The New York Giants' season ended with four minutes left in the fourth quarter in Week 5. On the next play, somehow, it got worse. On second down, the Giants lost Odell Beckham Jr. to a fractured ankle that could cost him the remainder of the 2017 season. He was the team's fourth wideout to be forced out of the game Sunday. After Beckham was carted off, a shellshocked Giants team tried to throw the ball, only for Eli Manning to be strip-sacked. The previously hapless Chargers recovered the fumble and scored a game-winning touchdown one minute later. Either play would have been crushing; the Giants' playoff hopes were
Amos Youth Jersey effectively nil as an 0-5 team with Beckham or a 1-4 team without him. To suffer both those blows in a matter of moments, though? Even the most pessimistic Giants fans would have struggled to conjure up a scenario this nightmarish before the season started. Before the season, ESPN's Football Power Index gave the Giants a 2.1 percent chance of winning the Super Bowl; now, FPI thinks they have a 3.8 percent chance of coming away with the first overall pick in the 2018 draft. While the Giants had a successful 2016 season, their run into the playoffs overshadowed many of the problems with their roster and set unrealistic expectations for what was about to come next. The 2016 Giants were a flawed team with great luck; the 2017 Giants are a flawed team with terrible luck. Understanding how and why the Giants got into this mess may help your favorite team avoid the same fateThe problems for the Giants start with one number. On the right are the 2016 playoff teams ranked by the number of players they drafted between 2009 and 2013 who were on their roster for at least one snap last season. This should be the core of most teams' rosters, players who are finishing up their rookie deals and guys who get signed to extensions after developing into homegrown starters. The Seahawks, for example, can call upon Kam Chancellor, Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Bobby Wagner and Russell Wilson as part of their homegrown core. The Giants lined up Jason Pierre-Paul, Johnathan Hankins, Justin Pugh and backup offensive lineman Will Beatty, with Ryan Nassib failing to take a snap all season. JPP, Pugh, Manning and long-snapper Zak DeOssie are currently the only homegrown Giants who aren't on rookie contracts (and Manning is technically a Chargers pick). Giants general manager Jerry Reese simply didn't do a good enough job of drafting talent from 2008 to 2013. As I wrote in a 2013 piec
http://www.officialcalgaryflames.com/Adidas-Mark-Giordano-Jersey e for Grantland, a shocking number of Reese's picks suffered serious injuries before finishing their rookie deals, and that was before 2012 first-rounder David Wilson was forced to retire with spinal stenosis. Many of the midround picks who stayed relatively healthy, such as Jayron Hosley, Jerrel Jernigan and Ramses Barden, weren't any good. And the Giants showed little faith in some of the veterans who did pan out, with Prince Amukamara and Linval Joseph leaving after solid careers in New Jersey. Reese hasn't shown much aptitude for handling the draft. He deserves credit for drafting a pair of superstars, Beckham and Landon Collins, in recent years, but he has shown little interest in acquiring extra draft picks. He hasn't traded down a single time during his 10-year tenure as general manager, and while Reese did trade up for Collins, his other trade-ups were to grab Barden, Nassib, Bryan Kehl and Adam Bisnowaty, who combined to start six games in East Rutherford. The Giants traded up to grab Bisnowaty this year, then cut the sixth-rounder in camp, although he remains
Adidas Mikko Rantanen Authentic Jersey on the practice squad. And while the 2015 draft did deliver Collins, a Pro Bowl safety, it has otherwise been a mess. But more on that in a minuteIn response, to fill out his roster, Reese did what desperate teams do: He spent oodles of money in free agency. First, he pursued a bevy of midtier free agents with limited success, paying premiums to add replacement-level players such as Dwayne Harris, Rashad Jennings and J.T. Thomas to fill spots smarter teams would occupy with draft picks. The Patriots have targeted veterans to fill those roles from time to time, but they often do that in trading for guys who require no long-term commitment and offer the possibility of
http://www.authenticcoloradoavalanche.com/authentic-nathan-mackinnon-jersey draft pick compensation if they leave in free agency. The Giants were signing these players in free agency and foregoing the compensation themselves
