How the Giants and Jets can escape from disarray

ten of this year's NFL draft. Talking about the New York Jets and the New York Giants, two of the eight teams with multiple first round draft picks, but both the Jets of the Giants with those two first rounders within the top ten of this year's draft, and safe to say that they have earned those selections, especially over

the course of the last few years. And that's what we're diving into today with Judy Batista is gonna join us here in the state of frustration in what she calls the Gotham area gridiron A fantastic word choice there, and Judy is with us here on today's episode to detail the futility here that the Giants and Jets have found themselves in and then how this draft could help them climb their way out of this hole. Judy, great to be back here with you. Great to be here.

I wish it were under you know, better circumstances. Sure teams, Yes, for Judy's home teams. Come on, um, so Judy, we you and I were just chatting a bit before we started here. And you know in the piece you talk about Giants haven't been in the playoffs in five years. Jets it's been longer, right, since over a decade now since the Jets last found themselves into the postseason. And look, when you combine the two records of the teams that

share MetLife Stadium, it's not pretty. How would you describe kind of your unearthing of some of this, uh, this lack of winning over these last few years for these teams. So when our editors asked me just maybe like for the draft, like, why don't you look at the two New York teams because they have you know, they each have two first round draft picks. I you know, I turned to our fantastic research department and I said, can you give me any context on just how bad they are?

And they, like, you know, within forty five seconds, they shot back this email with share like the worst record in the NFL over the last five years, which I had not realized. And I was like, oh my god, but the worst lot of fat But um, you know, I mean it's really bad. Like, look, just from somebody who lives in New York, I mean, I know that the teams are not relevant, um past November, and that's late,

you know. I mean our friend and Hollique Peter Schreeger was talking about it on Good Morning Football this morning and he said, like, they never get to talk about the Jets and Giants on Good Morning Football after like the first month of the season because they're not relevant, they're not playing meaningful games. Um, I mean it's bad, you know. I mean, it's been a series, a long series of missteps by both teams. Um, you know, but obviously this draft presents a rare opportunity for for both

teams to you know, to flip it pretty quickly. Yeah, they are front and center though of all of the draft conversation here, and you know, depending on how you look at it, that's not necessarily a great thing unless you use that capital for good and that is obviously what both teams are trying to do here, um as as they embark on this draft, which we'll get to

here in just a couple of days. But before we get back into that, and let's just I mean, because you did a great job of kind of painting the picture of how New Yorkers feel about their teams, and some of them have in fact taken to the skies to voice their displeasure duty for both teams. Yeah, so back in the seventies, this is something that happened with the Giants that John Marraw, the owner of the Giants, still references. Um. It was when his father was still

and still on the team. Um. But fans were so disgusted with how the Giants were at that point that they rented a banner plane and you know, flew it overhead and you know, fifteen years, we've had enough. And the good news for the Giants is after that they started making changes and a few years later they were in the playoffs. They hired worked One as the general manager, which is really the decision that led to everything good

that has happened for the Giants since then. Um. And in a strange echo of it a few years ago at the Jets practice facility during practice one day, you know, a plane who flew overhead calling for the firing of then general manager John It's And that was a really strange thing because like literally the team was out there getting ready to practice and you know, the team were like looking up in the sky at this banner plane

that sort of circled Flora Park a few times. So, um, yeah, I mean fans are frustrated and just sort of you know, disbelieving and at and and again, like it's not even that they're bad, it's that they're irrelevant. That's really bad part. Right, It's not like you're fighting, you know, towards the end and like, yeah, you just fall short in week eighteen for the seventh and final playoff spot in the conference. We're not We're not even there. I mean that the

season had ended four weeks prior. For both of these teams. It felt like listen when Joe Douglas said at the Combine not the Combine, it was at the meeting a few weeks ago when he said, you know, I think we should be playing meaningful games in December. And I know some people rolled their us because it's like, well that's not a very high part, and it's like, well, that would be real product actually to be playing a meaningful game into December. So you know they'll take that.

That would be good. And you talk about not being able to pinpoint one area or one moment where this all started to go terribly awry. I mean, like, look, you gotta go back. You know, when you talk about the Jets last making the playoffs, we're talking about Rex Ryan as the head coach, and think about how fin he've been out of the league, you know for for

a while now. Um, so to think about that, and then you know, for the Giants, you know, obviously I haven't been in the playoffs without Eli Manning um and so you know that that's that's a part of it to turnover at franchise quarterback, inability to find one for the Jets, you know, it is part of this thing

to write. Yeah, you know, I talked to Boomer Size and the former Jets in Bengals quarterback who is now a very very popular sports talk radio host here in New York, and so he hears it from both fan bases and and and he said, like, you can't put your finger on just one thing. He said, you know, Jets fans tend to blame ownership, and Giants fans want to pin everything on Dave geentleman. But obviously it goes

much further than that. When you know, when the bottom falls out, it's not just one reason there's much more. You know, certainly, you're right, like the Giants, obviously the post Eli Manning era has has not been good, but also they have turned over coaches every two years now. For the Giants, it's like, right, this is one of the most stable franchises that values stability and continuity. UM. So that is very out of character for them. They

felt it's been needed. You know, they've had some underperforming draft picks. Um. You know, obviously, I think we can say that the hiring of Dave Galman was probably a mistake at general manager. Um. You know, things just haven't worked recent decisions, and the Jets the same same thing, you know, bad draft picks, that coaching fits, bad general manager hires. I thought it was remarkable how the same

factors were contributing to both teams. I mean, the Giants had has had more recent high level success, They've won two Super Bowls, um, but the missteps were similar for both teams. Yeah, and look you mentioned, um the hiring of George Young as the piece that turned around that struggling Giants franchise at the time, and now one you know, four super bowls since then, and now they have another new general manager in Joe Shane, how does he carve

his path for success kind of starting on Thursday. Yeah, Well, first of all, I wouldn't want to put it on Jerry Shane to try to George Young did because that high high to reach, So I don't want to do that to jer Shane. But look, he has already I think started to carve his own path in this offseason. I mean, he inherited a really bad salary cap situation and he was pretty honest that like that was going to be what had to happen this off season. They

had to clean that up. He had to cut he said at the time, forty million dollars in cameral So I think he's already started doing that. They've had a modest free agency spending period where they made some improvements to the offensive line. But certainly whatever he does UM starting Thursday is going to have the biggest immediate impact UM. And with two such high draft picks, I think the question is do you get if you get to blue chip players right they have to be plug and play

guys who make an immediate impact. Or does he go and try to trade out of one of those picks and pick up a lot more ammunition which they could use now um, and they could also use potentially next year if they pick up an extra first rounder next year, when you know they could be in the market for a quarterback if Daniel Jones does not pan out the

way everybody hopes he does. Yeah, it's kind of a it's kind of a fine line that they're towing here because you want to as you know, when John marrisond we've tried everything we we can to screw this kid up, you know, a few months ago after the season, you know, you're like, Okay, yeah, well let's let's give him a

real shot. Right and certainly feel like Brian day Bole coming in as the head coach is type of coach and offensive mind, you know, like we saw work Wonders in in Buffalo with Josh Allen that could help bring Daniel Jones along. But you've also if that's the case, if you want to get a true ofvaluation, you're using this draft to support him in a big way, right and so and then to also think about, well, what if we're able to plan for the future, you know,

by moving out of one of these picks. So you're supporting maybe a little bit less, but also kind of on the back end, hedging your bets. Um. So it does feel like a kind of a fine line for them to tell, especially if they want, if they truly want to get that, you know, this year of evaluation for Daniel Jones and then make a decision, right, Judy, Will you keep hearing teams use the phrase like competitive rebuild and that's sort of what they're talking about at

the chat. They don't want to bother out, but they want to be competitive. But but they're clearly retooling the roster, and they have to recool the roster and they have to especially on the offensive line, which has been shambles for years, and that I think more than anything, if they can just get the offensive line to be decent, that would help Daniel Jones. It would help safe one Barkley. Um, there's another employer that they're going to have to evaluate

this year. But I do think they feel like you've you've got to do your best to put pieces around Daniel Jones to help him be successful. Not just for Daniel Joneses don't safe, but for the franchise's sake. You've got to find out if this first round quarterback is what she thought he wasn't and they have not done enough to give him the opportunity to show that. Yeah,

I think that's fair. And then you know, looking at uh, you know, obviously Andrew Thomas top five pick a couple of years ago at left tackle, feel pretty good about the way that's trending there. So you're hoping, you know, maybe at five or seven, you get one of the top two tackles in this draft, put him over on the right side, and now you've at least solidified or you hope you've at least solidified both of the tackle

spots there. And then you know, with the other pick, maybe you're left to get the best efensive player on the board. You know, whichever way that is, it would be great if they get one of the good rushers. I mean, the good news for the Giants, if you want to look at this on the brand side, is there needs dovetail nicely with the strengths of this draft, right. They need offense, They need an offensive tackle, and they need an edge rusher in the corner and anyone that

do depending on when James Bradberry makes his exit. Right, So the good news is they do have a good field to pick from yeah, and then look then we've got high level picks at the top of the second and third rounds too, so that the draft doesn't end in the top ten, although it's a big piece of this thing, um, and they will definitely be a power player on April when we kick off the NFL Draft live from Las Vegas, and from everybody just listening to

us today, just a reminder that a copy of Judy story, Um, you can find NFL dot com slash Big Apple Draft Restoring football in the Big Apple again NFL dot com slash Big Apple Draft there and so that's kind of a piece on why we got here for the Jets and the Giants. Look at how the Giants try to climb themselves out and now let's take a look at the Jets path forward here. We'll do that right after this quick break, all right back here with Judy Batista

on this episode of NFL Inside Report. Reminder that Judy's piece right now on the state of football in the New York area out right now NFL dot com slash Big Apple Draft. As the Jets and the Giants to the eight teams with multiple first round draft picks. Both of those teams with those two first rounders in the top ten for the Jets, they sit at four and ten. But let's take another look back here a little bit

on how we got here for the Jets. For the owner Woody Johnson, as you talk about in the story here, reads comments on social media. But brave also, I would say, right, yeah, I mean it kind of it strikes you is like you know, usually you know, maybe that's something that you know and in a position of ownership, you might, yeah, trying to leave that stuff alone. Right, But he's into it. Well,

he's really into social media anyway. But I'm surprised when he said he reads the comments, and you know, he sort of said, like laughing, he said, look, I've been doing this twenty years, Like I feel their pain that you know, he's heard it all before. So, uh, he understands the frustration of Jets fans. He's one of them. Um. You know, I think if you could point to one thing about the Jets, it's the complete inability to land a franchise quarterback. I mean they've tried repeatedly, um and

it just hasn't worked. And you know, I thought it looked good for a while there with Mark Sanchez, don't forget they make the AFC Championship game and back to back here with Mark Sanchez, that was a defensive dominated team, but still it's the C Championship game, you know. And and then it's that the wheels have been spinning ever since. Um. And then I you know, I agree with Boomer size, and when they acquired Tim Tebow, that is when I felt like things were really sort of careening off, like

where are we headed here? So right, um, yeah, do you think this card for interest seems to be on the same page with each other? And that is, as Rady Johnson himself pointed out, that has not always been the case. So that's a step forward. Sure, sure, and it does. Yeah, Like I said, it feels like the coach and GM runlocked step. And they're also you know, united together to try to get you know, trying to

make Zach Wilson work as the franchise quarterback. And I think there have been some signs of progress on that front. And now it's it's continuing to build around him and that's part of what they're gonna do here, and that's part of what they were trying to do Judy earlier this offseason when they probably felt like they had a pretty good shot to get Tyreek Hill, and you know, we're offered a good deal and a nice compensation package

for the Chiefs, Tyreek opted to go to Miami. So if we ever thought that the Jets were going to be in the wide receiver market in the top ten of this draft, the fact that they went out and tried to get one of the best in the league and and you know, couldn't get it done certainly makes it feel like that's a place they could go in this draft if you know, another more key wide receiver doesn't come available, like let's say Deebo Samuel or a J Brown or you know someone else. You know, because

it has happened the Saw season a couple of times. Yeah, the Jets have four picks in the top forties, So they have a whole lot of ammunition either to pick those four picks or to use some of that in a trade. UM. Now, obviously they've been linked with Deepo Samuel a lot. I'm nobody's really sure for forty Niners are interested in trading people Samuel as much as he might be interested as he is in leaving UM. But whichever way they go, Uh, they have a lot of ammunition.

And Joe Douglas said when he met with the media last week, and when you're picking in the in the first and second round, those guys should be immediate starters. So if they exercise all four of those picks, that's four starters brand new on the team. Like you've got to be able to turn the tide if you've got that many blue chip players combined with last year they had two first round draft picks, So that's a lot of draft capital, um that should be on the field.

I agree with you. I thought Zach Wilson, especially late in the season, shows sis. First of all, I think he's really tough and rebilliant, and I thought that it seemed like things were coming to him better late in the season when he got back on the field, So that was encouraging for him. They believe in him. Um, they do need weapons for him, I mean they you know, a top tier receiver, whether it's in a trade or through the draft, would be a big help to him. Yes, certainly.

And how do you feel like the organization, Um, you know, maybe outside of Joe Douglas, who obviously made as strong as strong as push as he could to get Tyreek Hill feels about not getting that done, Like is that is? That is it looked upon as man, here we go you know another Now, I actually think, um, they felt good about it. I think they felt good about being aggressive, that they had the weapons and let's be aggressive, let's swing for the fence here. This is one of the

top receivers in the league. Let's go for it. Um. So I think they feel good about that. I think they understood the circumstances that Tyree probably wanted to be in Miami, you know, for personal reasons. You wanted Tom and that's fine, that's going to happen. But I think they felt good about being able to say, look, we went forward and this is an indication that we're going to go for it. If that's the point, we're going to go for it. And that hasn't always been the case.

And so I think that that that feels good. And it happens to line up with a time when they have a lot um at their disposal. They've got a lot of draft picks, they had a lot of salary cap space this offseason, so they're pushing forward and I

think that's good for the Jets. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, don't look at it as a we didn't you know, we didn't get it done, but it was we need to push to actually do it, you know, which is which you know you could certainly look at as a as a step in the right direction for a player of that kind of impact right at that kind of position. So and then you look, you mentioned the four picks in the top forty, and you gotta get four starters there.

They basically did that last year when you look back at Zach Wilson, Elijah Vera Tucker, and then you got Elijah more top of the second round who was banged up, but you're counting on him to be a top three you know, wide receiver in your system here, which you know you essentially count on as a starter. And then you know Michael Carter is going to be a part of the running back rotation as well. Um, you know they're depending on you know, where they end up going

in this in this draft at that position. So you know, you think, like you, all right, maybe did that last year. Now, how do we duplicate it right? How do we essentially Really that's when you start turning rosters over. When you hit on picks like this, and you know, I think it's there's so many different places that they could go. They're kind of like the Giants, Like they could go offensive line, they could go edge rusher, they could go corner,

and those are all kind of needs. But receivers certainly up there as well in those In those especially with those first two. It's interesting. Joked up us again when you talk to reporters last week quoted something Ozzy Knuso says, which is like a lot a luxury pick now could be a necessity very soon, right, So there's no such thing as a luxury pick. He was saying, you always have to take the best player available because it may look like a luxury today, but you know, in three

weeks that could be a necessity. So um, look, when you're a team that has not won that many games, like you could go in almost any direction and that's not going to be a luxury pick. You need to upgrade the roster all over the place. Another point that they've made, both Salah and Douglas have made is they can help Zack Wilson as much with offensive weapons, but

also by improving the defense. The defense was the worst than the league last year and was near the bottom in passing defense, and their feeling is it's a lot easier for young quarterback to operate if he doesn't wake up every Sunday wanting knowing he's gonna be in a shootout, knowing he's gonna have to come from behind, knowing he's

always going to be digging out of a hole. Like they made the point like, look at the young quarterbacks, you succeed quickly, like they're not playing from behind all the time. So sal is a defensive guy. Um, I would not be surprised to see them go heavy on defense because they know that they would prove that defense, not just for the point of improving the defense, but because that Zach Wilson a lot to not have the pressure of always having to pull the team from behind. Yeah,

no question. And uh and look, I think you mentioned what Robert Salas has has said a little bit through in your piece about you know, the situation that they're in compared to others that we've seen around the league, talking about you know, Buffalo, you know was was mired in you know, trials and tribulation trying to find their way to the top of the AFC East, and now they've been there back to back years Cincinnati, you know, I mean there were questions about Zach. Oh, gosh, Zach Taylor.

Really they got to do this and all of a sudden they're in the super Bowl, you know. But it's about finding a quarterback. It's about supporting the quarterback. You know, Like, do the Jets really feel like they can be that next team to make that kind of jump. Well, they think they've got the quarterback now. Obviously, you know, he hasn't done with what Joe Burrow has done or what Josh Allen has done yet, but they think that they've

got that guy. Um. Now the question is can you put enough around him and can she make the big chump? Because don't forget in the case of Josh Allen, I mean Joe Barrow was a little bit different because he got hurt as a lookie, um. But Josh Allen made that big leap. Remember he went up to like seventy completion.

Well it took like two years. Yeah, but you know that's what you're going to have to see from Zach Wilson over the next year or two is can he make the big jump and can they do enough around him to help and make that big jump. Um. But they feel good about Zach Wilson. So in that respect, you know, they're like a half inch ahead of the Giants, who still have to evaluate Daniel Jones. They want to put all the chance they can, but they're not sure yet.

The Jets feel pretty good about Zach Wilson. Yeah, all right, I'm gonna lay out a scenario to you that I had in the Red Lewis mock draft which came out this comes out this week here on NFL dot com. One and only only do one, like one draft, And like I'm like Mike Mayock, and I don't have to do this is not like I have no Well that's the thing. And and so like I'm sitting there, like you know, racking my brain on this thing, going one

through thirty two. And then I'm listening to all these gms have their pre you know, draft press conference, and they're all like that's a crapshoot, Like, well, what am I doing over here trying to if you can't predict

this thing, that what am I doing? Um? But but I was thinking about this scenario for the Jets, And tell me how plausible that you think this might be they want a wide receiver badly, and it stands to reason that the way that contracts are going right now in the NFL juty there's more value and more cost control and getting a high level receiver in the draft.

So if the Jets are sitting there for in ten, what's the stop them from getting the number one wide receiver on their board at number four overall, rather than waiting until number ten when maybe one or two of the wide outs that you had right up at the top of your positional ranking of those guys is already gone and then you have to settle or move on

in a different way. Like I feel like a wide receiver at four could be a real possibility because now the Giants might be in the wide receiver market with Candarius Tony, you know, potentially winning out of New York, and then the Falcons at eight, so like there are a couple of teams up there that might get, you know,

a guy that maybe the Jets have been targeting. Sure, I don't know anything out of this draft because if it has, I mean we've seen the entire offseason has been unpredictable, but this draft is the most unpredictable that I can remember years. I mean, we literally don't know who's going number one the first part of it. Um, I agree with you, they could go receiver, except I wonder how they evaluate with the receivers because it's a

pretty good receiver class. So do they feel, well, you know, you get with your first pick in the first round, you get a soft partner for example, which is another real acition of need for them. And then you know later on at ten, um, if you don't trade back, you know, that's the place where you could get a wide receiver. Yea. Honestly, I think all of this depends on how the board falls on there and what's in

front of them when they're on the clock. Um. You know, again for the Giants and Jets both, like when when you need to upgrade this many positions, there's almost no position you could take that counts as like, what that's a bad choice right right? Everything it looks it is, And yeah, it depends on whether we get three edge rushers in the first three picks, whether we get one

of the tackles goes. Before the Jets are on the we have no idea what Houston is going to do, right, So that's another spot where You're like, that could change the whole course. Yeah. I mean they're like the Giants and the Jets and that they could use a player literally every position. Um, and the Lions aren't that far off from that, although they feel pretty set at the

toime cockle spots. So like that, there's just there are a lot of variables here in a lot of moving pieces, and if you're here for the chaos and drama and intrigue, then this draft is for you, like simply like this is why I cannot wait for Thursday is because, like you know, I filled out a mock draft one through thirty, I might not get one right, yes, like I might not get one projection right, a right friend of mine, So I don't have to do a mock draft, but

whether everyone who does have to do a mock draft was asking me the other day, like what what do you think? How should I mock the first ten picks? And I was like no, He's like, I just want to get one of these right, And I'm like, well you might not, like right, yeah, right, no idea. So I do think this is going to be intriguing. And look, we're not even accounting for trading out like which I think clients would like very much to do to trade back, Right,

that's gonna happen. Our team is looking to come up. It doesn't, it doesn't. It doesn't sound like there's a rush to to move up the word yeah, it's going to be a fascinating first round though. Yeah, I mean, I can certainly understand the you know, the desire to move out, but the desire to move up has to be there by someone, and I'm not sure that there's

a whole bunch of those out there exactly exactly. And then you know, and the teams with multiple first round picks that the Giants and the Jets would love for quarterbacks, love for quarterbacks to go early, but this isn't the year it feels like for that to happen, because then you get, you know, the better positional players push their way down a little bit. So there's uh, look it's gonna be. And then here's the thing, like, here's here's

what I'm hoping for my mock draft. Okay, that I at least get like the majority of the right names into the two you know what I mean, Like, if I can just get like the thirty two players that go into the first thirty two spots. I don't care where they end up. Like, all right, we essentially agree on the thirty two best players in the league. That's fair trade. Screwed all love. That was so much easier

when it was like quarterback. Yeah, like this year, it's just it's I'm sure it's great for Charlie Luke are fantastic, Oh yes, yes, I mean it's mah trying to predict what's going to happen here. And what's even more manham and indicators when you talk to people in the league, when you talk to team officials, but they don't know what other teams are doing, right, Like they're not getting a degreed on like you know, what do they What

do you think they're going to do? Like how many quarterbacks? Yeah, you don't know. I mean there's by the way, and I have these chats with Daniels Jeremiah um every day during our path of the draft seas. He's so well connected with all of these guys and it's you know,

he's the best in the business. And he was talking to me about conversations he's had with a with with two different gms on the same player, one of which Sees said player as a first round pick, one of which has a sixth round grade on the same player. Out like to think about the disparity and that and the value in the positional value. And it's just tweeted, was it this morning when he said if this draft had an emoji, it would be the shrug emoji. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

I don't know. And by the way, you're you're just to kind of put this whole thing full bring this whole thing full circle here about the you know, volatility of this draft, in this draft class, and of the state of New York football. The Buffalo Bills at pick number twenty five play over in Western New York, right, and you know, are back to back AFC East champions.

They're an AFC East contender, they're popular Super Bowl pick. Um. They could literally go anywhere with their choice at five, but for the entirely opposite reasons that the Jets and the Giants could go anywhere, because they're pretty well stacked as a roster. Yes, there's no need for them, Yes, which is what a sweet pot for them, I think. Yeah, Yeah, we're cool. That's why we're talking about like a running back going to the to the Bills. In the first round.

And because I know that's exactly what Robert Salom was talking about, right, like, it's only a few years ago, not that long ago. And look at how fast it flipped. Like if you hit on the right plate pick, especially the quarterback. That's it. It's so funny. This is just this is gonna be so much fun. I hope you guys are all along for the ride. Here. We've got the draft covered literally on every single platform out there, uh, you know, digitally, on TV, on your apps, wherever you

want to be. We've got it all covered. And Judy's got a great primer for you on how the New York Football establishment is going to dominate the headlines in the top ten NFL dot Com slash Big Apple Draft. To be sure to check out my mock draft as well, which comes out today, And I'll be with you on Path to the Draft each and every day up until the first round kicks off on Thursday, every day six pm Eastern time. Judy, this has been fun. Thanks so much for being with US's lock on your all right,

thank you. It'll be the first universally accepted and applauded mock draft in the history of mock cross. All right, that's gonna do it for this episode of NFL Inside Report. Thanks so much for being with us. Reminder to download, rate, and review our show and the I Heart Radio app on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast We appreciate you guys being along for the ride. For our producers Thomas Warren, Tim Paracca, and Harrison Sandford. I'm your host,

Brett Lewis. We'll catch you next time. NFL Inside Report is the production of the NFL and partnership with I Heart Radio. For more official podcasts from the NFL, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.