Brandon Beane: Don't Let Dave Gettleman Fool You

It's easy to poke fun at Dave Gettleman and his archaic manner of going about things. I personally have done so several times on this website. He just exudes stubborn grandpa energy who believes in the "proper" way of doing things, all those numbers be damned.

But, according to fellow general manager Brandon Beane, it's all for show. In an appearance on Friday's edition of Pardon My Take, Beane said Gettleman is "throwing all the curve balls out there" when asked about his low-tech war room setup for the virtual draft next week, and implied it's all for show. The full quote from the 45:20 mark of the podcast:

"You can't trust him. Dave's smart, man. He's throwing all the curve balls out there. He's actually pretty tech-savvy. Don't let him fool you, in all seriousness."

- Brandon Beane on 'Pardon My Take'

Joking about Gettleman's Luddite tendencies is low-hanging fruit, but he has been in the NFL for a long time. It's clear he couldn't care less about the media perception of his decision-making, and it wouldn't be too surprising to learn he encourages the narrative that he's stumbling his way through his job just for fun. He does walk around in flip-flops at the office, as Beane also mentioned on the podcast.

Still, a good chunk of Gettleman's decisions over the last few years have been objectively questionable, like the Leonard Williams trade or taking Daniel Jones about 10 spots higher than even the most optimistic of projections in the 2019 NFL Draft. This could be his last year to turn things around (as Jay Glazer reported a few weeks ago), and a lot will be riding on draft night.