Last offseason, following the New York Giants’ hiring of Joe Schoen as their next general manager, the team hired Brian Daboll to be their next head coach.
While their names may not have been familiar to many Giants fans, there was a sense of confidence in the new general manager-head coach combo given their time together building the Buffalo Bills into a contender.
The two have not forgotten their roots and have even brought over some talent from their time in Buffalo. That did not come as a surprise to Bills general manager Brandon Beane.
“Whenever we cut down our practice squad, we know we can lose guys, but particularly with Joe and Brian moving to New York, they knew our players and so you know it’s going to be harder to get guys through the cracks,” Beane told NJ Advance Media at the NFL owners’ meetings. “So I was thinking about it when we made the moves, but if it wasn’t the two guys they got, it would have been a couple of other guys that they would have done the same thing with.”
The Giants added former Bills offensive lineman Jon Feliciano and running back Matt Breida in free agency last year.
It didn’t end there as the Giants claimed defensive back Nick McCloud just days before the season began and wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins as a midseason pickup off waivers.
“He’s a pro and a hard worker,” Beane said of McCloud. “Nick knows what he’s good at and he knows the areas where he has to improve and sometimes players fail because they don’t recognize where they struggle. Nick is also instinctive and smart. He knows pre-snap what’s coming and it helps him get into the right position.”
Losing Hodgins also came as no surprise.
“We had thought for a couple of years that we could lose Isaiah,” Beane said. “We knew he could play.”
McCloud and Hodgins were great finds for Schoen. McCloud played over 50 percent of both the defensive and special teams snaps last season.
Hodgins turned into one of Daniel Jones’ favorite receivers down the stretch and had a big performance in the wild-card game against the Minnesota Vikings.
