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David Silver asks: Banks, Flott, Thibodeaux, Davidson, Ezeudu, Neal, Schmitz, Hyatt, Robinson, Bellinger, Gray. Of these 11 draft picks, who do you think is playing up to their draft status? With this many underachieving players, is this a failure of choosing talent, or developing young players, or both? If you are John Mara attempting a rebuild, what will another year tell you about these 11 players, this coach, or this GM?
Ed says: David, first of all let’s take D.J. Davidson, Daniel Bellinger and Eric Gray out of the discussion. Those are all Day 3 picks, and hitting on those players is a bonus. To me, it is never fair to say a Day 3 pick “underachieved.”
There is no doubt that Schoen did not get enough value out of his first two draft classes. We have discussed that many times. Schoen knows it.
The flip side is that the 2024 draft class is outstanding. Every player selected looks like a pick that can be justified, and I would say players like Dru Phillips (Round 3) and Tyrone Tracy (Round 5) have far outplayed their draft slot.
If Schoen and Daboll get more time, all anyone is going to care about is whether or not the product on the field improves.
Jeff Jacobs asks: I’m writing this as I watch Josh Allen match the Bills down the field and score a TD against the Lions. Here’s my question. Brian Daboll got hired (and may yet keep his job) because of his reputation as a quarterback whisperer who is an offensive genius. Yet the truth is that aside from the years he was calling plays for Josh, his offensives have been rather pedestrian, even mediocre, while Allen may end up as MVP this season. Is it time to rethink Daboll’s brilliance and perhaps acknowledge that he was the beneficiary of Allen’s talents and not vice versa?
Ed says: Jeff, I understand the sentiment. It has crossed my mind, as well. All I know is that people in Buffalo still love Daboll. They think the world of him. Allen himself thinks the world of him. Here is something Allen said just last season:
“He’s meant so much to me in my football career and in my life for that matter,” Allen said. “When you look at the grand scheme of things in terms of football and how to handle being a quarterback in this league, relying on the knowledge he has and the guys he’s been around in his career, I spent a lot of time with him.”
Maybe Daboll and Allen were the perfect match and Daboll will never replicate that success. I don’t know. But, I think the two helped each other.
Rafael Gonzalez asks: I wouldn’t mind seeing this play out this offseason.
1-NY Giants keep Schoen and Daboll
2-NYG draft Sanders for QB1
3-NYG fire DC and hire Deion Sanders as new DC as long as DL coach and DB coach are kept under contract.
Coach finally gets his QB choice. If Daboll and Schoen don’t show vast improvement in depth and performance then we make hopefully better decisions in regards to our NYG future. Finally we will NOT be able to use salary cap hell and Daniel Jones as excuses no more.
What do you think?
Ed says: Seriously, Rafael? You honestly believe that Deion Sanders would take a defensive coordinator job in the NFL? Why would he do that? You think Daboll is going to hire a guy who is going to be looking over his shoulder, questioning his every move, interfering with how his son is used and treated? This scenario is never going to happen.
Doug Mollin asks: Dr. Bob shared this stat the other day on The Autopsy story you did: Daboll is 16-15-1 with Thomas at LT and 1-15 without.
Correlation is not causation. But without changing anything else, imagine how we would feel about the team, Schoen and Daboll if Thomas had stayed healthy?
Does that (and all the other injuries) allow some margin of “forgiveness” for Schoen and Daboll?
Ed says: Doug, there are two ways to look at that. Every losing team says “we would have been better if our best players didn’t get hurt.” The other way to look at that is the Giants went two years without an adequate backup plan at tackle, and doubled down in 2024 on the same plan that failed miserably the year before. Maybe things are at least a little better had there been a quality backup tackle in place in both of those seasons.
Adam Leon asks: Mr. Mara has used “patience” as a potential justification for keeping the current regime, saying he/NYG haven’t been patient enough in the past…so this begs the question…which GM and/or head coach is he implying should have been given more time..? Please tell us he doesn’t mean McAdoo, Shurmur or Judge…? Hopefully he means Coughlin but doesn’t seem like it from what is being reported.
Ed says: Adam, I don’t know that John Mara is referring to anyone specific. I do know that he had no intention of firing Joe Judge until Judge basically imploded his own coaching tenure with his words and his actions over the final few weeks of the 2021 season.
Bill Heller asks: I’ve been a passionate Giants fan for 62 years, including the 17-year playoff drought, and I just don’t understand. How does a team good enough to win a road playoff game then go 8-23? How does that team be so unprepared for a home opener lose 40-0 last year, and not learn a thing and lose this year’s home opener 28-6? How do you not bench Tae Banks for lack of effort the first time and then let him play after he does it again? This is a losing culture. The Giants invent ways to lose. Joe Schoen needs to be honest in his comments. Don’t tell us that there were no financial reasons involve in giving up on Daniel Jones. Obviously there were. Don’t tell us were “close.” Close to what? We’ve gone from a promising young team in 2022 to a laughing stock as Saquon, Xavier McKinney, Leonard Williams and others thrive on different teams. Can Schoen and Brian Daboll fix this?
Ed says: Bill, I don’t know if Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll can fix the mess the Giants are in. The real question is whether or not ownership will give them a chance to try.
Christopher Keller asks: This past week there was an individual post and a column by Anthony concerning the Giants philosophy on not using void years to push salary out and take advantage of the salary cap rules. The Giants are one of the few teams that don’t do this and I would like your view and comments on this. Is this an owner driven ideology? With Schoen being one of the younger GMs I would think (maybe wrongly) he would want to operate this way. Are the owner and GM both on the same page concerning this or is Schoen being dictated to? I would think this accounting team building philosophy had to have come up in his interview.
Ed says: Christopher, I don’t know that you are right when you say the Giants are one of the “few teams” who don’t use void years in contracts.
I don’t think this is an ownership-driven philosophy. I think this is Joe Schoen taking the long view and realizing that the Giants are not in a title contention window right now. Howie Roseman doesn’t care how much money he pushes into the future because his concern is maximizing the Eagles title window right now. Schoen is trying to maintain as much future financial flexibility as he can.
There are pros and cons to that approach, and the reality is nobody uses void years to the extent that Roseman and the Eagles do. If Schoen were to add a free agent or two now, and push a ton of money into the future he wouldn’t have available when the Giants actually (hopefully) become a more competitive team what would that help?
David Kanter asks: Since the start of the John Mara era can you tell me some good decisions he’s made that have resulted in reasonably important contributions towards the team’s success.
Ed says: David, go back to the early days of Mara’s time. He took over fully after his father’s death in 2005. I think, though, that Wellington was probably not fully engaged in the Eli Manning situation in 2004, and that John had a hand in that. Maybe not firing Tom Coughlin before the 2007 season. Hiring Jerry Reese instead of Dave Gettleman as GM when Ernie Accorsi retired.
I always remind people, too, that Mara cannot make any decisions alone. The Tisch family is a full 50% partner, and Steve Tisch has just as much say as Mara does. The fact that they have to come to an agreement about hirings and firings means the Giants are not a franchise with one man at the mountaintop. That convolutes a lot of decisions.
Robert Biggerstaff asks: Why is the team not at least average? My guess is that in 2023 and 2024 it has had an inordinate number of injuries at the most important positions. QB, edge, OT, CB and WR. Can you confirm this? We found out that DJ was mediocre and not fully healed this year but not incompetent. We know that we still had the HC who was coach of the year in 2022. We found out that the DC and OC and who called the plays weren’t the problem ,either. What does that leave? Excessive key player injuries? Have any successful teams had the number of injuries at key positions that the GIANTS have had? Shouldn’t we admit this before blaming coaches and management or ownership? What do you think?
Ed says: Robert, I have said this over and over and over and over. There are A LOT of areas where the Giants need to be better, but they would be a perfectly average six-win team right now with quality quarterback play. There are a lot of other things to fix, but getting the right quarterback is the primary issue.
As for injuries, let’s realize that other than Andrew Thomas many of these injuries have occurred in recent weeks when the Giants had already fallen into a hopeless situation. Per The Giants, per the team website, have 13 players on IR. The 12-2 Detroit Lions have 21 — including Aidan Hutchinson, Carlton Davis, Alim McNeill and several other key players.
Mark Lynch asks: In your analysis how has Neal’s play been. I know he had a rough first game but since then his play seems to have improved. At least by the eye test. Also I think the best QB in draft is Ward. Not sure he is a top 5 choice.
Ed says: Neal’s play has been fine. Overall, Pro Football Focus has him as the Giants’ third-highest graded offensive lineman. His 67.4 overall score is behind only Andrew Thomas (75.4) and Greg Van Roten (68.7).
Neal’s 96.8 efficiency score over 244 pass-blocking snaps is a career-best. That is 33rd out of 85 qualifying offensive tackles. His 86.8 run-blocking grade is a career-best by 35 points and fourth in the NFL out of those 85 qualifying offensive tackles.
It’s not unreasonable to say that over this stretch Neal has played like a good NFL right tackle.
Chris Butters asks: If we do decide to part ways with Daboll, but retain Schoen, would he be wise to follow the Commanders blueprint from last off season (as much as it pains me to say it):
- Hire a defensive-minded HC
- Get a solid OC
- Draft QB
For me, that’d be Vrabel as HC, maybe Davis Webb as OC (working wonders with Nix as Denver’s QB coach), and draft Cam Ward.
Thoughts?
Ed says: Chris, that is certainly a plan. And one way it could turn out. I think you just search for whoever you think is the best head coach and go from there — offensive or defensive-minded doesn’t matter.
Keep this in mind, too. If Daboll is out but Schoen stays the GM is not hiring the next head coach. Ownership is. Schoen more or less being allowed to make the Daboll hire was an exception to how Giants ownership does business. No way he gets carte blanche to make his own choice again.
Brennan Lyons asks: Why do we, and other teams in general for that matter, insist on returning KOs, especially if they do not have an elite KR?
Before this year, and the new KO rule, how happy would we have been with a KR who consistently made it to the 30 yard line? Now that the 30 is practically guaranteed, we insist on sacrificing it for an occasional 2 or 3 more yards – and I do mean occasional. Invariably, we usually give up 5 to 15 yards! Just think – no fumbles, no penalties, no injuries. Why do we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot?
I don’t believe in absolutes, so there would still be occasions to try it – behind late in the game, looking for a spark, an observed weakness in the coverage, etc., but otherwise…
Ed says: Brennan, I don’t believe kickoff returners are necessarily choosing to forego taking the ball at the 30-yard line. We’re not seeing returners take the ball out of the end zone very often. Kickers are really good at placing the ball just short of the end zone, and if the ball is in the landing zone — between the goal line and the 20-yard line — it has to be returned.
The new kickoff rule might still need some adjustments, but I enjoy the fact that more kickoffs are now being returned.
John Foti asks: Imagine that you are a GM. You need a quarterback but also have several other big needs to fill.
The quarterback class is weak and there are difference makers at your other positionsof need. You are drafting in the top 3.
Some say, trade down and acquire more draft capital. However, most teams are only willing to pay a high price to move up in the draft for a quarterback that they love and there aren’t any of those guys in the draft and you don’t love any of them. It’s a bit of a dilemma.
What would you do?
Ed says: John, if you have followed my work for any length of time you know what i would do. If I need a quarterback — which the Giants do — and I LOVE a quarterback, I’m taking the quarterback. If I don’t LOVE any of them I’m trading out of there and collecting assets.
Donald Mushinsky asks: John Mara said in the beginning of the year that he expects a significant improvement in the team performance and a feeling at year’s end that team is moving in the right direction. You would have to be delusional to think any of these things are remotely true. My question is how JM is going to justify keeping Schoen and Daboll as GM and coach after 3 years of turning an average team in 2022 into the worst team in the nfl and an embarrassment to all fans and a laughing stock. If he doesn’t make significant changes then I amongst most fans will have absolutely no faith or respect for him as owner.
Ed says: Donald, I have said this multiple times and I continue to believe it. The hard thing for John Mara to do, if he still has belief in Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll, is to keep them in the face of the media pressure and fan unhappiness. The easy thing to do is blow it up and say “well, I did what everybody wanted.”
Right or wrong, I can have respect for anyone who stands on the courage of their convictions. Especially when what they choose to do is unpopular.
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