Kevin Abrams - Pro Football Rumors

Assistant GM Kevin Abrams Likely To Stay With The Giants

December 28th, 2017 at 6:02pm CST by GregGoldstein

The Giants announced today that they’ve hired former Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman to lead the team’s football operations for the foreseeable future. However, just because the team has brought in a new face to be the head of the front office, doesn’t mean all of the previous decision makers will be on their way out the door. It’s expected that Gettleman will keep current assistant general manager Kevin Abrams on board for next season, according to Ralph Vacchiano of SNY (Twitter link).

Abrams was one of two internal candidates to interview for the general manager position. Marc Ross, the team’s vice president of player evaluation, also spoke to ownership, although nothing has been reported as of yet in regards to his future.

As the presumptive number two in command under former GM Jerry Reese, Abrams was primarily involved with the team’s working of the cap, which will help him to remain a crucial part of the Giants decision making process this offseason. Abrams has been with the organization for past 16 years, so he should help make Gettleman’s transition into the lead role a lot smoother in the weeks ahead.

Gettleman offers experience and a track record as the leader of a front office, but Abrams should continue to have a major footprint in how the team conducts its business in the months to come.

Giants Notes: Abrams, Apple, Shepard, JPP

December 23rd, 2017 at 9:42am CST by Ben Levine

The Giants interviewed interim general manager Kevin Abrams for the team’s full-time position yesterday, lengthening a list of candidates that already includes Giants VP of player personnel Marc Ross, former Giants executive Dave Gettleman and ESPN analyst Louis Riddick. While Abrams had spent the majority of his career as a salary cap guru, he’s focused on proving that he can also build a winning roster.

“My role has been more than just doing the cap stuff,” Abrams told Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.TV. “I wasn’t raised to be a cap guy. It was just the opportunity that was given to me and I was grateful of the opportunity. And the Giants do a great job with everyone — not just me, but we’re all encouraged to grow professionally. And like everyone else, I was getting a lot of opportunities to do that and I tried to take advantage of them whenever I could. A lot of that included being involved with our personnel departments.”

While Giants owner John Mara may be seeking major “wholesale changes,” sources told Vacchiano that Abrams is a serious candidate for the gig. The writer notes that the organization could choose to pair the interim general manager with someone like Gettleman.

Let’s take a look at some more notes from the Giants organization…

While many attributed cornerback Eli Apple‘s tumultuous season to immaturity, Dan Duggan of NJ.com explored the true root of the player’s issues. Ultimately, the reporter attributed the problems to “strife in Apple’s family,” particularly a falling out with his stepfather, Tim. “One of the biggest reasons Eli is declining so much this year as opposed to last year is (Tim’s absence),” Apple’s half-brother Dane Blackson said. “I know everyone always talks about the fame and all of the attention and how all of that can go to your head. But you have to imagine that from middle school to the NFL, Tim was there. Tim made this whole thing happen. Tim didn’t miss a game. Whenever Eli looked for that support, that was always there. Now, this year whenever he goes to look for support, it’s not real, it’s not genuine.” Duggan dug more in Apple’s family issues in a must-read article.
While the 2017 season hasn’t gone as planned for the Giants, one player has emerged as a major piece of the organization’s future. Zach Braziller of The New York Post writes that wideout Sterling Shepard has emerged as a “a future organizational linchpin.” The 2016 second-round pick is on pace to surpass his rookie numbers, as he’s hauled in 54 receptions for 686 yards and two scores. “I was ready to take it on,” Shepard said of the added responsibility. “You don’t expect for your top two receivers to go down. It kind of just throws a lot of weight on you. I’m a second-year player but kind of forced to take that leadership role because I’m the guy in that room with the most experience.”
Jason Pierre-Paul revealed that he’s recovering from a broken finger, although he expects to play this weekend against the Cardinals. Neil Best of Newsday.com believes the defensive end suffered the injury during his early-December matchup against the Raiders.

Giants To Interview Kevin Abrams On Friday

December 21st, 2017 at 5:30pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Giants will interview interim general manager Kevin Abrams for the club’s full-time position on Friday, according to Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com. Abrams will become the fourth candidate to interview for the job, joining ex-Panthers GM Dave Gettleman, Giants vice president of player evaluation Marc Ross, and ESPN commentator Louis Riddick.

Abrams, who has spent 16 seasons as the Giants’ assistant general manager, has reportedly been endorsed by former New York GM Ernie Accorsi, tweets Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports. Accorsi, who is advising the Giants as they search for a Jerry Reese replacement, also has close ties with Gettleman, who is considered the frontrunner for the vacancy.

The Giants could conceivably retain Abrams as general manager and hire Gettleman with a “personnel chief” title, opines Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (Twitter link). Although Garafolo appears to be speculating and not reporting, such an arrangement could make sense. Gettleman’s ouster from Carolina was reportedly tied to his communication issues and gruff style, so assigning more interpersonal issues to Abrams could be a perfect compromise.

Meanwhile, if Riddick is chosen as the Giants’ new GM, he’s expected to attempt to hire Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as the club’s head coach. Riddick and McDaniels were reportedly viewed as a “package deal” during the hiring cycle earlier this year.

Giants Interview Marc Ross For GM Job

December 18th, 2017 at 3:58pm CST by Zachary Links

The Giants announced that they have interviewed Marc Ross for their GM vacancy. Ross has spent more than a decade with the organization, including the last five years as the Giants’ vice president of player evaluation.

Ross’ job places him in charge of the Giants’ college scouting department and the team’s draft. He is said to be among the team’s leading internal candidates for the job, along with interim GM Kevin Abrams. It is expected that Abrams and former Panthers GM Dave Gettleman will also interview this week, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter).

It has been suggested that George Paton (Vikings), Eliot Wolf (Packers), and Joe Douglas (Eagles) could also be among those considered. For now, Ross, Abrams, and Gettleman are the only executives confirmed to have interviews scheduled.

Ross was among the Fritz Pollard Alliance’s suggested candidates for GM jobs last year, though he was not on the list this season.

Giants To Interview Interim GM Kevin Abrams

December 16th, 2017 at 6:38pm CST by Micah Powell

Giants interim general manager Kevin Abrams confirmed he will interview for the full-time job, reports Newsday’s Tom Rock.

A longtime assistant to former GM Jerry Reese, who was fired on Dec. 4, Abrams is expected to meet with owners John Mara and Steve Tisch some time next week though Abrams only confirmed it will take place before the season is over.

One piece of information that gives Abrams a leg up on the competition is the fact New York hasn’t hired a GM from outside the organization since it tabbed George Young in 1979. Abrams joined the Giants 15 years ago and has worked prevalently with the salary cap, though he claims, “I wasn’t raised to be a cap guy; it was just the opportunity that was given to me.”

Shortly after the firing of Reese, who had served as GM since 2007, the MMQB’s Peter King talked with several NFL executives who named Minnesota’s George Paton, Green Bay’s Eliot Wolf and Philadelphia’s Joe Douglas as three of the top new candidates from around the league. He also mentioned former Chiefs GM Scott Pioli and Ravens assistant GM Eric DeCosta among the veterans who could surface in the search.

Giants To Start GM Interviews Next Week

December 13th, 2017 at 11:17am CST by Zachary Links

The Giants are expected to start GM interviews next week, according to Judy Battista of NFL.com (on Twitter). However, they are unlikely to name one before end of the season for fear of missing out on candidates currently with teams.

After Jerry Reese was let go, the Giants did not rule out the possibility of signing his replacement before the end of the calendar year. However, that was always a longshot. By waiting until the offseason, the Giants will give themselves an opportunity to gauge a wider range of executives and give themselves additional time to make the right hire.

The Giants are expected to start with former Panthers GM/Giants exec Dave Gettleman and their own interim GM Kevin Abrams, according to Ralph Vacchiano of SNY (on Twitter). After that, he hears that the Giants will likely meet with two or three other candidates in early January.

Gettleman is said to be the frontrunner for the job, though Abrams will also be given a legitimate chance to be the team’s GM going forward. It sounds like former Chiefs GM John Dorsey also would have been in the mix for the job if the Browns did not pounce on him first.

Dave Gettleman Is Giants’ Top Choice For GM

December 10th, 2017 at 9:30am CST by Rory Parks

We have heard over the past several days that former Panthers GM Dave Gettleman is emerging as a frontrunner for the Giants’ newly-available GM job, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says that Gettleman is currently the team’s first choice to permanently replace longtime decision-maker Jerry Reese. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports hears the same thing, and he says it would be an upset if someone other than Gettleman got the job.

As Rapoport observes, Giants co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch almost always hire individuals with ties to the organization, and Gettleman served as the Pro Personnel Director and the Senior Pro Personnel Analyst with Big Blue before he was hired by Carolina in 2013.

Gettleman was able to get the Panthers out of salary-cap hell and lead the team to the playoffs in each of his first three years in Carolina, including an appearance in Super Bowl 50. Carolina finished 6-10 last season but is back in the playoff hunt in 2017 with a roster largely constructed by Gettleman, which is why his ouster in July was so jarring and why it is no surprise to see him back in the GM conversation so quickly. Rapoport notes that Gettleman has stayed in touch with friend and confidant Ernie Accorsi, who is serving as the Giants’ consultant for their search.

New York, though, does plan to give interim GM Kevin Abrams a legitimate chance to win the job. Rapoport and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com report that the Giants also planned to interview former Chiefs GM John Dorsey before the Browns swooped in and hired him (which is perhaps why Cleveland acted as swiftly as it did).

The Giants want to hire a GM before hiring a head coach. If the team hires Gettleman, current Panthers DC Steve Wilks will get serious consideration for New York’s head coaching job, although the desirability of that position will draw a host of top-tier candidates.

East Notes: Cowboys, Giants, Hackenberg, Jets

December 8th, 2017 at 2:21pm CST by Zachary Links

Jerry Jones offered a measured response to Roger Goodell‘s new extension when asked about it on Friday morning.

“No, I don’t really [have any comment],” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan (transcript via Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News). “We’re having a very important [owners] meeting here in Dallas next week beginning Wednesday. That’s very meaningful. I’m looking forward to that. That’ll be very meaningful as we go forward. One of the things that I think that has been mentioned is any role that I might have had in the extension of Roger. As you know, I’ve been on both ends of it as far as any criticism. It’s been my experience in 30 years in the NFL that to make change and to make positive change — every time we all strive to make the NFL better, I include every owner with that — it’s hard. It’s very, very hard. If you really want to make some changes, you usually end up getting a lot of criticism along the way. It’s happened every time with me when we’ve had meaningful change. … We’ll see how it goes forward, but there’s nothing that has surprised me here.”

While Jones seethes behind closed doors, let’s take a look at the latest from the East divisions:

Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com spoke with people around the league to size up some potential candidates for the Giants‘ GM vacancy. The names he’s hearing include Eliot Wolf (Packers), Nick Caserio (Patriots), Scott Pioli (Falcons), Trent Kirchner (Seahawks), Dave Gettleman (ex-Panthers GM), Louis Riddick (currently with ESPN), and internal candidates Kevin Abrams and Marc Ross.
Can Christian Hackenberg still be the Jets‘ quarterback of the future? The former second round pick has yet to see the field, but Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News won’t rule out the possibility that he could be in the mix next season. For his part, Hackenberg admits that he is anxious to take an NFL snap. “In order to grow and learn, you need to get hit in your mouth,” Hackenberg said. “You need to fail. Then you grow from that. There’s really no intimidation. I got to experience things. I felt like I experienced a lot of really good things this preseason and some things I need to learn from. That’s all part of the process. If you don’t experience both ends of the spectrum, you’re not getting everything out of the adventure.”

NFC East Notes: Giants, Redskins, Jones

December 4th, 2017 at 9:15pm CST by GregGoldstein

Now that the Giants front office and coaching staff is set to go through a number of changes after the firing of Jerry Reese and Ben McAdoo, there’s a ton of speculation of who could be the person put in charge to bring the franchise back to perennial success.

While many people think the hire will come outside the organization, Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network thinks interim GM Kevin Abrams should not be overlooked as the Giants begin their search.

Garafolo notes that Abrams is a “cap guy by trade”, but has worked on his scouting ability in recent years and has “attended multiple NFL seminars” to prepare to lead a football operations department. A number of names are likely to be floated for the job given that the team will likely have a high pick and has a track record of winning, but Abrams seems like he might get a realistic shot at turning his interim tag into a full-time position.

Here’s more from around the NFC East:

Apart from Abrams, Mike Sando of ESPN.com speculated a few candidates from outside the organization who could be contenders for the Giants general manager and head coaching gigs. Sando names front office guys like Nick Caserio from the Patriots, former Panthers GM Dave Gettleman and former Colts President Bill Polian. He also highlights many well known up-and-comers such as Eric DeCosta (Ravens), George Paton (Vikings), Eliot Wolf (Packers) and Terry McDonough (Cardinals) among many others. Sando added that former GM’s Scott Pioli (Falcons) and John Dorsey (free agent) could be intriguing hires as well. In terms of potential head coaching candidates, Sando names guys who were on the teams original list back before they hired McAdoo prior the 2016-17 season. This would include current coordinators like Teryl Austin (Lions) and Mike Smith (Buccaneers). An under-the-radar name to watch is Texans defensive coordinator, Mike Vrabel, who is best known for his time leading the Patriots defense to Super Bowl titles.
While the Redskins are out of the NFC playoff race after losing to the Cowboys last Thursday, that doesn’t mean that team will start resting their players, states John Keim of ESPN.com. He passes along that Head coach Jay Gruden said that he wouldn’t rest some of their injured starters just because the games don’t have postseason implications for the team. “They’re all trying to get back in the lineup,” Gruden said. “They’re going to play hard because they want to win and want to do well. That’s the reason they’re all here. We try to target guys that love football, are passionate about the game and are going to play hard no matter what. For the most part, we’ve got that here. So whether you are on one year left or five years left, doesn’t really matter.” Starters like left tackle Trent Williams, right tackle Morgan Moses and tight end Jordan Reed have all dealt with nagging injuries this season, but it appears that the Redskins won’t just solely be resting key players hoping that could lead to a better draft pick.
Eagles cornerback Sidney Jones has not played in a game this season as he’s continued to rehab the achilles that he had torn back in March. However, the rookie has yet to participate in practice, reports Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). Jones has been eligible to start practicing since the beginning of Week 7, but has just a 21 day time period to be activated to the roster once he does begin to take part in practice. It’s important to note that Berman explains in a follow-up tweet, Jones could just use the last three weeks of the regular season to get extra reps and get a head start on his offseason training. The Eagles currently have corners Jalen Mills, Patrick Robinson, Ronald Darby and Rasul Douglas patrolling the defensive backfield.

Latest On Giants’ Coach, GM Search

December 4th, 2017 at 1:22pm CST by Zachary Links

Ben McAdoo‘s stint in New York was short and ended without a championship, but he did make history in his own way. McAdoo was at the helm for just 28 regular-season games, giving him the lowest total by a Giants head coach since 1930 (as noted by Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, via Twitter). In that season, Benny Friedman spent two games as a co-player-coach.

Starting today, the Giants are officially looking to fill vacancies at head coach and GM. Here’s the latest out of New York/New Jersey:

Giants owner John Mara says his “very strong preference” is to have a separate head coach and GM. However, he does not rule out a dual role if the right candidate emerges (Twitter link via Ralph Vacchiano of SNY).
Mara says that both interim hires (GM Kevin Abrams and head coach Steve Spagnuolo) will be interviewed for the full-time jobs (Twitter link via Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL.com). Personally, I don’t think the odds are in Spagnuolo’s favor, even though he is well-regarded by the organization. After a disastrous 2017 season, it seems more likely that the Giants will opt for a reset when it comes to the next head coach.
Reese was not responsible for the firing of Tom Coughlin and subsequent hiring of McAdoo, Kinkhabwala tweets. When Coughlin was fired, Reese advocated for two candidates over McAdoo.
Former Giants GM Ernie Accorsi has agreed to serve as a consultant in the GM search, Mara announced (Twitter link via team). The owner added that it is possible that a GM hire will be made before the season is through, noting that the team already has some names in mind (Twitter link via Kinkhabwala).
Mara says that McAdoo is the one who initially came up with the plan to bench Eli Manning (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson).