New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen says one of his first orders of business will be doing a “deep dive” into the team’s recent history of injury.
“Some of the issues around here in the past have been injuries. We need to do a deep dive into that and make sure we’re doing everything we can so these players can put their best foot forward on Sundays,” Schoen told Tiki and Tierney.
It will also be important for the next head coach to make sure the injury issues are capped.
“Are you going to listen to Ronnie Barnes and the guys downstairs? Are you going to listen to the strength coach? Are you going to listen to the sports performance when they tell you we need to pull back and don’t keep pushing?” Schoen said.
But retired Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes doesn’t necessarily believe there needs to be a deep dive. He remains plugged into the organization and claims the injury issues are the result of something very obvious.
He won’t have to look real hard or long, just ask the vets.
These men were over worked, I know this for a fact. https://t.co/GtDYfcwQdS
— 𝗟𝗮𝘄𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗧𝘆𝗻𝗲𝘀 (@lt4kicks) January 27, 2022
Although former general manager Dave Gettleman and head coach Joe Judge repeatedly said they made decisions in the players’ best interest, several did seem to return early. And being overworked on top of that likely stemmed from a paper-thin roster.
But that only explains the previous two years. The Giants’ injury issues extend well beyond that and all the way back to the Tom Coughlin era in 2009. Since then, the Giants are the league’s most-injured team, having players miss over 3,000 combined games due to injury.
No one else in the NFL has reached the 3,000-game threshold over that same span.
Many maintain that Ronnie Barnes and the Giants’ medical staff are the best in the business, but the results no longer seem to reflect that. Even if you can explain away the injury issues from the previous two years, there is still more than a decade of unanswered injury questions.
The Giants hope Schoen is able to uncover something that has clearly been missed. Something beyond being overworked the previous two years.
