GMENNATION Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 I finally had some time to sit down and plan out my mock offseason and I'm pretty happy with where I netted out. There were a few things I tried to avoid in this mock offseason: Extending Leonard Williams. I love the guy, but I set out to do everything possible to not kick the can down the road with him. He doesn't play a premium position and so Dexter Lawrence should be the only top-paid guy at the position moving into 2024. Unrealistic trades. Draft simulators can get crazy and I want this to feel real. Therefore, I only executed one trade which follows the draft pick value chart pretty directly. Solving every position. It's unrealistic, so I played this out in phases to get as close to reality as possbile. Pre-free agency transactions: Cut WR Kenny Golladay - we start off easy here with a no brainer. Save $6.7mil against the cap and move on. Re-sign EFRAs (Isaiah Hodgins, Lawrence Cager, Jack Anderson, Wyatt Davis) - most of these are already done. No brainer move for a roster with so many question marks. Keep the cheap guys around. Re-sign QB Daniel Jones - 4yr, $160mil (2023 Cap Hit: $32mil) - There are several passionate opinions about what Jones is worth. I'd rather have him at $38mil AAV but the Giants settle for $40mil AAV. Re-sign RB Saquon Barkley - 3yr, $39mil (2023 Cap Hit: $10mil) - The Giants up the AAV and guaranteed money to keep the contract length to 3 years. Pre-draft free agency transactions: Sign C Connor McGovern - 3yr, $27mil (2023 Cap Hit: $7mil) - Starting off free agency with more investment into the offensive line, this time through free agency. The Giants have a lot of upside guys along the OL and they need to compliment them with no-doubt quality veterans. Connor McGovern has been as steady as they come for the Jets and I'm sure they'll want to keep him. But they have expensive holes to fill. For McGovern, he drives east 20 minutes to finish up his last big contract with the Giants. Sign LB Germaine Pratt - 4yr, $50mil (2023 Cap Hit: $10mil) - the good news for us is there are a lot of options at ILB that should hit the open market. Pratt is not typically the prediction to the Giants so this move is partially just to be different, but also a personal preference. He had a brutal end to the season but before that, proved he can lead a LB corps. He has the coverage ability and has improved in run defense. Sign me up. Sign WR Parris Campbell - 2yr, $6.5mil (2023 Cap Hit: $2.7mil) - The Giants are going to sign at least one WR before the draft. The problem is there's just no top guy. I flirted with OBJ and Michael Thomas, but I don't want to overpay. This is essentially a one year deal with team option in that he's easy to cut after a year. Parris Campbell is a hedge on Wan'Dale Robinson with more ability to stretch the field. Wan'Dale is unfortunately a huge question mark that won't be answered until well into 2023. If Wan'Dale isn't the answer, Parris Campbell can stick around for a second year to fill that role. NFL Draft: (I used Pro Football Network Mock Draft Simulator.. it's not my favorite but The Draft Network simulator is not available) *** TRADE!! *** NYG trades with LAC to move up to R1, Pick 21 in exchange for R1, Pick 25 and R3, Pick 102 (from KC) - I really believe the Giants need to come away from Round 1 of the draft with either a difference maker at WR or CB. The problem is there is likely a run on both positions right before they pick. Instead of sitting back and picking up the scraps, I want them to cash in the Toney pick and go get their guy. In this scenario, the CBs were gone so I traded up to take... R1, Pick 21 - NYG select Ohio State WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba - if I sat at 25, I would have ended up with Jalin Hyatt. I don't want to settle with Smith-Njigba attainable. JSN can track the deep ball well and is a good route runner. R2, Pick 57 - NYG select Auburn EDGE Derick Hall - the days of not investing in EDGE are over and I believe we will continue to add high-value picks. Hall plays with a bit more power and is also strong in the run game. Azeez should not keep us from investing in the position and based on other players available, I would have felt like I was reaching for other positions of need. R3, Pick 89 - NYG select Wake Forest WR AT Perry - Again, value of other positional needs was not there and Perry was too hard to ignore. Perry is a freak athlete with the chance to become our main down-field threat. If we're investing in Daniel Jones, we need to give him as many weapons as possible. R4, Pick 128 - NYG select Florida S Trey Dean III - You may notice I didn't have Julian Love re-signed before the draft. I think the Giants are going to let him test free agency in hopes that he comes back, but Love will sign elsewhere early on. Trey Dean III is much more physical and can play a bit of slot as well, allowing Xavier McKinney to stay single deep. Dean may not start from Day 1, but he has the physical tools to be a good compliment to McKinney. R5, Pick 162 - NYG select Ole Miss OG Nick Broeker - versatile OL with mostly OT experience. Played G last season and is best fit for a zone run attack. R6, Pick 209 (conditional from CHI) - NYG select Cincinnati TE Josh Whyle - not going to pretend to know much about these guys at this point but based on the board, there was a grouping of TEs and I took the one I thought fit our offense best. Good route runner, good hands and good size at 6'6". He does need some work as a blocker (or so I've read ) but we need to continue adding competition to the TE room. R6, Pick 218 (projected compensatory pick) - NYG select USC RB Travis Dye - to be honest, I wanted to address RB earlier but it didn't work out. Dye is not a burner but has short-area quickness. RBs are a dime a dozen these days so he's a depth piece that could become a contributor down the line. R7, Pick 242 - NYG select NC State DT Cory Durden - beef in the middle. We lack depth there. Not much else to say. R7, Pick 245 (from BAL) - NYG select Arkansas LB Bumper Pool - this pick was solely because Bumper Pool is a certified cool name. Carter Coughlin and Cam Brown will both be coming up for new contracts soon. Only one of them should get a second contract so effectively drafting their replacement as a reserve LB and ST player. R7, Pick 254 (projected compensatory pick) - NYG select Rutgers S Avery Young - this is a homer pick and because any other pick would be throwing darts blind. What I do know is that Rutgers consistently produces smart, tough, dependable guys. Post-Draft Transactions: Re-sign P Jamie Gillan (vet minimum) - I expect the giants to bring in competition at P to compete with Gillan. Without knowing anything about punters, I'm just going to assume Gillan keeps his job. Re-sign LS Casey Kreiter (vet minimum) - Seems like an easy decision as long as he's willing. Re-sign OLB Jihad Ward (vet minimum) - If I filled the EDGE room enough, I'd be happy letting Ward go. But I had a spot open and he's a good locker room guy. Re-sign WR Richie James (1yr, $1.3mil) - Richie James can't be a priority signing but he's done enough and has enough baseline trust with Daniel Jones to be worthy of the WR6 spot on the roster. Giants reward him with a couple extra bucks over the vet minimum. Re-sign CB Fabian Moreau (vet minimum) - To me, Moreau is nothing more than an insurance policy in training camp. The hope is they're healthy enough where he's cut at final cutdown. Re-sign DT Nick Williams (vet minimum) - I left the draft unable to rely on any of the depth guys as regular contributors. I scanned the free agent market for a lower cost veteran and honestly, Nick Williams was the best option. I wanted to go Jonathan Hankins but he's still a bit too expensive. Sign OT Chris Hubbard (1yr, $2mil) - veteran OT with a lot of starting experience. Could end up being cut depending on how younger guys perform in camp. Sign CB Anthony Brown (2yr, $5.5mil) - CB was the position I just couldn't fix. It was too low on my FA priority list and then the draft board didn't line up for me. Anthony Brown is not flashy but he has starting experience in the NFC East. This 2yr deal has an easy out after one year. Final 53-man Depth Chart: QB: Daniel Jones | Tyrod Taylor RB: Saquon Barkley | Gary Brightwell | Travis Dye | Jashaun Corbin WR: Jaxon Smith-Njigba | Isaiah Hodgins | Wan'Dale Robinson | Parris Campbell | AT Perry | Richie James TE: Daniel Bellinger | Josh Whyle | Chris Myriack OT: Andrew Thomas | Evan Neal | Chris Hubbard | Matt Peart iOL: Josh Ezeudu | Connor McGovern | Mark Glowinski | Ben Bredeson | Marcus McKethan | Nick Broeker ----- iDL: Dexter Lawrence | Leonard Williams | Nick Williams | DJ Davidson | Ryder Anderson | Cory Durden EDGE: Kayvon Thibodeaux | Azeez Ojulari | Derick Hall | Jihad Ward | Tomon Fox | Cam Brown ILB: Germaine Pratt | Micah McFadden | Darrian Beavers | Bumper Pool CB: A'doree Jackson | Anthony Brown | CorDale Flott | Aaron Robinson | Nick McCloud S: Xavier McKinney | Jason Pinnock | Trey Dean | Dane Belton ----- ST: Graham Gano | Jamie Gillan | Casey Kreiter Additional Notes: I think A'doree Jackson will get a 3 year extension to decrease his cap hit. The odds of them going 3-deep in starting quality CBs without him in 2024 is low. He's still young. Might as well give him an extension. I have the Giants trading Darnay Holmes either right before training camp or during training camp. I expect they can get a 5th round pick back for him. He's an NFL quality player but he just doesn't fit the system. I think they'll try to get something for him. It's hard to imagine going into the season with Jason Pinnock penciled in as a full-time starter. It will probably be a veteran safety in FA. Alright, tear my plan to shreds! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minutemancl Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 You went different directions in a lot of places than I'm thinking I would go right now, but that doesn't mean they're wrong at all. Great work. Personally, I'd address C in the draft rather than FA, as I think this draft is center rich and you will be able to find a starting talent. Also, I'm leaning towards not resigning Saquon (tag him or let him walk), and I'm not a fan of Parris Campbell. I think he's worse than Darius Slayton; I'd rather sign that Zacheaus kid from Atlanta. He's a legit deep threat and is going to sign for cheap somewhere. The lack of addressing CB is really not great for the team overall, but I totally get why it happened. I really like accumulating talent at the important, highly paid positions like EDGE and WR. Taking those positions high in the draft is the correct way to build a team. I really like JSN and Hall as prospects, so good choices there. I haven't watched anyone you picked for us after the first 2 picks, so I can't comment on the players unfortunately. One other thing I like that you did was trade up. We have an insane amount of ammo this year. I think a small move up, like you have, in the first or a few medium sized move ups on day 2 and 3 are entirely in the cards because of the amount of day 3 picks we have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acgott Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 I don’t have a big problem with it. Your 2023 cap hits are definitely off. It would put us over the salary cap by 8M with just Jones, Saquon and the 3 FA. Typically for a player like Jones, it be a smaller hit in the first year and than the bigger hits in future years as the cap grows. I’ll rather just give Jones the franchise tag in that scenario. We probably need another veteran secondary player. We are weak at both S and CB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMENNATION Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 On 2/24/2023 at 4:56 PM, minutemancl said: You went different directions in a lot of places than I'm thinking I would go right now, but that doesn't mean they're wrong at all. Great work. Personally, I'd address C in the draft rather than FA, as I think this draft is center rich and you will be able to find a starting talent. Also, I'm leaning towards not resigning Saquon (tag him or let him walk), and I'm not a fan of Parris Campbell. I think he's worse than Darius Slayton; I'd rather sign that Zacheaus kid from Atlanta. He's a legit deep threat and is going to sign for cheap somewhere. The lack of addressing CB is really not great for the team overall, but I totally get why it happened. I really like accumulating talent at the important, highly paid positions like EDGE and WR. Taking those positions high in the draft is the correct way to build a team. I really like JSN and Hall as prospects, so good choices there. I haven't watched anyone you picked for us after the first 2 picks, so I can't comment on the players unfortunately. One other thing I like that you did was trade up. We have an insane amount of ammo this year. I think a small move up, like you have, in the first or a few medium sized move ups on day 2 and 3 are entirely in the cards because of the amount of day 3 picks we have. Thanks for the feedback! On C, my thought process was that we have a lot of "projection-based" starters but no sure things other than Andrew Thomas. I wanted more sure things while continuing to invest in the iOL through the mid round of the draft. Free agency should never stop us from drafting positions. Injuries happen and even when healthy, if a drafted C looks starter-quality, you can move on from McGovern. But just hoping to hit on starters at every position along the OL is too risky for me. On the trade up, I really sold myself on this. The best GMs consistent move in both directions. Even in my scenario, I'm getting my 3rd favorite WR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMENNATION Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 19 hours ago, Acgott said: I don’t have a big problem with it. Your 2023 cap hits are definitely off. It would put us over the salary cap by 8M with just Jones, Saquon and the 3 FA. Typically for a player like Jones, it be a smaller hit in the first year and than the bigger hits in future years as the cap grows. I’ll rather just give Jones the franchise tag in that scenario. We probably need another veteran secondary player. We are weak at both S and CB I'm not a cap expert but our current cap space is only the beginning of league year number. Once final cut-downs happen, I'm under the cap. I have about $18mil in final cuts. But you're right that if Jones is extended, his first year cap hit will probably be lower than I have. I agree CB and S are both weak. My trade-off was effectively McGovern for Julian Love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minutemancl Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 16 minutes ago, GMENNATION said: I'm not a cap expert but our current cap space is only the beginning of league year number. Once final cut-downs happen, I'm under the cap. I have about $18mil in final cuts. But you're right that if Jones is extended, his first year cap hit will probably be lower than I have. I agree CB and S are both weak. My trade-off was effectively McGovern for Julian Love. I think Julian Love's market value is closer to $10 million a year than $5 million a year, and I'd be out on him at that price. I would never pay 2 safeties unless they are both studs, like what Buffalo had in Poyer and Hyde. Love is a solid safety, but not a stud. I think he walks. We have Pinnock and Belton to fill in that role, and to be honest, I think Jabrill Peppers is a better player and would come much cheaper than Love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMENNATION Posted February 28, 2023 Author Share Posted February 28, 2023 23 hours ago, minutemancl said: I think Julian Love's market value is closer to $10 million a year than $5 million a year, and I'd be out on him at that price. I would never pay 2 safeties unless they are both studs, like what Buffalo had in Poyer and Hyde. Love is a solid safety, but not a stud. I think he walks. We have Pinnock and Belton to fill in that role, and to be honest, I think Jabrill Peppers is a better player and would come much cheaper than Love. I agree, that's why I didn't re-sign him. I think he wants more than we should be willing to give him. You can really only ever pay one safety. I have seen a range on Love though. He's very intriguing this off-season. I am concerned about the safety spot though. They kind of gave up on Belton late in the season. It's too early to say he won't improve obviously but I'd be much more comfortable if he had improved throughout the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minutemancl Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 3 minutes ago, GMENNATION said: I agree, that's why I didn't re-sign him. I think he wants more than we should be willing to give him. You can really only ever pay one safety. I have seen a range on Love though. He's very intriguing this off-season. I am concerned about the safety spot though. They kind of gave up on Belton late in the season. It's too early to say he won't improve obviously but I'd be much more comfortable if he had improved throughout the season. They gave up a bit on Belton, but they loved Pinnock. Pinnock starting next to Mckinney is a much better situation than Pinnock starting next to Love, like we had for a lot of the season. It's not outrageous to assume Belton can step up enough to play the 3rd safety in his 2nd year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Go_Giants Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 On 2/24/2023 at 4:26 PM, GMENNATION said: Alright, tear my plan to shreds! Inside Linebacker is easily the Giants greatest liability, signing a mid-tier free agent linebacker is not going to solve this problem. Micah McFadded sucked last year and was replaced by a Linebacker from the Lions practice squad and we have no idea if Darrian Beavers is a good player or not. Another area of weakness is the interior offensive line. While it is good you got a center, Guard is still a problem. Joshua Ezeudu didn't show enough that he should automatically be counted on as a starter, Mark Glowinski sucked last year and is only still a Giants for this season because we can't cut him do to his contract, he will not be a Giant next year. We need to spend one of our early picks from in the first to 3rd round on a guard to create competition and give us quality depth. Given the overall lack of talent on this team I would be much more comfortable using our first round pick to trade back to gain an extra 2nd or 3rd pick rather than giving up a 3rd pick to move up. That 3rd pick we are giving up could easily be a quality starter on this team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minutemancl Posted March 3, 2023 Share Posted March 3, 2023 On 2/28/2023 at 1:57 PM, Go_Giants said: Another area of weakness is the interior offensive line. While it is good you got a center, Guard is still a problem. Joshua Ezeudu didn't show enough that he should automatically be counted on as a starter, Mark Glowinski sucked last year and is only still a Giants for this season because we can't cut him do to his contract, he will not be a Giant next year. We need to spend one of our early picks from in the first to 3rd round on a guard to create competition and give us quality depth. I have some thoughts about the Giants iOL. Unless you can get, and want to take, O'Cyrus Torrence in round 1, you should resign Gates and/or Feliciano and call the guard position there. We've invested a lot there already; a good GM trusts the decisions they've already made. Glowinski was signed just last year. Ezeudu was a 3rd round pick just last year, and he was raw coming out. Bredeson played surprisingly well last year, as did Gates once he got rolling. Feliciano was a serviceable center. If you can't get a top tier guy, you let that crop battle it out and start your 2 best guys. The guard position in this draft is very weak, while the center position is super strong. I think not drafting a C at some point in this draft would be malpractice for Schoen, but not drafting a guard would be totally understandable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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