Getty The XFL has hired former Giants two-time Super Bowl winning executive Marc Ross to be their next vice president of football operations.
Although the XFL went under in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league is now planning to make a comeback in 2023. One of its first courses of action was to hire a number of former NFL executives to help lead the return to the gridiron.
One familiar name who landed a prominent role as the XFL’s newest executive vice president of football operations is former New York Giants executive Marc Ross, according to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert on November 8.
Ross initially joined the Giants in May of 2007, becoming their director of college scouting. He oversaw college scouting and the NFL draft for the Giants until the 2013 offseason, where ex-general manager Jerry Reese promoted him to vice president of player evaluation.
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Upon firing Reese at the end of the 2017 season, the Giants interviewed Ross for their GM vacancy. However, they ultimately chose to hire current GM Dave Gettleman, who quickly showed Ross the door, firing him shortly after accepting the job.
Since leaving the Giants, Ross joined NFL Network as an analyst and has been highly critical of the regime that let him go, along with now-retired quarterback Eli Manning.
Clearly there were some hard feelings there, despite Ross’ prior working relationship with Gettleman from 2007 to 2011, where the current Giants’ GM was the director of pro personnel and Scott was director of college scouting.
During Ross’ time with the Giants, the team won two Super Bowl titles in 2007 and 2011, where he was known as the “draft boss.” Ross also spent 20 years as a scout with the Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills before getting hired by the Giants.
Now, he will have a chance to redeem himself by being put in charge of on-field operations for the XFL, which is a league that is hoping to stick around in the long-term following their latest comeback.
The XFL has also brought on former Bills CEO Russ Brandon to be their new league president.
Ross’ Drafts With Giants
While the Giants may have captured two titles with Ross as a key member of their front office, their cupboard slowly went barren under his watch.
That is because of the neglect that both he and ex-GM Jerry Reese showed towards the offensive line, which has been an issue for the Giants since 2013.
Not to mention, the Giants’ drafts became progressively worse over the years, where they failed to hit on their mid-round selections, and reached in the first-round several times.
This left them with a multitude of busts including David Wilson, Ereck Flowers and Eli Apple to name a few.
And although they landed generational talents in Jason Pierre-Paul in 2010 and Odell Beckham Jr. in 2014, the rest of their top picks from the previous decade were either underwhelming or disappointing altogether.
In their final draft, Reese and Ross selected tight end Evan Engram with the No. 23 overall pick in 2017, despite T.J. Watt and Ryan Ramczyk remaining on the board.
Watt and Ramczyk went on to become perennial All-Pros for their respective teams, while Engram is nearing the end of a disappointing Giants’ tenure.
The Giants’ offensive line was in desperate need of major upgrades at the time as well. But instead of addressing these holes, Ross and Reese wanted another flashy playmaker, as opposed to a tackle in Ramczyk, who has become a star for the New Orlean Saints.
Questionable Talent Evaluator
As previously mentioned, the Giants have gone from being a consistent playoff contender to a laughing stock in the NFL over the last decade. And a big reason has been due to their inability to draft.
In Ross’ appearance on NFL Network in March of 2019, he criticized the Giants’ direction since aging quarterback Eli Manning was still their starter with no succession plan in place.
“I think they might have missed their opportunity [to draft a quarterback] last year, when they were in the No. 2 slot and could have taken Sam Darnold,” Ross said. “This year [2019], there’s some opportunities to trade for [Josh] Rosen, or there might be a quarterback at No. 6 that they like. But, I don’t think they’ll do it again.
“I think they’ll push the quarterback back another year. We saw the pass rushing stat, I think they’ll probably go pass rusher here and bank it all in on Eli. They traded for a guard [Kevin Zeitler], so that gives them the security to say that they built a wall for this guy and now he’s going to play and perform. I would think pass rusher now, as opposed to a quarterback. It will make a lot of people upset and some people happy.”
Well, as it turns out, the Giants wound up using the No. 6 overall pick on quarterback Daniel Jones, who is currently in his third season as the franchise’s starting signal-caller.
And the latter two quarterbacks who Ross named, Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen, have seen their careers go down the wrong path.
The New York Jets traded Darnold to the Carolina Panthers following the 2020 season. And after a 3-0 start with his new team, Darnold has gone 1-5. He has also struggled immensely this year with seven touchdown passes and 11 interceptions.
As for Rosen, he has been with four different teams in the past three seasons and is currently serving as a backup for the Atlanta Falcons.
Ross also told SB Nation back in April that ex-Giants scout Ryan Jones was lobbying for the team to take eventual Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl-winning quarterback Russell Wilson in the second round of the 2012 draft. However, Ross says they “missed the signs” on him and wished they had a do-over. Instead, the Giants picked wide receiver Ruben Randle.
Based off Ross’ comments and mixed draft results during his time with the Giants, it is fair to question his track record as a talent evaluator.
Had the Giants decided to give him the GM job at the end of the 2017 season, they very well could have traded for Darnold or Rosen, who have been disappointing in their young careers.