There are many takeaways to yesterday’s news that the NY Giants cut RG Patrick Omameh. Here are 7 of them.
Some are pointing to the good news that (1) the Giants are quickly taking their losses. Yes, true, it is a valid observation that the front office is confronting the brutal facts. That is a mantra from Jim Collins’ book Good to Great which we preach regularly here on this NY Giants blog. The quicker you respond to problems the faster you will move on.
No one understands the need to take losses and move on better than a (former) trader. That was my day job in a previous life. I get it. Discipline. Next.
Nick Korte of OverTheCap.Com reports that the Giants will get a Round 4 compensatory pick for cutting Omameh (before Week 10). This is proof positive that (2) taking losses here generates something out of a bad situation.
Here’s the rub. The best analogy I can come up with is that the Giants built a dumpster fire for a house and now they are quickly salvaging it by selling the raw lumber before it completely burns down. Is it good that they are moving forward? Yes. But please (3) do not sugar coat this dumpster fire sh*t hole. It’s a dumpster fire sh*t hole.
The Giants signed Omameh for 3 years, $15M, and $5.6M guaranteed. A journeyman Guard just got $11.2/yr adjusted salary. Nice work if you can get it. I won’t link for the 30th time that in May we noted that Omameh was “just a guy, barely.” The Giants are very good lately at wasting time, money, cap dollars, draft picks and seasons with little to show for it. Maybe we should somehow be grateful that Richburg and Pugh had enough value so that the Compensatory draft pick formula yielded some 2019 help. It’s the salvage lumber from a teardown.
(4) The Giants own the distinction of having the #2 amount of dead cap space in 2019 in the NFL. Only the lustrous Buffalo Bills franchise surpasses the Gmen. Ah, the company you keep. This is another reminder of all of the mistakes Reese and Gettleman have made.
Gettleman has to take the lumber and (5) REBUILD. As big a disaster as the 2018 Free Agency campaign was, at least the GM snagged 4 very solid players in the Draft. Barkley, Hernandez, Carter and Hill show promise for the future. Be patient. Draft young Offensive Lineman. Whoever the next QB is, give him the support structure that Reese robbed Manning of in the last half of his career. That is the way out of this hole.
(6) Stop digging in the “Win-Now” Free Agency rat race. Everyone knows that FA means B players for A prices. It’s ok to grab one player here or there. But if you are feeding at that trough every year, your organization is going to bleed resources over the long haul. I’m not talking about the role players that every team needs to pick up. I’m talking about consistently buying the big splash high priced ticket items. Just. Say. No. The most successful NFL franchises don’t do this (regularly each year). Work the Draft/UFAs. Stop chasing the Omamehs and Solders. Stop dropping $3M on the Stewart’s. Reese’s failures started this Free Agency binge to fill in the holes. It’s a bad habit. (7) The most important takeaway from Omameh is not the player or decision but the failure of over-reliance on Free Agency.
UltimateNYG 