When Dave Gettleman drafted Saquon Barkley, he was asked about letting Sam Darnold fall right into the laps of the crosstown Jets.
“I don’t care,” Gettleman said.
He’ll care plenty if Sam Darnold proves to be better than Daniel Jones.
Because if you make decisions for the Giants, what you fear most is getting sand kicked in your face by your Little Brothers, the Jets.
Goes all the way back to Super Bowl III and to the Jets’ 37-14 preseason whipping of the Giants seven months later at the Yale Bowl.
By the same token, if you make decisions for the Jets, the last thing you want is to be mocked and ridiculed by the team with which you share the stadium on the site of the one that used to be called Giants Stadium.
It’s the same reason the Yankees and Mets have made only 15 trades with each other, none blockbusters, a factor why Brodie Van Wagenen wouldn’t trade Noah Syndergaard or Zack Wheeler across the river.’
It is why the Jets and Giants had never traded with each other … until Monday, when the Jets traded defensive lineman Leonard Williams for third-round (2020) and conditional fifth-round (2021) picks.
The deal reinforces the sad state of football affairs from East Rutherford to Florham Park and back. The 2-6 Giants are rebuilding. And now the 1-6 Jets are rebuilding.
This is a win for the Jets.
This is a gamble, and an expensive gamble, for the Giants.
(Of course, the way fortunes have unfolded for our locals — a nine-year playoff drought for the Jets, no playoff wins since Super Bowl XLVI for the Giants — you never rule out the possibility this could ultimately prove to be a lose-lose).
For Jets GM Joe Douglas, this was a no-brainer. He determined that Williams was not worth what he will command on the open market after this season. As a $14.2 million cap hit this season, his next 2019 sack will be his first 2019 sack. Drafting Quinnen Williams with the third overall pick sealed Williams’ fate. The Jets were even willing to kick in $4 million of Williams’ approximately $6 million in remaining salary to complete the deal as well.
In case you haven’t noticed, Douglas is in desperate need to fix his offensive line before Sam Darnold becomes a basket case or battered the way poor Ken O’Brien once was. And O’Brien never had an enlarged spleen either. The added draft capital will help Douglas, and oh by the way, he needs a pass rusher, a corner and a No. 1 receiver for Darnold.
The Giants’ eagerness to trade for Williams aligns with Gettleman’s age-old philosophy that big people allow you to compete.
The problem is Williams is another one of his big people who is not an elite pass rusher.
But wants to be paid like one.
And Gettleman has no choice but to pay Williams, who will be asking for the moon. Gettleman would incur more wrath than he did for drafting Daniel Jones with the sixth pick — his emails are much more favorable these days — should he allow Williams to be an eight-game rental.
“We didn’t acquire him to let him walk,” and then letting him walk would be worse than, “We didn’t sign (You Know Who Jr.) to trade him. Even if he recoups a third-round comp pick for Landon Collins.
Williams underachieved with the Jets, but remember:
Gettleman’s Gamble: Williams was the sixth pick of the 2015 NFL Draft.
He is only 25 years old, which means his best football could be ahead of him in the right defense.
Pro Football Focus tells us that Williams had 43 tackles for loss since 2016, third among interior defenders. He was a Pro Bowler in 2016.
The Lions last offseason signed Trey Flowers to a five-year, $90 million deal ($56 million guaranteed). And the salary cap increases from $188.2 million to $200 million in 2020.
The Jets has visions of a modern-day New York Sack Exchange when Williams joined Muhammad Wilkerson and Sheldon Richardson. The dream shattered quickly — especially after Wilkerson got his five-year, $86 million extension and then disappeared.
Williams has 17 career sacks. His 18th should come on Nov. 10 against the horrific Jets offensive line. He is a good player, not a great player. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Gettleman’s Gamble: Williams will give him more bang for his bucks than the Jets thought he would give them.
Of course, Gettleman doesn’t care what the Jets thought.
For more on the Giants, listen to the latest episode of the “Blue Rush” podcast: