Eli Apple realizes his potential, this looks like it’ll be a really good draft class. Apple had his moments and the talent really shows up on tape, but he also got beaten plenty, as rookie corners often do. I called him a slight reach, because he was my No. 28 prospect and the Giants took him at No. 10, but bottom line: If he takes the next step, he, Janoris Jenkins, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Landon Collins help make this a candidate for one of the NFL’s best secondaries. Sterling Shepard is good and can get even better — he had 65 catches in a year in which Eli Manning was inconsistent. Paul Perkins had 112 carries and could be the No. 1 back going into fall, so you can’t knock that value. Jerell Adams looks like he’ll be a useful target for them at tight end.
A sleeper here that keeps a good grade where it is — safety Andrew Adams. He was undrafted, but the Giants get a bonus for him here, because they scouted him, got him in and got 13 starts out of him.
New grade: B+