New York Giants Mailbag Lite

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Disclaimer: I haven't gotten into draft prep--that's happening next week (I have, however, been working on free agency). That said, I think the Giants go for the best player available, and if that BPA just so happens to be a potential No. 1 receiver or a shutdown cornerback, I wouldn't be too upset with either move, if you catch my drift.

(From Dan O.) On the one hand, some of your recent guests talk about making cold, hard roster decisions based on player skill alone. On the other, other guests speak of the importance of intangibles like leadership qualities and good locker-room presence.

These two things sometimes seem to sit uneasily together. By no means would I advocate making roster decisions based on the latter, but surely there are circumstances where a player leaving the team will affect team cohesion and, ultimately, the ability to win games.

Would losing well-liked players like Saquon, Nick Gates, or Jihad Ward be something to worry about? What role does this kind of thing play in GM decisions about rosters generally?

That is a very interesting question, Dan--thank you for submitting that (and for the kind words about the podcast).

I gave it some thought, and I don't think losing some of the well-liked players would be something to worry about too much. Why? Because it opens up opportunities for some of the younger players who maybe want to take on a leadership role to do so. I remember how Eli Manning was always reluctant to step up fully as a leader until after Tiki Barber left. I also remember how Daniel Jones always felt like he couldn't be a full-fledged leader with Eli around.

Having these well-liked players sets an example to the other guys on how to lead so that when the time comes and the older guys move on, the younger guys step up. We've seen that this year with Julian Love, Dexter Lawrence, and Andrew Thomas, just to name a few. So no, I'm not overly concerned about guys moving on regarding the leadership aspect as I would be about losing their skill set.

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