The New York Giants’ era of being disrespected is over. With veteran head coach and proven winner John Harbaugh at the wheel, Big Blue is back on track to being a force in the NFL.
For the past 12 seasons, the Giants have been a doormat and a punching bag for the rest of the league, the fans, and the media. That ended in January when they finally stopped tooling around with “promising” coordinator hires at head coach and reeled in Harbaugh.
Harbaugh has restored order to a franchise that had wantonly wandered into a new “wilderness” period that saw incompetent leadership make far too many poor choices.
Those days are behind them, now, with Harbaugh in the building with a clear vision and the authority to carry it out. He’s the boss and has been molding the entire organization to fit that vision, which has been a winning one for nearly two decades.
“You can just see the impact he’s had on that entire franchise,” said one general manager, via Jason La Canfora of Fansided. “It’s like there’s an adult in charge now. Trading (Dexter) Lawrence is tough, but you have to take the 10th pick if the player wants out and you can’t make it work. I thought they had a great draft.”
Harbaugh, working under the Giants’ new front office framework alongside general manager Joe Schoen and football ops and strategy manager Dawn Aponte, knocked last weekend’s draft out of the park.
They chose Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese with the fifth overall selection and followed that up by taking Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa, two players who will bring the physical brand of football that Harbaugh is selling.
“John will know how to use Reese,” one long-time personnel executive with a keen understanding of Harbaugh told La Canfora. “That’s the perfect player for him. He is going to build a big, tough team. He understands cold-weather football. You can see it in this draft.”
The draft topped off an offseason that saw several players from Harbaugh’s previous team, the Baltimore Ravens, follow him to New Jersey. The Giants had gotten soft over the past decade. Time to harden back up.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: NFL GM on New York Giants’ John Harbaugh: ‘There’s an adult in charge now’
Reporting by John Fennelly, Giants Wire / Giants Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
