Pat Shurmur: Kyle Lauletta Darius Slayton Jersey Draft , Alex Tanney “better choices for us” than Davis Webb Pat Shurmur knew the “why did you cut Davis Webb?” questions were coming during Monday’s media availability. After a brief introductory statement he took a deep breath and got down to business.So, why veteran Alex Tanney and rookie Kyle Lauletta instead of Webb, the second-year man most had assumed was the No. 2 quarterback since he spent the spring and summer taking nearly all the second-team reps?“I feel like they are better choices for us now,” Shurmur said.“I think I mentioned long ago there was no depth chart behind Eli (Manning). We were trying to figure out who the guys playing quarterback were going to be behind Eli. He got a lot of reps, and I think it was probably that where people start to assume because he’s taking second string reps that he’s a second string quarterback, and it didn’t play out that way.”Shurmur called Webb “a young player that competed hard.”“There are so many things about him that are good,” Shurmur said. “He’s an outstanding worker, he cares about the game a great deal, and I’m hopeful he’s going to get another opportunity.”So, why Lauletta and Tanney instead of Webb?On Lauletta:“I like the fact that he’ll decide what he’s looking at, see it and pull the trigger,” Shurmur said. “He’s very decisive in what he does. He’s a gamer of sorts and we’re looking forward to working with that.”On Tanney:“I do like having a veteran presence in that group,” Shurmur said. “Here’s the thing with a veteran backup quarterback. They can go in and function with very few reps and I think that’s an attribute that I look for in a guy that could potentially be a backup to a guy like Eli, because they don’t get that many reps during the training sessions.”Shurmur was asked if it hurts to cut players like Webb and Darian Thompson, who were recent third-round picks.“Really, at some point, regardless of where you’re drafted Darius Slayton NFL Jersey , once you’re settled in as a player on the team, that kind of goes away. We’re all out here trying to earn a spot every day, players and coaches. So, at some point, whether you’re drafted in the third round or the fifth round, that sort of goes away at some point and you play it out,” Shurmur said.Asked a second time about cutting a recent third-round pick, Shurmur reiterated his answer.“Let’s forget for a minute he was a third round pick,” he said. “He was on our team as a Giant and we watched him go through what we do in training camp and what we do in practice and we made a decision to move on and go with the other guys. Let’s forget for a minute that he was a third round pick. I really do mean that. At some point, that all goes away.”Kyle LaulettaNoah K. Murray-USA TODAY SportsKyle Lauletta: “I’m very ready” if I need to playShurmur did not commit to whether it will be the rookie Lauletta or the veteran Tanney who dresses as the No. 2 quarterback vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars, saying only “we’ll see.”Lauletta is confident he can succeed if called upon.“I’m ready. I think I’m very ready and if my number were to ever get called, I think I would be ready to go and I’d be very, very excited to step in there and help the team win,” Lauletta said. “I have all the confidence in the world in myself and despite how I perform out on the field, I’m always going to carry that. Like I said, if indeed I do have to play this season at some point, then I’ll be ready to go Darius Slayton NFL Draft , no doubt about that.”Lauletta was also asked if he knew what it was about his play that impressed Shurmur and GM Dave Gettleman.“I don’t know, I think just doing what the coaches asked me to do - be a quick decision maker, be smart with the football, be accurate, let the guys get yards after the catch by throwing it accurately and just knowing where to go with the football,” Lauletta said. “There were some rough practices towards the end of camp and a couple games I wished I played a little bit better, but all in all I felt like I showed improvement throughout the whole camp and I was on the right track, and I think there’s a lot I can improve on and a lot I will improve on. “Like I said, we have great coaches, especially coach Shurmur being an offensive guy. He’s been a great help to me and I think I can only keep getting better with him at the helm.”Alex TanneyVincent Carchietta-USA TODAY SportsAlex Tanney wasn’t following the quarterback dramaWhile everyone else obsessed over the Giants initially keeping four quarterbacks, then surprisingly cutting Davis Webb, Alex Tanney went about his business. He entered the league an an undrafted free agent in 2012, and this make it/don’t make it dance is old hat to him.“I don’t follow any of that stuff for that reason right there. I wasn’t paying attention. I was just waiting by my phone and if I was going to hear anything, I wanted to hear it from those guys (coaches),” Tanney said.“I just tried to take my mind off it. I tried to play some golf. I’m used to this experience, it’s something I’ve been through quite a few times. Most times I try to hang out with my wife, but she wasn’t up here. I just tried to keep myself busy.”Tanney’s family is back in Tennessee.Will Tanney be the second or third quarterback? He isn’t speculating about that Darius Slayton Buffalo Bills Jersey , either.“I’m just going to keep preparing the way I’ve always prepared throughout my entire career, that’s like I’m going to play, and that decision is ultimately up to the coaches,” he said. Let’s examine the reasons, and discuss whether they are correct" New York Giants NewsGiants’ future is bleak, says ESPNNew,258commentsLet’s examine the reasons, and discuss whether they are correctEDTShare this storyShare this on FacebookShare this on TwitterShareAll sharing optionsShareAll sharing options for:Giants’ future is bleak, says ESPNTwitterFacebookRedditPocketFlipboardEmailPhoto by Joe Robbins/Getty ImagesNew York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman likes to say that the Giants are “building.”Well, if this were the story of the ‘Three Little Pigs,’ the Giants might be building a house of straw. At least, that is the opinion of a trio of ESPN analysts who placed the Giants 31st of 32 NFL teams in ESPN’s future power rankings [subscription only]. Those rankings are a projection of the next three seasons.Only the Miami Dolphins are below the Giants in the opinion of ESPN’s analysts.ESPN scored five categories — overall roster (minus quarterback), quarterback, coaching, draft, front office. Let’s examine the comments from the trio of ESPN analysts — Field Yates, Louis Riddick and Kevin Seifert — and offer some thoughts on those broad stroke remarks.Valentine’s View: I’m not sure I follow Yates here. The reality is he is right that the Giants “came under more scrutiny” than just about any other team’s Youth Michael Strahan Jerseys , and that there “isn’t much public trust in Gettleman’s decision-making.” Those things, though, won’t “result in a long 2019 season.”What could result in a long 2019 season, and by extension a long three years since that was the premise of the rankings, is if Gettleman has been wrong about too many of his choices.Former Minnesota Vikings GM Jeff Diamond addressed Gettleman’s decisions and the resulting outcry during an appearance on the ‘Valentine’s Views’ podcast. I’m reminded right now of a couple of the things Diamond said:“He doesn’t have to explain his draft picks to anybody except John Mara. He really just needs to go about his business now. All he needs to say to the fan base is ‘let it all play out.’ Let’s see what happens.” ...“The best thing is just go ahead, stop talking about, stop defending the pick. You’re not serving yourself or the organization well in that way. Just go about your business and see what happens.“What’s done is done. Let’s give this time to play out. From Gettleman’s standpoint, he doesn’t need to talk about it because it just really fuels the fire.”That, honestly, is where I am. What anyone thinks of the decisions that have been made no longer matters. What matters is how things play out for the Giants on the field going forward. Also, my public service reminder: Gettleman has not been tearing apart the Patriots. The Giants have missed the playoffs six of the past seven seasons. They’ve been broken. He’s trying to put them back together. Whether you like his methods or not doesn’t matter. Only the end result matters. If they win, you will be happy. If they don’t, you won’t.We’ll see what happens.Valentine’s View: Whenever Louis Riddick speaks about the Giants I believe it is important to remember that he was the only other candidate to get an interview before the Giants chose Gettleman as GM. We have examined on a couple of occasions how the Giants could be different if Riddick had gotten the job [here and here]. Riddick’s opinion that Haskins would have been a better choice than Jones doesn’t really matter. Neither does the idea that long-time NFL personnel man and analyst Gil Brandt loves Jones and is reminded of a young Peyton Manning when watching him.What matters is whether or not Gettleman ends up being right that the Giants can play good offense with Manning at the helm and Beckham in Cleveland, and whether or not Jones will eventually prove up to the task of being the next franchise quarterback.Valentine’s View: There is an impression that the Giants, a traditional and sometimes slow-moving organization that values stability, are stuck in the past. That perhaps they are playing checkers while most of the NFL has advanced to chess. Former NFL executive Michael Lombardi is a leading proponent of this theory.Is it correct?I have said before that the fingerprints of George Young, GM from 1979-1997 Michael Strahan Jerseys Stitched , are still imprinted upon the Giants. Ernie Accorsi worked for Young, and both Jerry Reese and Gettleman worked for Accorsi.It is true that Gettleman is an old-school believer in the idea that the basic tenets of run the ball, stop the run and rush the passer remain central to playing winning football. It is also true that Gettleman loves his hog mollies, believes in the credo that big players allow you to compete and has at times spoken dismissively of modern analytics. Finally, yes the Giants have stuck with an aging Eli Manning longer than many in the media and fan base would have preferred.Matt Williamson examined this question earlier in the offseason, and offered this conclusion:“... while it looks like Giants are archaic in their approach of replacing positions of little value with players at the same spot, the logic behind these moves is sound. Also, it must be noted that the analytics people are now very much believers that the best way to build a defense is investing in cornerbacks. This is a newer vantage point that New York subscribes to. The Giants are on board with this strategy and including the supplemental draft, have added three highly regarded cornerback prospects in less than one calendar year.“Gettleman and the Giants are easy targets of critics right now. His interactions with the media and the market they play in certainly does not help the way the Giants are currently perceived. That being said and again, there is no denying that New York does do things their own way and with some traditional philosophies in place, but the Giants rebuild might just be a little less old-fashioned than most seem to think.”Traditional philosophies or not, the view here is that over time Gettleman will do a nice job adding ancillary pieces and building the talent across the roster. While we need the benefit of time to be certain, it seems that he has strung together two good draft classes.In reality, all of this will come back to the central question of whether or not Gettleman and the Giants are right about Jones. If they are, everything else will work itself out. If they aren’t, the Giants will be mired in mediocrity — or worse — for years to come.