Giants coach John Harbaugh apparently ruffled some feathers in Nashville by making a phone call to Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk in an effort to spark trade discussions for defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. And Harbaugh doesn’t care about any “code” that he may have violated by going over the head of Titans G.M. Mike Borgonzi.
Harbaugh admitted to reporters on Monday that he made the call. And he vowed to make similar calls, if it’s in the best interests of the team.
“I did, I did,” Harbaugh said regarding whether he called Strunk. “I left a message. . . . Because you turn over every stone. You know, gonna try everything. I mean, I just, I’ll put it out there, man, we’re open for any call. Anybody wants to call us or call anybody. Call.”
Next came a discussion about songs that send the “call me” message, from the Blondie song of that name to the more recent Call Me Maybe.
“Let’s put that out there,” Harbaugh said. “Put that out there. It was kind of, like, fun to see the outpouring of interest in that. I enjoyed it. We’re not like — we’re not part of any secret society oath that says you can only talk to somebody. We’re not in that. We didn’t get memoed on that. We’re not in that agreement. So like I said, anybody can call us. We won’t be adhering to that particular agreement.”
Amen to all of that. The only rules that should matter are the written rules. Those who tiptoe around unwritten rules undermine their chances to get shit done.
Besides, calls between teams happen at many different levels. There isn’t an exclusive G.M.-to-G.M. network of bat phones.
In this specific case, the Giants apparently weren’t getting anywhere with Borgonzi. So they got creative, and resourceful.
As we understand it, they didn’t hear from the Titans to see if they’d match or beat the offer the Bears made for Simmons. Which would seem to be the sensible thing to do before finalizing a deal — unless the Bears expressly set a firm and quick take-it-or-leave-it deadline that prevented the Titans from exploring whether more could have been gotten from another team.
