Ex-NFL GM Questions Giants' Roster Building Direction

Michael Lombardi believes the Giants lack an identity after viewing "Hard Knocks" footage.

Aug 18, 2020; Thousand Oaks California, USA; A HBO Hard Knocks film cameraman shoots video footage at Los Angeles Rams training camp at Cal Lutheran University. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Perhaps it’s just a force of habit from having once been an NFL general manager, where everything done behind closed doors remains behind closed doors, but former NFL general manager Mike Lombardi isn’t a fan of what the New York Giants organization has allowed to be shown on the new off-season iteration of Hard Knocks.

Lombardi’s biggest gripe seems to be that the Giants are baring their souls to the world, thus coming across as vulnerable.

"I can't believe the access that the New York Giants have allowed inside their building..

Watching Hard Knocks it feels like there's no identity with this team" ~ @mlombardiNFL #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/Vm6eirAaMG

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) July 17, 2024

“What I find missing when I watch this show is there’s no identity for the Giants,” Lombardi said this past week on the Pat McAfee Show. 

“There is no systematic, ‘This is who we are,’ and that started in 1979 when the great George Young came in and said, basically, ‘We are going to create a system of scouting that is going to put a team on the field that has great size and speed.

“I watch this show and I see a team that is basically every player is evaluated individually, so they’re adding talent, not building a team. That’s my one concern.”

Lombardi, a self-proclaimed Bill Parcells/George Young disciple, is basing his opinion on what’s been shown on television. In reality, the Giants currently have an identity they’re trying to change (that of a team that has morphed into a mess in the last decade plus.   

Lombardi’s bigger point is that no one outside of 1925 Giants Drive knows for sure if the Giants aspire to be a smashmouth team or an aerial show. But even then, that identity shouldn’t be that hard to figure out if one looks at head coach Brian Daboll’s history as an offensive coordinator. 

Lombardi then criticizes the Giants for having too many cooks in the kitchen when building the roster.

“When I watch it, everything comes down to, ‘We can get this guy, okay, well maybe we get that guy.’ And then everybody has a different opinion. You know, the one thing the great Charlie Munger once said… ‘If you wanna make a bad decision, ask a lot of people.’ And that's what I watch when I see that.” 

Lombardi’s concern is understandable, as sometimes, having too many voices in the room can make a decision more complex. But while Schoen welcomes multiple opinions, he is the one who has the final say (for proof of that, look no further than Schoen’s interactions with team co-owner John Mara about Saquon Barkley).

The Giants' identity has long been about being “tough, smart, and dependable,” an identity the other 31 NFL teams have claimed.

But it’s also important to remember that Schoen and Daboll have been at this for three years now and that it even took Young, hired as the general manager in 1979, three seasons to get the team back to the playoffs, which they did once in Young’s first five seasons as general manager.

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