Randy Mueller’s Take on off-season &Draft

[Rosehill Jimmy]

2 time GM's take on the Giants off-season and his view on the QBs in draft as well as WRs. Good listen.  I found his comments on Harrison, Nabers and Odunze especially interesting. MHJr third best?

@Bob In PA would take exception 

https://www.giants.com/video/giants-huddle-the-athletic-s-randy-mueller

[Bob In PA]

Jimmy: In some senses, Harrison IS third-"best" but the question is who can start NOW and make a difference NOW and (most importantly) not bust.  To answer my own question.... third-best is Nabers. He has the most question marks and IMO is most likely of the three to bust.  The only thing that would make Odunze superior to Harrison FOR THE GIANTS, IMO, is if the team felt his style of play was more suited to the Giants' needs than Harrison (and if he is more likely than Harrison to make life easier for Jones, Lock and whoever the third QB turns out to be). That is not an impossibility. They could "like" Odunze better for the Giants but IMO Harrison will have and is most likely to have the greatest career of the three WR's.  Bob

[MightyGiants]

Great find @Rosehill Jimmy

@londonblue Go to the 16:00 mark, former GM Randy Muller has an excellent talk about the salary cap.

[londonblue]

Great find @Rosehill Jimmy

@londonblue Go to the 16:00 mark, former GM Randy Muller has an excellent talk about the salary cap.

I watched it Mighty. It adds nothing to the discussion we had. Yes, bills come due if you excessively defer contract expenses (he quotes New Orleans as I did) widely across your roster including older and non-core players and resorting to tricks like void years.

Big extensions for core players coming to the end of rookie contracts will always force a few older well paid players to be be cut or traded. Nobody (certainly not me) is saying the cap is not real...

However, in a time of rising cap for a team with few long-term contracts on the books any GM who winds up cap constrained 2-3 years down the line by adjusting one or two long term contracts of young, core players now (without a one off cap shock like Covid) is very bad at their job.

Every team utilises targeted restructures (even the ultra fiscally conservative Packers with the most vanilla contracts in the NFL). It only becomes a cap management issue if used excessively.

The Giants only path to being cap squeezed in eg 2026 is throwing around more contracts like Burns, not eg also adjusting Thomas' contract, particularly as Dex will be up for extension in 26 given his contract structure.

[MightyGiants]

I watched it Mighty. It adds nothing to the discussion we had. Yes, bills come due if you excessively defer contract expenses (he quotes New Orleans as I did) widely across your roster including older and non-core players and resorting to tricks like void years.

Big extensions for core players coming to the end of rookie contracts will always force a few older well paid players to be be cut or traded. Nobody (certainly not me) is saying the cap is not real...

However, in a time of rising cap for a team with few long-term contracts on the books any GM who winds up cap constrained 2-3 years down the line by adjusting one or two long term contracts of young, core players now (without a one off cap shock like Covid) is very bad at their job.

Every team utilises targeted restructures (even the ultra fiscally conservative Packers with the most vanilla contracts in the NFL). It only becomes a cap management issue if used excessively.

The Giants only path to being cap squeezed in eg 2026 is throwing around more contracts like Burns, not eg also adjusting Thomas' contract, particularly as Dex will be up for extension in 26 given his contract structure.

Neal,

I have given this matter considerable thought, and I realized what I needed to say.   When it comes to cap management, it matters where a team is at.  In other words, a team that is building or rebuilding should not be borrowing from future cap years.   You build using a pay-as-you-go program.   That way, when you have a competitive, talented team, you can maximize your competitive window by THEN borrowing money from future years (with the bill coming due when the team goes into its inevitable decline).

The Giants are 6th in the draft and, frankly, were lucky to be that good.   It seems a bit unlikely the Giants' window of being a Super Bowl competitor will be starting this season.  So the Giants shouldn't be borrowing from the seasons where they potentially will be competitive and need every dollar they can get (to keep their talent and add key pieces).