Getty General Manager Dave Gettleman of the New York Giants looks on from the sidelines before the game against the Washington Football Team at MetLife Stadium on January 09, 2022 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
The New York Giants are in the market for a new general manager and the team is looking for top of the line talent exclusively.
Former GM Dave Gettleman announced his retirement Monday, January 10 after four seasons in New York, during which the team amassed an abysmal 19-46 win/loss record. The Giants wasted no time beginning their search for a new leader, requesting interviews with some of the best team architects from top NFL franchises around the league.
The early focus appears to be centered in the AFC, namely Tennessee Titans’ director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort and vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden, Kansas City Chiefs‘ executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles, and Buffalo Bills‘ assistant GM Joe Schoen.
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Jonathon Jones, senior NFL reporter with CBS, took to Twitter Monday to report that the Giants had requested interviews with all four of the aforementioned executives.
Aaron Wilson, an NFL reporter out of Houston, also tweeted Monday that New York will consider their in-house assistant GM Kevin Abrams for the open position.
Giants are expected to interview assistant general manager Kevin Abrams for their general manager vacancy, according to a league source
“Giants are expected to interview assistant general manager Kevin Abrams for their general manager vacancy, according to a league source,” Wilson wrote.
No Clear Frontrunner for Giants GM Job in Early Going
GettyNew York Giants head coach Joe Judge will be back for a third season in 2022.
It is impossible to say at this early stage who the Giants favor or if there is any preliminary leader in the clubhouse for the vacant GM job, but all of the candidates noted thus far boast impressive resumés.
Perhaps no candidate has a stronger case than Poles. Only 36 years old, Poles already has a 12-year history with the Chiefs, the NFL’s most dominant team over the last four seasons. He has a reputation of being highly valued within Kansas City’s organization and played an integral role in the 2020 NFL Draft alongside Chiefs’ general manager Brett Veach, which endeared him to the KC brass and front offices around the league even further. Poles has already been strongly considered for other GM positions in the NFL, interviewing for the Carolina Panthers job last year.
Schoen joined the Bills organization in 2018, working alongside current Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane since that time. Prior to that, he worked with the Miami Dolphins from 2014-17 as director of player personnel after working as a scout within that organization for the previous five years. The Bills have won the AFC East Division the last two seasons after two decades of dominance by the New England Patriots.
Cowden offers more than two decades of experience in the NFL, working his first 16 seasons with the Panthers, some of that time as director of college scouting under Gettleman, who the Giants seek to replace. If they value Gettleman’s opinion at all, who just finished his second front office run with the organization, he could put in a good word or two for Cowden on his way out the door.
Ossenfort has something of an inside track on the position considering his link to Giants head coach Joe Judge, who is already confirmed back for a third season at the helm in 2022. The two worked together as part of the Patriots organization before each departed in 2020. Like Poles, Ossenfort also interviewed to be the Panthers GM last year, though he sat down with Carolina on two occasions instead of just one.
Giants Job Attractive, but Comes With Tough Set of Obstacles
GettyNate Solder (left), Daniel Jones (center), and Billy Price (right), of the New York Giants, head to the sideline during the second half against the Los Angeles Rams at MetLife Stadium on October 17, 2021 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
There are several attractive elements to the job in New York — the first being simply that it is in New York, the biggest sports market in America and an attractive place to play for players who thrive under the bright lights and have aspirations the city can help them achieve.
The Giants organization boasts a rich tradition of winning, having captured four Lombardi Trophies during the Super Bowl era. Not to mention, the fans have a sticky reputation as tough but fair — and lifers, always.
But things are testy in the Big Apple. The Giants have not been an above .500 team at any point in the last five seasons, which includes the entirety of Gettleman’s time in charge. Whoever the new show runner ends up being will face tough decisions in the next season or two about the future of Judge, quarterback Daniel Jones and an ailing former Pro-Bowl running back in Saquon Barkley, not to mention a mess of an offensive line to fix — and that’s just the coach and one side of the football to deal with.
The Giants have a lot of work to do to improve upon the 4-13 season they produced this year, which means the search for a GM, while thorough, will likely be straight to the point as the organization’s top offseason priority.