They say you can’t put a price on happiness, which in the NFL is directly correlated to wins. But for New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman, you can’t put a price on improvements either — even if they are being looked at as significant overpays.
This offseason alone, the Giants retained defensive end, Leonard Williams, with a three-year, $63 million deal before bringing on wide receiver Kenny Golladay with a four-year, $72 million pact.
Cornerback Adoree’ Jackson got a three-year deal worth $39 million and veteran tight end Kyle Rudolph agreed to a four-year, $36 million contract of his own despite having a foot injury that caused uncertainty at his physical.
Rudolph agreed to have the surgery to ease some tensions.
“We are the Giants, we’re going to do everything with the class,” Gettleman said of the situation.
On top of that, it’s an awful lot of money for a team that was strapped for cap space to commit in free agency — to the point where assistant GM Kevin Abrams admitted that the voidable years on some deals are “practices we normally try to avoid,” adding that it could be “a little bit of a challenge” staying under the cap in 2022 depending on what number it’s set at.
For Gettleman, though, the value of these contracts he green-lighted won’t fully be realized until the Giants step out on the field for the 2021 campaign and beyond.
“One of the things that make America a great place is everybody is entitled to an opinion,” Gettleman said. “Time will tell.
“It’s not going to be quantified until the fall and we start playing in September. But we feel very good about what we’ve done and we feel very good about the direction the team has taken. We feel really great about that. We really feel we’re building a solid football team that the fans can be proud of.”
Whether his confidence is legitimate or not will never be disclosed, but there likely is some desperation within Gettleman’s motives. In the three seasons since his takeover as general manager ahead of the 2018 season, the Giants are a combined 15-33.
That means improvements must be made to keep his job safe.
“We’re better,” he said.
Now he has to convince everyone else.
