ESPN Unimpressed by New York Giants' Off-Season Decisions

But are the concerns raised warranted?

Feb 27, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen speaks during a press conference during the NFL Scouting Combine at Indiana Convention Center. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Giants off-season saw the departures of running back Saquon Barkley and safety Xavier McKinney, two very big losses.

But the Giants also added a few potential difference makers to their roster, such as outside linebacker Brian Burns via trade with Carolina, offensive linemen Jermaine Eluemunor and Jon Runyan Jr via free agency, and receiver Malik Nabers via the draft.

Despite these additions, ESPN’s Seth Walder was not overly impressed. In his analysis and grading of all 32 NFL teams' off-seasons, Walder gave the Giants a C+ grade. 

Walder pointed out that the trade for Burns was the biggest move of the offseason for Big Blue, and he liked the additions of Eluemunor and Runyan. But he didn’t seem to like the "cost of trading and extending" Burns.

"It was a curious choice, as the Giants spent a lot of capital to upgrade one of their only strengths -- maybe their only strength," Walder said.

"And they did it at a time when they don't appear close to contention. As good of a player as Burns is, they traded a premium draft pick for the right to pay top money to a player."

The Giants, who extended Burns to a five-year, $141 million contract after acquiring him, didn’t spend as much capital to acquire him as they might have had they made the deal a year beforehand.

The Panthers, remember, were reportedly offered two first-round picks for Burns by the Rams, an offer they rejected. 

A year later, their price tag dropped, and the Giants got the guy they wanted for a deal close to what they had accepted when they traded Leonard Williams to the Seahawks.

The Giants sent Carolina one of their two second-round picks, an exchange of 2024 fifth-round picks, and a fifth-round selection in next year’s draft for a 26-year-old productive edge rusher with 46 career sacks and one double-digit sack season to date (2022).

Walder also criticized the Giants' decision to stick with quarterback Daniel Jones and that contract the team gave the quarterback in 2023.

"[The Giants] tried to trade up to pick [North Carolina quarterback] Drake Maye -- but once they failed to make that move, I think it was OK to pass on the second tier of rookie QBs," Walder wrote.

He's right that the Giants thought it best not to reach for a quarterback. But what Walder, like so many others, continues to miss about the "four-year, $160 million" contract Jones signed is that the guaranteed money is in the first two years, making it more of a two-year, $82 million deal, the $82 million guaranteed at signing.

That's slightly more than it would have cost the team to use the franchise tag on the quarterback in 2023 and 2024. And they can get out of the deal after this year, albeit with a dead-money hit of $22.21 million, assuming the $23 million guaranteed for injury doesn't kick in.

Walder did not like the Giants' giving running back Devin Singletary $9.5 million in guaranteed money, calling it "unnecessary." 

But in comparison to what Saquon Barkley got in guaranteed money from the Philadelphia Eagles ($26 million), the Giants appear to have gotten a bargain in a player who is more durable, who has led every team he’s been on in rushing yardage, and who has a better success rate in picking up at least 40 percent of the first-down yardage, 60 percent of the second-down yardage, and 100 percent of the third- and fourth-down yardage than Barkley. 

Walder seemed to like the additions of Eluemunor and Runyan, both of whom project to be starting guards on an offensive line that desperately needed a talent upgrade. 

Eluemunor was signed for two years and $14 million, with a $4.75 million cap hit in 2024, pretty good value for a starting offensive lineman.

Although he is projected to play left guard this year, Eluemunor most recently played right tackle for the Las Vegas Raiders last season, his 96.8 pass-blocking efficiency rating just behind Giants left tackle Andrew Thomas’s 97.1 rating.  

Runyan, who got a market deal (three years, $30 million, $17 million guaranteed), posted the best pass-blocking efficiency rating (97.9) of all those who played guard for both the Packers, his team last year, and the Giants. Former Giants offensive lineman Ben Bredeson, now with Tampa Bay, was the closest Giants guard to Runyan’s rating, Bredeson having posted a 96.4 pass-blocking efficiency rating. 

If these new additions don't help improve a team that finished 6-11 last year, it will have all been for naught.

(Additional reporting by Patricia Traina.)

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