In last week's news conference, New York Giants GM Jerry Reese cut off a reporter who asserted that his mid-to-late-round draft picks weren't panning out as successfully as were those of other teams. Reese demanded to see some numbers. He should be careful what he wishes for.
Our man Mike Sando offered this number today in his Insider column on whether Washington should be favored to repeat as NFC East champions in 2016:
"The players the Giants drafted since Jerry Reese became GM in 2007 combined to play a league-low 10,767 offensive and defensive snaps in the NFL this season. Other teams' picks over the same span averaged 16,448 snaps per team, or about 53 percent more snaps than the Giants' selections."
Wow.
I mean, wow.
You can't stand up there and talk about building through the draft when you're using fewer of the players you've drafted over the past nine years than any other team in the league. You can't stand up there and say it's bad luck or your picks were too late in the round or you've had some injuries when your picks are participating in two-thirds as many plays as those of the average NFL team.
That's not bad luck. That's malpractice. We have enough of a sample size to say with accuracy and confidence that Jerry Reese, since becoming GM of the Giants, has done a terrible job of drafting NFL players -- maybe worse than any other GM (or combination of GMs!) that has been employed in the league during that time. It's not stunning news if you've been following along, and the team's 19-29 record the past three seasons speaks to a hollowed-out roster that needs years' worth of help.
By the way, the reporter from whom Reese demanded numbers, Jordan Raanan of NJ.com, did some research and came up with some damning numbers of his own. Any way you slice it, Reese and the Giants need to do better at the draft, or the doldrums in which they currently find themselves will continue. Giants fans had better hope Reese is more aware of the extent of his own failures than he lets on publicly. Because if he really thinks things haven't been that bad with the Giants and the draft, he's not looking at the numbers.