The New York Giants fired general manager Jerry Reese on Monday, along with head coach Ben McAdoo. Giants team owner John Mara said that Kevin Abrams will be the interim GM and is also a candidate for the full-time gig.
New York Giants fire general manager Jerry Reese
The Giants are cleaning house.
William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports
Team owner John Mara said he met with GM Steve Tisch Monday morning. “We agreed that wholesale changes needed to be made to this organization to get us back to the team that we expect to be,” he said. “We also agreed that it was pointless to wait any longer to make these changes.”
On his conversation with Reese, who had been with the Giants in some capacity since 1994, he said, “That’s as difficult a meeting as I’ve ever had.”
The team has tasked former GM Ernie Accorsi to serve as a consultant in the search.
The Giants fell to 2-10 on the season Sunday after a loss to the Oakland Raiders
Why is he being fired?
The Giants have had an incredibly poor 2017 season. Ben McAdoo benched two-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback Eli Manning a week before the coach was fired.
McAdoo reportedly lost the locker room, and many disliked the way he handled the situation with Eli Manning.
“I have a ton of respect for Eli not agreeing to play just halves of football to keep his consecutive game streak going,” an NFC East general manager told SB Nation’s Thomas George. “They should have let him finish the season. You’re 2-9 and you’re not going anywhere. Let him finish with some honor.”
While that falls under McAdoo’s umbrella, Reese didn’t put him in the best situation.
They’ve suffered unfortunate injuries at wide receiver to Odell Beckham Jr., Brandon Marshall, and Sterling Shepard for various games this season, but the team entered the season with a roster that had clear flaws.
Reese didn’t address the team’s offensive line, and the team has been unable to run the football the past two seasons. After all, it’s never good when Eli Manning has your team’s longest rushing touchdown since 2015.
The Giants won two Super Bowls with Reese as their GM, but haven’t been viewed as a true Super Bowl contender since their last title in 2011. Failure to successfully upgrade the roster is part of that.
The dysfunction that was brought along by both warranted a reset.
This season, the Giants have had a wave of circumstances that have proven to show a lack of order.
- When the Giants started the season 0-5, Reese said the team “bought into the hype” about how good the team could be in 2017.
- Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie was suspended indefinitely after a disagreement with McAdoo.
- Eli Apple felt he was used as a scapegoat for losing games.
- Players went to the media to say that McAdoo had lost the team.
- The handling of Eli Manning.
Those situations were enough — combined with their 2-10 start — to start over with the season clearly lost.
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