New Giants' Off-season Ranking, in a Word, "Meh!"

Fresh off a disappointing 6-11 season marked by underachievement and injuries that exposed a lack of quality depth at some positions, New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen sought to overhaul the roster for the coming year.

He added five offensive linemen to fix arguably the worst unit on the team. He also acquired outside linebacker Brian Burns in a huge trade to bolster a lackluster pass rush, swapped out running back Sauqon Barkley for a cheaper and sturdier option in Devin Singletary and rookie draft pick Tyrone Tracy, Jr, and drafted Malik Nabers as the team’s first legitimate no. 1 receiver since Odell Beckham, Jr.

Despite these and other moves by Schoen, Vinnie Iyer of The Sporting News offered a lukewarm opinion of the Giant’s off-season roster rebuild, giving the Giants a grade of B- and ranking them 18th overall among the 32 NFL teams.

The biggest reason for the “meh” ranking appears to be not what the Giants did but what they didn’t do in the off-season: to address the quarterback position in the draft.

“They're sticking with (Daniel) Jones, hoping Nabers can spark him and keep newcomer (Drew) Lock on the bench,” said Iyer. “They did some necessary cleanup under GM Joe Schoen, but they're more like treading water.”

Jones is recovering from a torn ACL suffered last season. There were several reports of the Giants trying to trade up in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft to land former North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye, but the Patriots, who ended up selecting Maye, weren’t willing to budge despite reports of the Giants offering two first-round picks to move up.

Rather than reach for a quarterback at six, where the Giants ultimately took Nabers, or trade down a few spots, the Giants pivoted to Plan B to continue building up the offense around the quarterback position.

The team, which has repeatedly said Jones will be the starter once healthy, is likely counting on the improvements made to the offensive line and the addition of Nabers to have a trickle-down effect on the quarterback position.

It also needs to be remembered that head coach Brian Daboll did manage to get some of the best play out of Jones in 2022, their first season together, in which Jones went 9-7-1 and won a playoff game, the Giants' first such postseason win since 2011.

With Daboll likely to take over the play-calling this year, the hope is that Jones, who right now, despite his limited participation in the team’s OTAs, is still the best quarterback the team has on its roster, will be able to get back on track to produce a better season.

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