The Giants signed cornerback Zack Bowman, tackle Charles Brown and defensive end Robert Ayers this week, bringing the number of free agents signed from outside the organization to 13 since the start of the offseason.
Assuming all of them make the team along with members of the draft class, it will make for a change of more than a quarter of the roster from the 2013 season. They’ve also overhauled the offensive coaching staff, starting with the hiring of Ben McAdoo as the team’s new offensive coordinator. That makes it hard to argue with coach Tom Coughlin’s take that 2014 will be “a year of transition” for his team.
Coughlin acknowledges the challenges that come with that amount of change, but he also thinks that all of the change will serve as stimulation for him and the other members of the organization that are sticking around.
“I said all along that the stimulation here, even for our veteran players, for Eli (Manning) to re-focus and to be energized by new, the new learning, the new presentation of material, the different terminology, the things that must be mastered before you even get out of the huddle. I think all of those things are stimulating,” Coughlin said in an interview on the team’s website.
The Giants have done their most extensive work on the offensive line and in the secondary as they attempt to snap a two-year absence from the playoffs and the results of those moves will go a long way toward determining how the Giants fare in the coming season. Should they not work out, next offseason may feature even bigger changes for Coughlin and the rest of the organization.
