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Ralph Vacchiano | Facebook | Twitter | Archive
Buried at the bottom of the giants press release announcing the big Odell Beckham Jr. Wednesday was a quote from General Manager Dave Gettleman about his post-season plan.
"You can win by building a list," he said.
And the deal that he made with the receiver Golden Tate Thursday is proof that he will try.
The Giants have agreed to sign a $ 37.5 million four-year contract with a $ 23 million guarantee with the 30-year-old Tate. This agreement was immediately criticized for its appearance apparently contrary to the ongoing reconstruction project. Tate is older and he was obviously expensive – two things that rebuilding teams usually do not want.
But keep in mind, there is a reason why Gettleman does not use the word "rebuild". He really thinks he can rebuild and win at the same time.
Perhaps he is mistaken himself, but that's what Gettleman and the Giants found when they examined their composition at the end of last season: they saw a fault that it's triggered in the second half of the season, even after Beckham was injured, and that she was tough. to stop (for the most part) once they've played better off their offensive line. So they figured that if they rebuilt the line this season, they would still have a chance to become a dangerous offensive team.
They still had work to do and hard decisions to make, of course, to really rebuild the team as a competitor. That's why they exchanged Olivier Vernon and his contract, let Landon Collins go in, and sent Beckham to the Browns, among other movements. But even when it was done, the Giants were adamant that they did not throw the 2019 season.
Believe it or not, even with a 38-year-old quarterback down sharply, they really think they can win.
Of course, once they made the decision to exchange Beckham – which was not a football decision but relied more on his headaches off the field, according to some sources – they left their offense with a gaping hole to fill. That's where Tate comes in, as Sterling Shepard He never demonstrated his ability to be a No. 1 catcher, and beyond him, they had almost nothing else to position.
Tate was clearly the best receiver on the market – and he's more than a mere slot machine collector, considering that he's only played 65% of his slot pieces with the Eagles and Lions last season. In a low season that he divided between these teams and where the Eagles had trouble understanding how to use it, he still finished with 77 catches for 795 yards and four touchdowns.
In the previous four seasons, he has collected 93 catches, 1,056 yards and seven touchdowns per season.
No, it's not a Beckham type production, but it's still the case with the NFL's next No. 1 receiver group. And unlike Beckham, Tate has been healthy, missing only two games in the last eight years. He is also not recognized for his titles or his distractions, which is important for the Giants after dealing with Beckham's drama over the last five years.
Nobody will suggest that he can totally replace Beckham. He does not have his star power, he has never had his production. But given everything he brings to the table, he has a chance to get close to it.
Is Tate too old for a reconstruction team? Sure. But he is 30, not 40 years old. Many recipients were productive in their early thirties. Is it too expensive for a reconstruction team? The devil will be in the details, but $ 9.375 million a year could be a little too much.
Unfortunately, this is the price to pay for doing business in an independent agency, which the Giants have to do because of years of bad writing. And as long as the deal does not crush them under the ceiling for years to come, who cares what he's doing to them now?
Gettleman is trying to build a future for the giants. He wishes that they become a championship caliber team again in a few years. That's why he eliminates bad contracts, bad guys and makes selections. That's why he is so determined to find Eli Manning successor, perhaps even in this year's project.
But he does not concede a win now, he does not come from a 5-11 season so he's lost eight games by one touchdown or less, and when he thinks the difference is that some of these games are as simple as adding a scorer and setting the offensive. line. The line is under construction. The defense … well, it requires a lot of work, and will certainly be a concentration of the 12 choices that he has in the next project.
The Giants had no chance of winning, nor capitalizing on their offensive success if they did not at least try to replace Beckham's talent and production. The addition of Tate does that. It helps give giants a chance to win this year. And this does not preclude any long-term project aimed at securing the future.
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