Bobby Hart – © USA TODAY Sports Images
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DAVE GETTLEMAN FIRES MARC ROSS, CUTS BOBBY HART, BENCHES ERECK FLOWERS…
Dave Gettleman, the new general manager of the New York Giants, isn’t fooling around. On Friday, he said, “My plan is to come in here every day and kick ass.” On Saturday, the ass-kicking commenced. The Giants have fired Vice President of Player Evaluation Marc Ross, who was in charge of the team’s college scouting process. The Giants also waived/injured starting right tackle Bobby Hart (ankle).
The 44-year old Ross had been with the Giants since 2007 and officially served as the director of college scouting for six years before his promotion to vice president of player evaluation in 2013. Ross was also one of the four candidates to interview for the general manager vacancy that was given to Gettleman.
“I worked with Marc when I was with the organization before,” said Gettleman. “I have great respect for him and high regard for his work. Clearly, we’re going in a different direction, but that doesn’t make these kinds of decisions any easier.”
Hart was drafted in the 7th round of the 2015 NFL Draft by the Giants. In three seasons, Hart played in 33 regular-season games with 21 starts at right tackle, including seven starts this past season. According to various media reports, Hart had mentally checked out, refused to practice this week, and had told the Giants he would not play this Sunday against the Redskins.
More troubling is that left tackle Ereck Flowers, who is officially “questionable” with a groin injury, has reportedly also checked out and told coaches he will not play this Sunday. Newsday is reporting that Gettleman came close to cutting Flowers and may do so at some point in coming months. According to press reports, rookie Chad Wheeler will now start at left tackle against the Redskins and rookie Adam Bisnowaty will start at right tackle.
The Giants placed wide receiver Tavarres King (concussion) on Injured Reserve and signed offensive linemen Adam Bisnowaty and Nick Becton and tight end Ryan O’Malley to the 53-man roster from the Practice Squad. The other roster vacancy came from cornerback Eli Apple being suspended from the team.
The Giants drafted Bisnowaty in the 6th round of the 2017 NFL Draft. The 6’6”, 307-pound Bisnowaty played left tackle at the collegiate level but the Giants moved him to right tackle as a rookie. He has spent the entire season on the Practice Squad.
The 6’6”, 322-pound Becton was originally signed as an undrafted rookie free agent after the 2013 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers. He has spent time with the Chargers (2013), Giants (2014), New Orleans Saints (2014), Chicago Bears (2015-2016), Detroit Lions (2017), and Kansas City Chiefs (2017). Becton has played in six regular-season games with no starts. The Giants signed him to the Practice Squad in November 2017.
O’Malley was originally signed as an undrafted rookie free agent by the Oakland Raiders after the 2016 NFL Draft. He spent time on both the Practice Squad and 53-man roster of the Raiders in 2016. The Raiders cut him in September 2017 and he spent a few weeks on the Practice Squad of the Bills. The Giants signed the 6’6”, 260-pound O’Malley to the Practice Squad in December 2017.
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Eric Kennedy
Eric Kennedy is Editor-in-Chief of BigBlueInteractive.com, a publication of Big Blue Interactive, LLC. Follow @BigBlueInteract on Twitter.
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