There's Always Next Year: New York Giants

Tom Coughlin got fired this offseason, but it doesn't feel like the Giants have changed much. Of course, we won't get any Frustrated Coughlin Faces on Sundays next fall, and that's a real loss for viewers at home, but General manager Jerry Reese is still in control, and his roster still has the same issues it has for years.

The Giants often get categorized as a "stable" team, but one man's stability is another man's stodginess. I can understand why the Giants get the benefit of the doubt, what with the two Super Bowl trophies and all, but when a team spends the past seven seasons hovering between six and 10 wins…well, that's quite a commitment to mediocrity.

Things aren't all bad in New York, though. Odell Beckham Jr. and Johnathan Hankins make for excellent building blocks. The interior of the offensive line actually played pretty well last season. But there are also massive holes on this roster and a lot of free-agent questions to go with them.

Coach and Quarterback Confidence Rating: 5/10

Eli Manning's second season in Ben McAdoo's offense was impressively stagnant. Manning went from a 4.4 percent DVOA in 2014 to a -1.9 percent DVOA in 2015. Aside from a slight bump in completion percentage, Manning hasn't improved at all. McAdoo has delivered on improving the quarterback only in that his ugly 2013 season hasn't been repeated, although given the stunning badness of that campaign—his DVOA was a delightful -20.2 percent—a repeat would be hard to pull off.

Manning was never the kind of slam-dunk Hall of Famer his rings implied. Heading into his age-35 season, he could be a lot closer to the end of his career than it seems. While I have no qualms backing Manning another season, similarly good quarterbacks have fallen off quickly in their mid-thirties. Unless the Giants are sold on Ryan Nassib, and I don't believe they quite are, it might make sense for the team to start checking out replacement quarterbacks in the draft.

McAdoo is definitely a head coach now. The last Packers offensive coordinator to be elevated to a position of power failed so hard at policing his locker room that it sparked a NFL investigation and a 144-page report. The bar's pretty low!

I don't have a good idea of exactly where to put McAdoo for now—we're going to have to see how he actually coaches first—but my gut reaction is that he was an odd pick for the job.

Key Offseason Decision: Where are we on Ereck Flowers?

Left tackle Ereck Flowers was a disaster his first season in New York. In fairness, he wasn't supposed to start right away. Once Will Beatty went down with a torn triceps in the offseason, though, the Giants had no choice.

Flowers was a first-round pick because of his physical attributes—he's a trait-based scouting story. But his lackluster play was a big reason Manning got harassed so often in 2015.

The Giants have released Beatty. Marshall Newhouse is the nominal starting right tackle on the roster, and he's only marginally more effective than stacking phone books on the edge. The Giants might be better off solidifying this position in free agency or the draft, but they could gamble on Flowers and trust their program enough to let him develop in the role in 2016?

If Flowers flames out again, though, and the Giants don't have a suitable backup plan, it could be another long season for Manning.

Major Free Agents: DE Jason Pierre-Paul, CB Prince Amukamara, DE Robert Ayers, WR Rueben Randle, CB Jayron Hosley

This is a deep free-agent crop. It starts with the pass rush. Pierre-Paul managed to play effectively with only one hand, picking up a sack and providing lots of pressure in just eight games. His market is going to be…well, it's hard to say, but let's go with "downright bizarre" as teams try to decide how much the fireworks accident has taken from him as a player. Ayers has developed into a nice pass rusher in his own right. While his age might keep some developing teams away, he'd be a nice fit for a contender.

Amukamara is a good corner who is never healthy. Hosley is a decent slot corner who gets thrust into bad positions every time Amukamara gets injured. They're a pair of players who hurt each other's value. Amukamara is reportedly looking for at least $10 million a season, and I wish him only the best of luck getting it.

Randle is a science experiment of a receiver: What happens if you create a player with poor hands and little ability to discern route concepts, but all the physical talent you'd want in a receiver? Well, you get a free agent that the Giants don't seem all that interested in re-signing. But since he's just 25 years old, someone will probably be intrigued enough to overpay him.

Cap Situation: $58,623,872— third in the NFL

The Giants have already launched a cap-saving initiative. Gone are tackle Beatty and guard Geoff Schwartz. Linebacker Jon Beason retired, saving them even more money. Next in line is probably a pay renegotiation for Victor Cruz, who is still trying to recover from his devastating Achilles tear in 2014. Straight out cutting Cruz would save the Giants $6.1 million.

Unlike most teams with big cap space, the Giants have room because many of their best players are coming off contracts. I expect a lot of spending from this team on their own players. And, after that, I expect a lot of spending on other free agents as they try to extend the Eli Manning era.

The combination of Eli and New York-scale ambitions should ensure that, of all the teams with a lot of cap space, the Giants are a likely bet to spend most of it.