Dominate the Super Bowl-Chapter 967 - 966 Wishful Abacus

Under pressure, make timely damage control, stay calm and objective.

Because of this, the Arizona Cardinals’ decisive choices have earned widespread praise across the league. They made the decision that best aligns with the current interests of the team.

This requires courage and audacity.

Meanwhile, the Arizona Cardinals replaced their head coach, demonstrating the determination to start anew during a period of struggle, a move that truly deserves recognition.

However, not every decision receives universal acclaim.

This time, it’s the New York Giants.

Following the ridiculously poor strategy in handling their quarterback situation at the end of the 2017 season, the New York Giants once again became the league’s laughingstock in their approach to quarterbacks.

This year, holding the sixth overall draft pick, the New York Giants decided early on that Little Manning would remain in New York and continue as the starter. Regardless of whether people agree with this absurd decision, at least the Giants’ management team had formed a train of thought. So, what should they do during the draft?

Don’t forget, during the offseason, the New York Giants traded superstar wide receiver Little Beckham to the Cleveland Browns.

Thus, the Giants could strengthen their wide receiver group; however, the talent pool for this year’s wide receivers is mediocre at best. Alternatively, the Giants could reinforce their offensive line—

The Giants’ offensive line is notoriously awful across the league. The number of sacks Little Manning endures each season is always among the highest, making pocket quarterbacks suffer like punching bags.

Now, with the Little Manning-Saquon Barkley quarterback-running back combination, strengthening the offensive line to revive their offense is unquestionably a sound strategy.

Yet the Giants?

With the sixth overall pick, they selected Duke University quarterback Daniel Jones.

The league: ...

The shock and astonishment led to silence.

First, Duke University’s recent performance has been lackluster, not even ranking highly within the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Second, Daniel Jones never surpassed three thousand passing yards during his three years in college, at best a third-round pick. freeweɓnøvel.com

Finally, this year’s quarterback talent is generally underwhelming. Aside from Murray, there’s hardly anyone notable. Other teams weren’t even considering quarterbacks—

And this is validated by the facts: only three quarterbacks were selected in the first round of this year’s draft. Apart from the Arizona Cardinals, who are in a slump, and the Washington Redskins, whose starting quarterback Smith suffered a life-threatening injury, no other teams are focused on quarterbacks.

So, the result?

What exactly are the New York Giants thinking?

Some might argue the Giants are grooming a successor to Little Manning, isn’t that reasonable?

The problem is, before and after the embarrassing debacle they caused at the end of 2017, the Giants never seriously developed a rookie quarterback. Now, having confirmed Little Manning as the starting quarterback for the new season, they’ve gone ahead and used the sixth overall pick on a quarterback when there’s a lack of standout rookies.

And it’s a quarterback whose ceiling is a third-round talent.

This—what kind of logic is this?

Wake up, wake up! All along, it’s been the New York Jets acting as the weirdos during the draft. How did the New York Giants catch the bug?

Stupidity is apparently contagious?

When Goodell announced that the New York Giants’ pick was Daniel Jones, almost everyone was dumbfounded. Then, Lawson from "inside the league" uttered a famous quote:

"Are the New York Giants planning to draft a second Little Manning?"

Not because of their playing style, but because Daniel Jones actually resembles a younger Little Manning, to the extent that people suspected he might be Little Manning’s illegitimate son.

Originally, Lawson just blurted out the remark. He immediately regretted it since it wasn’t his style—he doesn’t like gossip or poking fun at off-field matters. However, unexpectedly, it set social media ablaze.

Everyone suddenly saw the light: Oh, so that’s why!

The Giants found themselves speechless.

Team owner John Mara stood on stage, handed Daniel Jones a number 1 jersey, and forced a smile. Facing the scrutinizing stares, he wore an unreadable expression:

Back when Brady started out, it was like this; back when Rodgers started out, it was like this; back when Little Manning started out, it was like this.

That composed demeanor led people to wonder: Did they misjudge Daniel Jones?

But as soon as Mara turned away, he erupted in frustration, cursing furiously. They hoped their audacious choice would earn applause and admiration. Instead, the Giants had become the biggest joke?

So, should they really rely on the running back?

Last year, Lee Wei was highly anticipated. Although they didn’t manage to acquire him, they ended up making a winning bet during the draft. Barkley successfully took the mantle as the team’s centerpiece. This was also the reason the Giants felt confident trading away the increasingly spotlight-hogging Little Beckham. Now, in hindsight, they should continue to strongly promote Barkley.

Who knows? Maybe Barkley, like Lee Wei, will become the Giants’ crucial backbone, carrying them to success in the 2019 season.

Hastily and angrily, Mara stormed out of Nashville in humiliation, unable to hold back the thought: If they had drafted Lee Wei and Mahomes back then…?

From every angle, this year is certainly an off-year: rookie talent lacks excitement, and general managers are less impulsive about making bold moves. Even the "upset" by the Giants in the draft that set social media ablaze ultimately didn’t involve anything significant. It left the entire draft feeling lackluster.

Teams—unremarkable.

Rookies—unremarkable.

It’s hard to make something out of nothing. Despite teams yearning for hidden gems and hoping to challenge the Kansas City Chiefs in the new season, the rookie market continues to disappoint. Looking back at the past month of noise and chaos in the free market, all questions finally have their answers.

So, what about the two-time defending champions, the Kansas City Chiefs?

After making big moves in 2017, the Chiefs traded away a slew of draft picks, limiting their activity. The results of the 2018 draft were mediocre, with no standout players emerging.

Still, this year remains worth looking forward to—

In fact, the Chiefs made the most praiseworthy move on the first day of the draft, once again earning applause for Veach.

During the big moves two years ago, Veach traded away three consecutive first-round picks but later reclaimed some picks from the Chicago Bears.

This year, the Chiefs owned the first-round 24th overall pick from the Chicago Bears. Veach didn’t jump the gun.

With patient waiting and careful observation, Veach concluded that this year’s rookie class lacked first-round value—or at least provided limited value to the Chiefs. Though gaps needed filling, there weren’t any promising investment targets among the rookies.

So… Veach started shopping their 24th pick.

Ultimately, under Veach’s leadership, the Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, and Seattle Seahawks completed a minor shake-up of a three-team trade.

The Chiefs’ cost was their 2019 first-round, third-round, and a conditional 2020 second-round draft pick, in exchange for Oakland Raiders’ 2019 third-round pick, a 2020 second-round pick from the Seattle Seahawks, and one Defensive End—

Frank Clark.