The New York Giants are a very young team. I was extremely surprised to see just how young, when I checked out the roster this morning (courtesy of Giants.com). I decided to look deeper into the college career of Linval “The Anvil” Joseph today and was going to write an article about him (I’ll get to you soon Linval), when I noticed the “years of NFL experience” next to each players name. Needless to say, I was very surprised at what I read. I started to wonder if I was just getting old and if things had always been this way or if this truly was a youth movement going on in New York. I understand that a player with five years of NFL experience is technically a veteran but I would hardly say that he was an old player. In fact, I would say a player at the five year experience mark is just hitting his prime. I used the five year mark as a starting point and worked my way up the ladder of experience. Players at the four year mark and below would certainly be considered “young” in football terms.
The one thing I learned by taking a closer look at the roster was, the oldest three players and spots on the list, all belong to the offensive line. The New York Giants offensive line is one of the best in football and I am not suggesting that they can’t play anymore, I want to make that clear. There is only one player on the team with ten years of NFL experience and only two players on the team, with nine years of experience. All three of them are starting offensive linemen. Giants GM Jerry Reese addressed the offensive line last year by drafting OT William Beatty and again this year by drafting OG Mitch Petrus. I would love to see the current offensive line play for another decade but it is just not going to happen. There are currently 37 players on the roster with four years or less NFL experience.
Personally, I do not look at this as a bad thing. I think the team is doing exactly what they need to do, in order to make another run at the Super Bowl. I have complete faith in Jerry Reese and the rest of the Giants staff. I also disagree with all of the media hype about Tom Coughlin’s job being in jeopardy this year. The man won the Super Bowl in 2007, coached the team to a 12-4 record in 2008 and was plagued by injuries in 2009. Last year was not coach Coughlin’s fault in my opinion. But enough about my opinions, let’s take a look at what the Giants roster tells us.
The Number of players with NFL experience, by years.
10 years of NFL experience – 1 player
9 years of NFL experience – 2 players
8 years of NFL experience – 1 player
7 years of NFL experience – 2 players
6 years of NFL experience – 4 players
5 years of NFL experience – 6 players
What do you think about the youth movement going on in New York? Is this something that will help or hurt the team during the 2010 NFL season?
RD – NYGReporter.com
nygreporter.com 