Big Blue Huddle

https://x.com/GiantsCRDept/status/1787887382899101855

https://x.com/DanSchneierNFL/status/1787864230340788291

With a quieter time, I have been digging into Shane Bowen.  I am trying to better understand what the Giants got when they drafted Bowen.  I haven't found enough to form a conclusion, so I will share my findings.

Prior Job Performance-  I say this is a mixed bag.  On the one hand, Shane moved up the ranks pretty quickly, which usually indicates that he has impressed people with his knowledge and ability.  In terms of how his unit has performed, it has been mixed.  Overall, it's been the middle of the pack (to the slightly low part of the middle of the pack).  His defenses did well against the run and in the red zone, but his pass defenses were not all that strong.

Education-  While I don't think education is that important to the job, degrees do speak a bit to a coach's general intelligence and work ethic.  On that front, Bowen was named to the Dean's List three times while at Georgia Tech (as a player and a student assistant), earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business management in 2009, and a master's degree in workforce development and education from Ohio State in 2014.

Coaching Mentors-   While Bowen has been heavily supported (and likely influenced by Vrabel, who brought him along with him), Bowen did learn from some solid defensive coaches Jim Schwartz and Dean Pees.  He even spent a little time with Urban Meyer.

Misc-  Bowen was a former LB and Safety and Georgia Tech who had his playing career cut short by a neck issue.


My biggest negative:  He wasn't the team's first choice.   Bowen interviewed for the job he had with the Titans under the new HC and with the Jaguars.  Both teams went in other directions.  He may not have even been the Giants' first choice as he was hired after a couple of the hot candidates the Giants interviewed were hired elsewhere, or the Giants were denied an opportunity to interview.  I will admit that sometimes a quality candidate doesn't interview well, but I think that is a somewhat rare situation.    Another negative, at least in my mind, is that I don't think the DC job was an attractive position.  Between Daboll potentially being on the hot seat, most of the coaching staff being in place, and the issues that caused the prior DC to leave, I can't imagine this was a DC's dream job.


Misc positive-  Shane will have the advantage of having two top-position coaches on his staff, with DB coach Jerome Henderson (who also has the title of passing game coordinator) and D-line coach Andre Patterson.    Having two top-position coaches should help Bowen achieve success. 

https://x.com/Anthony_Rivardo/status/1787855388848566516

I do not condemn any opinions on this topic.  Although, in my head, I am taking notes on who says what, and when the situation is decided, there will be clear winners and losers in terms of reputation.    As for my opinion on the topic, I really don't know how it will play out.  From my research, I am not overly impressed with Lock to date (I wasn't that impressed when he was coming out, either).   Still, there are many unknowns regarding DJ's recovery from the ACL and how quickly or if he can overcome being shell-shocked (as he was last season).    With so much uncertainty, I will refrain from making a prediction.


https://x.com/RossTuckerNFL/status/1787854707156742416

QuoteA handful of teams acknowledged discussing kickoff strategies as part of their pre-draft meetings, with one noting it directly affected at least one of their draft selections.

Running backs Isaac Guerendo (San Francisco 49ers' fourth-round pick), Tyrone Tracy Jr. (New York Giants' fifth-round pick), Dylan Laube (Las Vegas Raiders' sixth-round pick) and Keilan Robinson (Jacksonville Jaguars fifth-round pick) are examples of draft picks who also bring with them kick return upside.

A few team officials said they were cognizant of potential new strategies while making their picks but didn't necessarily have a chance to select anyone who would be better suited for the new rules than the old ones. That isn't too surprising. Since the rules are only in place through the 2024 season, some teams acknowledged they've still got time to figure out the variables while being hesitant to make longer-term commitments during the trial-and-error phase.

I thought this was a great quote that could apply to so many changes.

Quote"It's bulls—," a longtime special teams coach said. "This is what the league wanted for years. But you can either complain about it or adapt and find a way."

If you subscribe to the Athletic, you can read the entire article.

https://theathletic.com/5467219/2024/05/06/nfl-new-kickoff-rules-nfl-draft/

Maybe this will end Schoen's swings and misses when it comes to drafting offensive linemen

QuoteOne of the most successful players in Giants history is back with the only NFL team he ever suited up for.

Chris Snee, a starting guard on two Super Bowl winning teams, has returned to the franchise, newly hired as a scout, The Post has learned.

Snee, 42, made no secret of his desire to return to the Giants ever since he retired after the 2013 season.

A reunion nearly took place in 2022, as general manager Joe Schoen, in his first year on the job, was interested in adding Snee as an offensive line scout.

Snee and the team could not come to an agreement on the time commitment aspect of the position.

Bobby and Justin talk about the Defensive Undrafted Free Agents The Giants have signed since the Draft

00:00 intro02:30 Alex Johnson, DB, UCLA
13:11 Casey Rogers, DT, Oregon
25:57 Ovie Oghoufo, LB, LSU
35:45 Jude McAtamney, PK, Rutgers

BUT nope, he is not retiring, just speaking a college's graduation

            


https://x.com/Giants/status/1787506356649443601

The more snaps he takes the more likely the Giants get a 4th round comp pick rather than a 7th

https://x.com/Schmeelk/status/1787520247370555744

TYRONE TRACY JR., RB, NEW YORK GIANTS
The New York Giants made the (wise) decision to let Saquon Barkley walk in free agency after six years of production. The Giants are in a semi-rebuild, so throwing even more money at a running back who has struggled to stay healthy didn't make sense. Instead, the Giants signed Devin Singletary to a modest contract and didn't select a running back in the first four rounds of the 2024 NFL Draft. However, they added one of this class's most intriguing backs in former wide receiver Tyrone Tracy Jr.

Tracy started his career with the Iowa Hawkeyes, appearing in 38 games as a wide receiver. But after modest production, he transferred to Purdue and started five games at receiver (2022). Ahead of the 2023 season, Tracy transitioned to running back, which likely saved his career. In his first year playing the position, Tracy led the Big Ten in yards per carry (6.3) and scored eight rushing touchdowns.

While Tracy isn't ready to be a full-time running back (146 career carries in college), he is an incredible athlete who is a threat to score on any play. He posted a 9.78 RAS score, which ranks 42nd all-time (out of 1,903 running backs) after posting a 40-inch vertical jump at 209 pounds.

Only Singletary is ahead of him on the depth chart, so Tracy should find a role right away. He is the most explosive running back on the roster and could have a Tony Pollard-like impact on the Giants in Year 1.

https://www.the33rdteam.com/day-3-nfl-rookies-who-could-make-instant-impact/

Bobby Skinner
@BobbySkinner_
Giants 90 man roster makeup by GM

Joe Schoen 79
Dave Gettleman 11

It was Joe Schoen 62/Dave Gettleman 27/Jerry Reese 1 before camp last year ending at Schoen 34/Gettleman 18/Reese 1 at 53 man cutdown day.

Sterling Shepard's departure makes the roster Jerry Reese free for the 1st time since he became GM in 2007.

The 10 Dave Gettleman players are Daniel Jones, Andrew Thomas, Dexter Lawrence, Darius Slayton, Azeez Ojulari, Darnay Holmes, Aaron Robinson, Gary Brightwell, Graham Gano, Casey Kreiter & Carter Coughlin.
8:36 AM · May 6, 2024
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1,411
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https://x.com/BobbySkinner_/status/1787461394259947926

After transferring from Iowa to Purdue, you transitioned from wide receiver to running back. It was a swift, successful transition, with you rushing for 716 yards and eight touchdowns this season. What allowed you to make such a smooth transition?

Tyrone Tracy Jr.: I would say coaching and natural God-given ability. To start with the coaching aspect of it, head coach Ryan Walters, the offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, and running backs coach Lamar Conard–all placed their faith and trust in me.

They allowed me to be myself on the field. They didn't place any restrictions on me. They allowed me to go full throttle. Most importantly, they allowed me to make mistakes along the way. They gave me a chance to correct those mistakes. They didn't place me on a short leash. They allowed me to play through it and be my authentic self.

Regarding my God-given ability, I've had experience with the running back position my entire life. When I got out there on the field, going from receiver to running back wasn't totally foreign to me. It was no different from what I did in high school, just a little more detailed. I had to focus more on the fundamentals.

I also had to jump into the film room a little more. My film study of the running back position had to grow. I had to step up my knowledge of the position to play at a higher level.

How do you think that background as a wide receiver has helped you play the running back position at a higher level?

Tyrone Tracy Jr.: It was huge. It helped me get comfortable faster. I've only been playing the position full-time for a little over a year now. I started making the change in April of last year. It's literally been one year and one month.

I feel great because I've had some experience with the position my entire life, as I said earlier. It allowed me to get comfortable in the backfield. Once you're making that change from a new position, it's natural to have some worry and doubt in your mind at the very beginning of the change.

It took a while, but I would estimate I got the hang of it around mid-spring last year. I got my confidence. I noticed I was starting to make plays with more consistency. I was generating explosive plays. I started doing everything I wanted to do at the position.

The background of playing football from a young age, both the wide receiver and running back positions, that helped me tremendously.

You run the football with terrific contact balance. You forced 46 missed tackles on just 113 carries and finished fourth in the country in yards after contact per rush. How did you develop that area of your game?

Tyrone Tracy Jr.: Wow, that's a great question! I would credit my training. I do a lot of balanced-based stuff. When I'm in the weight room during the offseason, I'm still doing balance stuff. I use different exercise balls and foam mats to challenge my body. I know it's going to benefit me on the field.

I try to stay on my feet--that's the truth. Sometimes it's that simple. I don't want to let one person tackle me. I try to gain as many yards as I can. I try to counterbalance the types of hits I'm getting. I don't want to get tackled. Who wants to get tackled? (laughs).

You can read the rest of the interview here

https://www.si.com/nfl/giants/giants-tyrone-tracy-position-switch-bowling

While bad decisions have certainly been made, I think the Giants have been arguably one of the unluckiest teams in the league.

Consider:

2010-  In the third round, the Giants draft a promising safety and special teamer, Chad Jones.  He has an off-season auto accident and never fully recovers.  Plays some snaps but as a shadow of his former self.

2015-  Giants star edge rusher JPP mangles hand in fireworks accident.  Eventually returns, but isn't quite the player he had been

2020-  Giants first-round cornerback Deandre Baker arrested for armed robbery.   He is eventually found innocent, but not before the Giants cut him.

2014-  Promising first-round running back David Wilson found to have stenosis in his neck and has to retire from football before his rookie contract is even finished

2016-  a last-minute video pushes Laramy Tunsil off many draft boards.  This left the Giants scrambling and they ended up drafting Eli Apple

2015- Legal questions kept La'el Collins (solid O-line prospect) from being drafted in round one.  This pushes the Giants to take Ereck Flowers instead.  Worse, Collins ends up signing as a free agent with Dallas essentially giving the Cowboys a free extra first-round pick.

Consider some of the drafted players with healthy college careers but became injury messes in the NFL

Saquon Barkley
Evan Neal
Daniel Jones
Joshua Ezeudu
Azeez Ojulari
Evan Engram
Weston Richburg
Justin Pugh
Shane Lemieux
Aaron Robinson

Guys whose careers were cut short by injury

Hakeem Nicks
Terrell Thomas
Jay Bromley
Owamagbe Odighizuwa (mental illness)
Sterling Shepard
Victor Cruz
Jake Ballard

Even OBJ suffered a major injury.

Have I missed any other bad luck issues the Giants have had the last decade or so?

EDIT TO ADD:  McKinney's fluke hand injury in 2022

https://x.com/The33rdTeamFB/status/1786542697039478949

Do you agree with their ranking or assessment?


31) New York Giants
Daniel Jones, rehabbing from the torn ACL that ended his 2023 campaign, may have to compete with free-agent addition Drew Lock to win the Giants' starting QB job. Whoever wins the gig will get to work with No. 6 overall pick Malik Nabers, New York's most explosive wide receiver since Odell Beckham Jr.

The Giants made a concerted effort to improve their offensive line during the offseason. But adding Nabers was somewhat offset by losing RB Saquon Barkley, and it's challenging to see much upside for Big Blue.

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/nfl-offense-rankings/

Ric Serritella has a weekly newsletter in which he interviews David Gettleman.  Here is an excerpt of that newsletter



At and near the bottom, Gettleman complains about draft-media grades being listened to by GMs (He seemed very upset with the Athletic's Dane Brugler, who is well respected by NFL people).  Seeing how the only recent owner Gettleman worked with was Mara (and Tisch), perhaps John Mara wasn't impressed by the grades the Giants received for drafting Daniel Jones 6th overall.  When I think about it, I saw a lot of speculation of John Mara loving Daniel Jones (the theory being he was similar to Eli Manning) but I can't recall a smoking gun or actual factual evidence to support that speculation.

https://x.com/clt_ny/status/1786740194638446598


If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter, here is the link.


https://x.com/RicSerritella/status/1786756699333837187

Why do I feel like they are operating light-years ahead of the oft-injured Giants?



https://x.com/clt_ny/status/1786571195623538845

FRIDAY, May 3, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Primates are capable of tending to wounds using medicinal plants, a new case report says.

A male Sumatran orangutan treated a facial wound with a climbing plant known to have anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties, researchers say in the journal Scientific Reports.

The orangutan, named Rakus by observers, plucked leaves from a vine called Akar Kuning (Fibraurea tinctoria) and chewed on them, researchers said.

Rakus then repeatedly applied the resulting juice onto his facial wound for several minutes, before fully covering the wound with a poultice formed by the chewed leaves, researchers said.

This is the first documented case of a primate applying a known naturally occurring medicinal substance to a wound, researchers said.

It indicates that the medical wound treatment people receive at home and in urgent care clinics might have arisen in a common ancestor shared by humans and orangutans, the research team says.

"The treatment of human wounds was most likely first mentioned in a medical manuscript that dates back to 2200 BC, which included cleaning, plastering, and bandaging of wounds with certain wound care substances," researcher Caroline Schuppli, an evolutionary biologist with the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany, said in a news release.

https://www.healthday.com/health-news/alternative-medicine/an-orangutan-healed-himself-with-medicinal-plant


A Sumatran orangutan in Indonesia has self-medicated using a paste made from plants to heal a large wound on his cheek, say scientists.

It is the first time a creature in the wild has been recorded treating an injury with a medicinal plant.

After researchers saw Rakus applying the plant poultice to his face, the wound closed up and healed in a month.

Scientists say the behaviour could come from a common ancestor shared by humans and great apes.

"They are our closest relatives and this again points towards the similarities we share with them. We are more similar than we are different," said biologist Dr Isabella Laumer at the Max Planck institute in Germany and lead author of the research.

A research team in the Gunung Leuser National Park, Indonesia spotted Rakus with a large wound on his cheek in June 2022.

They believe he was injured fighting with rival male orangutans because he made loud cries called "long calls" in the days before they saw the wound.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68942123

https://x.com/BigBlueVCR/status/1786466983908659583

https://x.com/JustinPenik/status/1786467649259548742

https://x.com/giantswfan/status/1786463071222841543

So to reward the hard-working men and women that help make it possible


https://x.com/byajperez/status/1786411918111973738


    

I thought this one was pretty good

https://x.com/TomPelissero/status/1786415721834045589


https://x.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1786417118797238746


https://x.com/RapSheet/status/1786416185115922647

Based on free agency and the draft, which Giants still on the roster came out as winners and which ones came out as losers?


I will give two examples, to better illustrate the question

1) Winner-  Daniel Jones, the Giants didn't draft his replacement

2) Loser-  Slayton is likely the odd man out once Nabers is a starter

Who makes each of your lists?

By all reports, the Giants made a strong effort to trade up to draft Maye but that simply wasn't possible because the Pats wanted him as their quarterback.

So here is my question.

Are you upset because:

A) the Giants didn't ignore their board and drafted one of the lesser-graded QBs on their board (in other words, they should have "reached" for a QB)

B) You disagree with the Giants' grades they had on the remaining 3 QBs, at least one of them had a grade that justified drafting them 6th overall (passing on a blue chip prospect like Nabers)

C) Neither A nor B, you are just unhappy with the circumstances (no "mistakes" made) that had the Giants come out of the draft without a new QB

You had OJB, then Toney.  Neither seemed to be able to make a clean break with the team and the fans.  Well Barkley just joined that group

QuotePhiladelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley joined his teammate, wide receiver AJ Brown, courtside at the New York Knicks-Philadelphia 76ers game on Thursday night.

When cameras caught him cheering on Philly, Giants fans took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and bashed the team's former superstar.

https://x.com/saquon/status/1786244589277352404

https://x.com/saquon/status/1786248843819876695


https://giantswire.usatoday.com/2024/05/03/philadelphia-eagles-saquon-barkley-claps-back-angry-new-york-giants-fans-go-birds/?taid=6634c2a37de5b70001af7bbd&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=twitter

12 players officially had their 5th-year options declined:

No. 2: Zach Wilson
No. 3: Trey Lance
No. 11: Justin Fields
No. 15: Mac Jones
No. 16: Zaven Collins
No. 19: Jamin Davis
No. 20: Kadarius Toney
No. 22: Caleb Farley
No. 24: Najee Harris
No. 28: Payton Turner
No. 29: Eric Stokes
No. 32: Joe Tryon-Shoyinka

Alex Leatherwood (No. 17, cut from contract) and Rashod Bateman (No. 27, not enough accrued seasons) were not eligible.

Kevin Cole

@Unexpected_Pts newsletter/pod. Previously Data Scientist @PFF, Director of Data & Analytics @RotoGrinders
.






https://x.com/DanSchneierNFL/status/1786054520390266961

Marc Ross, the man who oversaw the Giants' drafts for 11 years (his last draft was just graded in the 3-year draft grade thread), gave his take on the Giants drafting Nabers.


https://x.com/NFLTotalAccess/status/1784652442338197696


Carl Banks addressed his comments (Carl has had his disputes with Ross in the past).  Banks pointed out that Ross didn't directly say Daniel Jones was a bad QB.   Banks also pointed out, that if Nabers is as advertised, it will definitely help Daniel Jones (along with the other WRs)

Banks also disputed Ross' claim that the Giants drafted Nabers to try and fix Daniel Jones.  Banks said that Nabers was drafted because the Giants needed a modern offense, and that starts with at least one elite receiver on your roster.   Banks felt Jones was on his own (DJ will sink or swim on his own).   If Jones wants to stay with NYG he is going to have to earn it himself.  He did suggest he expects and improves Jones, but the key is Jones getting comfortable that his O-line is able to protect him.

I will say that Marc Ross tests one of my core tenets.   I have a strong preference for seeking out former NFL people to hear their opinions and views on football.   In general, I feel those views and opinions are more valid and tend to be better than other commentators.

Yet, what do I do with someone like Marc Ross, who I witnessed as terrible at his job for 11 years?  The man even has a degree from Princeton, so he is certainly not stupid.

To date, I simply take the approach that I take with most of the true experts.  Listen to what they have to say (while giving them the benefit of the doubt), but don't take their word as gospel.  They need to support and lay out sound arguments for why they hold the opinions they do (especially, hot takes).

I will say, I don't disagree with his assertion big picture.   If Jones doesn't have it in him to be a franchise QB, Nabers will not change or fix that.   On the other hand, if Jones isn't as bad as some people think, an elite QB can really elevate DJ's game.  Ultimately, time will tell.