New York Giants Being Lauded for Moves They’ve Made — And Haven’t Made — Early This Offseason

New Giants head coach John Harbaugh, unsurprisingly, is reuniting with several of his former Ravens stalwarts early in free agency, and with Harbaugh afforded more sway in personnel than during his time in Baltimore other teams are closely watching how New York operates. 

Coaches, especially those with new teams, tend to be focused exclusively on the here and now, and are often willing to mortgage future assets and long-term cogs in pursuit of another win or two in the upcoming season. 

And while the Giants have addressed several immediate issues with some of their free-agent moves, adding punter Jordan Stout (Harbaugh is a former special teams coach who prized field position and situational punting) and twitchy tight end Isaiah Likely, their decision not to reach at another position of acute need caught the attention of those running other NFL teams.

Sometimes no is the right answer

The Giants, desperate for improved play in their secondary, were very active in pursuit of former Chiefs top cornerback Trent McDuffie, according to league sources, and were willing to package multiple picks for him. But they baulked at the ultimate price tag, which the Rams met, to including a first-round pick in the compensation. 

It’s not that McDuffie isn’t worth that package of picks, but given where the Giants are in their rebuild under Harbaugh, and given their other needs, verses where the Super-Bowl-or-bust Rams are (in what might be MVP quarterback Matthew Stafford’s final season), that’s a negotiation that winning execs from other teams thought the Giants frankly should have lost.

“I like what they’ve done so far, yeah, and the McDuffie situation is very telling,” said a long-time NFL executive from a team that was not involved in that sweepstakes. 

“You look at a lot of coach-led front offices, and it’s easier for those guys to trade that (first-round) pick for a proven commodity. But Harbaugh showed restraint there, and, I love McDuffie, but the Giants aren’t a McDuffie away from winning the way the Rams are. They avoided the temptation to go too far. That’s a good sign early on.”

Several evaluators said they expect linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, a player some close to Harbaugh were very high on when he entered the draft and was a first-round pick in Buffalo, to thrive in the defense that will be run by coordinator Dennard Wilson, and New York has the makings of a beastly front seven. 

They are expected to continue fortifying the offensive line in free agency and the draft, rival execs would be shocked if they don’t add a veteran guard, and the team will focus on the secondary as well, an area of expertise for Wilson. McDuffie would have expedited that process, but the Rams had every reason to be the most motivated buyer for his services.