ASHBURN, Va. — Josh Norman’s eyes widened, and his voice filled with anger.
He was discussing a man he loathes, Giants general manager Dave Gettleman, who bungled Norman’s exit from the Carolina Panthers in 2016.
Gettleman has said he tries to handle these touchy situations — like Giants safety Landon Collins’ departure to the Washington Redskins this past offseason — by giving the player “dignity.”
Norman thinks that’s a lie.
Other players released or traded by Gettleman over the years agree — Odell Beckham, Steve Smith, and especially Collins, who returns to MetLife Stadium in Week 4, for Washington’s game at the Giants. They never felt like Gettleman gave them their dignity.
“When you look at that, it’s full of [expletive],” Norman, a Redskins cornerback, told NJ Advance Media. “And that’s what I feel about the situation and him. If you really want to be honest, every time I see him, I really want to like smash their face in the grass. That’s how I really feel about it.”
And now, in his second season as Giants GM, Gettleman will be involved in quarterback Eli Manning’s exit — the franchise’s touchiest subject in recent memory. The Giants already have benched Manning for rookie Daniel Jones. But 14 games remain in this rebuilding season, so a lot can change.
Will Gettleman botch the delivery again, this time with the beloved Manning, who has won two Super Bowls? Will Gettleman leave more hurt feelings in his wake, thanks to what his former players say is a disrespectful lack of communication? Gettleman has an unimpressive track record in these situations, according to players involved, even though some of his moves made football sense.
“No dignity at all,” Collins told NJ Advance Media. “I didn’t know what was going on. He’s a liar. He lied to everybody. So that’s a man I do not trust. I would hope nobody else would, too.”
***
Collins, a captain who played through injuries, wanted to spend his entire career with the Giants. But Gettleman never offered him a contract, and let him walk in free agency.
Collins said Gettleman never spoke to him during the process — and that bothers Collins more than the walking papers. Collins also was frustrated by what he perceived as dishonest, mixed signals from Gettleman about the team’s willingness to trade him.
“I never talked to Dave,” Collins said. “Never talked to him. It sat with me bad. Just talk to somebody. Let us know something. If you’re going to trade me, trade me. If you’re going to let me go, let me go. Whatever. Don’t have a decision out of blue like that, for me to do this much for that organization — before he got there.
"If you can’t pay me, you can’t keep me, or I’m not what you’re looking for with your future, all right. Just let me know. It’s all good. I haven’t talked to this man not one time. The handling of it was horrible.”
Collins said Giants co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch spoke to Collins, after he left for Washington. They thanked Collins and “apologized” for how his departure went.
Collins didn’t bring up his Gettleman concerns with Mara and Tisch. He wanted to move on. But he later felt like he couldn’t, after how Gettleman characterized the Giants’ offseason house-cleaning moves.
“Once he came out and started talking about how we were problems, and they got rid of the problems, I’m trying to figure out: When have I ever been a problem?” Collins said. “Don’t group me in something that I wasn’t the cause of.
“I’ve got a lot of animosity toward [the Giants]. But when that week comes down, that’s when I’m going to let that loose. I’m over it. But once that week comes, all that aggression is going to come back.”
As Collins spoke in the Redskins’ locker room, a nearby teammate looked over and raised his eyebrows, surprised at Collins’ candor.
“I don’t give a [expletive],” Collins said.
***
Collins wasn’t the first.
Before the Panthers fired Gettleman as their GM in 2017, he managed to anger other players with his approach.
After the 2014 season, he cut well-respected running back DeAngelo Williams, who later called Gettleman a “snake” and said Gettleman didn’t bother to reach out when Williams’ mother died of breast cancer in 2014.
Smith, an all-time great Panthers receiver, was furious at Gettleman for not telling him he was released after the 2013 season. Smith said he heard the news on the radio after he dropped his kids off at school. Gettleman had previously offended Smith by telling him he was a “shadow” of the player he used to be — and that he was jealous of Cam Newton.
"He doesn’t even have the cojones to tell us to our face,” Smith later told Charlotte radio station WFNZ.
These days, Smith isn’t as eager to criticize Gettleman. But when asked about Gettleman’s Giants decisions, Smith made it clear he still disapproves of his people skills.
“It does sound like a common denominator,” he told NJ Advance Media.
Yet even after the drama of Smith’s release, Gettleman helped the Panthers reach the Super Bowl two years later. A year after that, he was fired, due to his blunt management style rubbing people in the organization the wrong way, according to The Charlotte Observer.
One of the tipping points — Gettleman’s handling of Norman’s departure.
***
These are Gettleman’s words, the ones that made Norman’s blood boil: “If there is anything I’ve learned, when you are saying something difficult to somebody, you have got to make sure you give them their dignity. In life, it’s not so much the message. It’s the delivery.”
Gettleman said that in July.
Norman’s response: “Obviously, people like that don’t feel like they need to change. And they keep getting jobs for some odd reason.”
Through a Giants spokesman, Gettleman declined to be interviewed for this story.
In 2016, Gettleman rescinded Norman’s franchise tag, making him a free agent. He quickly signed with Washington.
Like Collins, Norman was frustrated by Gettleman’s delivery — or lack thereof.
“He did it without even talking to anyone,” Norman said. “I wish we had a conversation or something. But no. How is that respect and dignity? He’s full of [expletive]. I mean, you know that, right? How is it dignity when you find out through the news? Is that dignity? Is that his way of calling that dignity?
“That’s the type of guy he is. It’s nowhere near giving somebody dignity, when you do something like that. That’s B.S. Do you think that’s giving someone dignity? If the guy was doing his job the right way, I feel like we probably would still be in there [in Carolina], and we would’ve won a championship or something by now.”
***
Instead, Gettleman landed with the Giants in 2018 — and quickly alienated star players.
One of Gettleman’s first moves was trading pass rusher Jason Pierre-Paul to the Buccaneers. Gettleman did not deliver the news face-to-face, but rather in a phone call, which Pierre-Paul called “shocking,” even though he said his feelings weren’t hurt.
The big trade, of course, was Beckham to the Browns this past offseason. Beckham was in Paris when Gettleman informed him, via a quick phone call — after Gettleman said publicly he wouldn’t trade him, especially after giving Beckham a lucrative contract. Beckham slammed Gettleman in multiple interviews this summer.
“This was personal," Beckham told Sports Illustrated. “They thought they’d send me here to die.”
He was in a less bombastic mood Monday after the Browns beat the Jets and he had 161 receiving yards, with an 89-yard touchdown, in his first game back at MetLife Stadium.
“No animosity, no hate,” Beckham said. “I’m full of love. So I wish everybody over there nothing but the best. I want to see them succeed.”
(Collins was less diplomatic on Gettleman’s Beckham trade: “It was unbelievable. It was something that he lied about when he said they’re still going to keep the guy, and (they) didn’t pay him to trade him.”)
Cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, released by Gettleman in March 2018, also has no hard feelings.
“It wasn’t nasty,” Rodgers-Cromartie, now in Washington, told NJ Advance Media. “I knew we had a lot of young guys coming in. It was nothing.”
Ex-Giants offensive tackle Ereck Flowers is in Washington, too, after Gettleman released him midway through last season. Flowers struggled with the Giants, so the move made sense. Flowers’ frustration with Gettleman actually stems from the GM not shipping him out sooner.
“I had actually been asking him [for clarity],” Flowers told NJ Advance Media “That was part of the reason why I didn’t go to [voluntary workouts in 2018]. I was looking for a fresh start. He had [trade] offers for me, and he didn’t want to take them. So he made me stay there, until finally I had a chance to go. I was mad about it, but it’s OK. I’m over it.”
Collins clearly isn’t fully over Gettleman’s maddening lack of communication, even though he thinks it is a “blessing” he landed with the Redskins, who gave him $26 million fully guaranteed.
And as Collins’ Week 4 return to MetLife Stadium approaches, he is ready to unleash his anger on the Giants — while thinking about one particular member of the organization.
“People got confused when I was talking about the Giants,” Collins said. “I’m strictly talking about Dave Gettleman.”
Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.
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