The New York Giants’ decision to keep Dave Gettleman came as a surprise to many, including Gettleman, himself.
After winning only nine games over the past two seasons, the New York Giants decided to pull the plug on the Pat Shurmur experiment, firing him on Black Monday. However, the team opted against a full-house cleaning, keeping general manager Dave Gettleman in his job.
The decision to keep Gettleman came as a surprise to some fans who thought the team would opt to completely overhaul their staff. In fact, Gettleman, during an interview on WFAN, admitted that he had serious doubts he’d be retained, according to Tom Rock of Newsday (via Twitter).
Gettleman on @WFAN660 asked if he thought he'd be fired: "Of course!"
— Tom Rock (@TomRock_Newsday) January 2, 2020
Gettleman was asked if he thought he was going to be fired and replied with “of course.” Given the fact that the team has collected nine wins in his two seasons in charge, it’s not surprising that Gettleman saw little reason he’d keep his job.
Gettleman, of course, made the inexplicable decision to trade for pending free agent Leonard Williams in a season that the team was clearly not going to contend for, surrendering a third and a fifth-round pick for the interior lineman.
Nate Solder, who Gettleman made the highest-paid offensive tackle in the league at the time he signed his contract, has been average at best and has struggled to lock down the blind side of Eli Manning or Daniel Jones.
He gave a three-year deal to Patrick Omameh only to cut him during the first year of the contract, and he insisted Jonathan Stewart still had plenty of tread left on his tires when he handed him a two-year deal to back up Saquon Barkley. Stewart retired after the first year of that contract.
Despite these failings, Gettleman has been given at least one more year to show some progress for the Giants. Should he fail to, the team could be looking at more turnover next offseason.
