This won’t be the traditional Giants’ front office everyone is accustomed to seeing. And it likely won’t be a typical Giants’ team.
All appeared pretty calm and normal when the Giants reduced their final roster down to 53 with little surprises.
That all changed when quarterback Davis Webb and lineman John Jerry shockingly were cut. Ironically, Webb was signed by the Jets.
From there, the team went on a waiver-wire shopping spree, picking up six players in the process. Four of them were players in the secondary.
Tuesday the purge continued.
Defensive end Romeo Okwara, a 23-year old and 2016 undrafted rookie, was cut, and the team added John Jenkins, a 29-year-old defensive tackle, who was waived by the Bears.
That’s seven new faces who have a few days to adjust to their new team. Someone must have been doing their homework for the sudden makeover.
There could be more as the Giants reportedly worked out veteran quarterback Matt McGloin Monday.
Yet, remember, the Giants wanted a new look and cleaned house by getting rid of Ben McAdoo and Jerry Reese.
John Mara uncharacteristically pulled that trigger late last season. He apparently then hired a traditional Giants GM and head coach, conservative with both picks of GM Dave Gettleman and head coach Pat Shurmur.
But these hires came with a bit of uncharacteristic panache.
The Giants didn’t draft a quarterback as the tradition playbook called for them to do with an aging quarterback and a plethora of young talent.
Instead, they went for another potential game-breaker who they believed would instantly raise the bar.
Gettleman and Shurmur already have firmly placed their stamp on this team.
Now it is time to see how it develops.
The football world is waiting to see how the Giants’ offense can unveil a triple option threat that could be impossible to defend with Saquon Barkley, Odell Beckham Jr., and Evan Engram. Barkley hasn’t played since the opening quarter of the first preseason game, and you can wonder how will he respond off a hamstring injury.
They will also wait to see how the revamped offensive line can mesh and protect Eli Manning, wondering if the 37-year-old can return to being an effective play-action quarterback.
The defense has a new 3-4 look, but they still present a lukewarm feeling, wondering how they can generate a consistent pass rush and stabilize their secondary.
This is the team that expects to contend with their restructuring and not rebuilding. It is a two-year window with Manning and expect to see some more change.
We will get an acid test of their newly created environment within the first seven games. The Giants open with Jacksonville, travel to Dallas for a nationally televised game next Sunday, travel back to Texas for a game with Houston, head back home for New Orleans, hit the road for Carolina, return home against Philadelphia in a nationally televised game , and then head to Atlanta for another nationally televised game.
By the end of October, we will know whether they are a contender or pretender.
Whatever the outcome, it is bound to get more interesting.