Brinkley

Giants signed Brinkley as a backup MLB. That's the topper, the final piece - make your Super Bowl LI reservations, 'cuz NYG is on the way.

What was this about? I think it speaks volumes for their intentions for the year, their view of the team and their road map for the rest of the FA signing period. First: Brinkley isn't awful; he played OK last year. Not great, but not terrible either. Of course on this Giants defense, he stood out somehow as a beacon of mediocrity on a team that had the worst defense in the league last year and moreover, was the 3rd worst defense in the history of the NFL. NYG signed a designated MLB starter in Keenan Robinson and we needed a backup, so we signed Brinkley. We're not in love with either player, obviously, else we would have signed one of them for more than one year. We also picekd these guys off the bargain rack -  we didn't exactly have to outbid anyone to get them. In fact, Reese was quoted as saying "we hope it will be a bounce back year for Robinson". Maybe one or the other of them will surprise us, but in any case we will more than likely have a new MLB in the starting line up come 2017. Nice to rebuild the defense with DL help and with a new CB, but it certainly shows that Reese hasn't changed his mind about the limited value of LBs in today's NFL.

The other thing it shows is that the Giants ownership hasn't given Reese a blank checkbook to buy FAs. Rather, after the first rush of expensive signings, NYG is being much more prudent in throwing money around, even though we have enough cap space to sign 1 or 2 more premium FAs. NYG did not sign OL help, WR or S. I guess when Mara said it's on Reese, he wants to test him in the draft as well as get fat on the FA market. It's almost as if owners are willing to have a "pretty good" yea in 2016 instead of reaching for the brass ring. Instead they will go for it next year with Reese or some other FA driving the bus.

Why wouldn't the Giants make a play for Penn, Okung or one of the other OL FAs. Neither one signed for big money and Okung did not even demand a signing bonus. It's one thing to go into the season with an average right side of the OL and hope to improve in the draft or later in the preseason with other teams' cuts. But it's not the same when you don't have any players at all on the OL.