New York Giants Poll: Fans Still Believe in Joe Schoen, Brian Daboll to Fix Roster

The fans believe the Giants can get their house back in order-- but it was a close vote.

Editor's Note: Some user responses have been edited for clarity/spelling.

"In Schoen, we trust!"

That's the message 55.6 percent of New York Giants fans relayed in a recent poll I ran on my X (formerly known as Twitter) account in which I asked people how confident they were in the management's ability to fix the roster.

Ok I’m curious. How confident are you in the Giants management’s ability to fix the roster?

— Patricia Traina (@Patricia_Traina) January 30, 2024

Over 2,100 people voted in this poll, with 61 people commenting. A fair number of people believed a third option, somewhat confident, should have been offered, but in designing this poll, I viewed it as a "yes or no" question with no middle ground.

User @CWthemanthemyth had an interesting take on those who voted "not confident," blaming the long streak of mostly unsuccessful Giants seasons as having conditioned people to automatically think the worst.

"I think the people who say not confident a lot of it has a lot to do with PTSD/trust issues from past regimes," he wrote. "Our issues are deeper than a draft. We have had so many misses and whiffs in fre agency, which is why we are so down the rabbit hole.Most fans don’t want to be patient."

User @alva_oscar, who expressed his confidence, noted that had one or two plays in a few games gone a different way, the Giants' 2023 record might have been very different.

"The Giants were a few minutes away, with a depleted roster, of beating a few teams that would have brought their total to 9-10 games. They didn’t have depth, but Schoen is still dealing with the Gettleman decisions that are impacting the roster."

User @BenVillanti was also in the "confident camp," reminding people that injuries all but wrecked the team, "The roster is not that bad. The o-line needs upgrading, but last year, injuries derailed the season (left tackle, Barkley, rookie center, DJ & Gano) which reporters and Giants Twitter seem to ignore."

The "not confident" folks seemed slightly more emphatic in their reluctance to back Giants management in the continued rebuild. User @matthew01wright weighed in on why he wasn't confident of the current regime's ability to turn things around, stating, "Moves last off-season set us back. Will lose good FAs due to cap. Will take multiple drafts to fill holes. May have to give up future draft picks to fix overvaluing QB last season. It looks a long job to fix--will ownership give them time to do it?"

It appears that team ownership has learned that one can't keep hitting the re-set button after two seasons, given that head coach Brian Daboll was not fired.

Daboll, remember, was coming off a "Coach of the Year" campaign in which he got the Giants to the postseason for the first time since 2016, so that no doubt played into the equation, as did the fact that despite the higher levels of adversity, the team faced in 2023, the locker room never quit or splintered under his watch.

That said, as we wait for the white puff of smoke signaling a decision on a new defensive coordinator, it's fair to wonder just how much of a re-set that unit is in store for and how quickly it can get up to speed.

User @peterthebeast also was in the "not confident" camp, his reasons being, "Ridiculous DJ contract, misread and expedited the rebuild, signed injury-prone players (Waller), and didn't take calls on Barkley at deadline," and adding, "Bottom line management must gain my confidence back."

Peter has several valid reasons, but the Daniel Jones contract is one that many still seem to struggle with understanding. The Giants had to go down that rabbit hole given where they were drafting--not to mention that the contract isn't as "ridiculous" as the APY suggests, as I explained in this recent article.  

Where Do I Stand?

I think the current regime can fix this mess if they are truly honest with themselves in their evaluations of their processes (some of which are clearly not working) when it comes to evaluating and preparing the roster.

Will they be able to fix everything in one off-season? Probably not, especially if the plan is to transition from Daniel Jones at quarterback. The challenge will be to prioritize the most glaring issues and get those addressed. What they can't address this off-season, they need to figure out a way to minimize the deficiencies.

While I do agree that there were some head-scratching decisions made by Schoen in the building of last year's roster, such as the abundance of siot receivers yet not enough love given to the edge rusher position, the mishandling of the punt returner, and the questionable handling of the offensive line personnel, I'd like to think that Schoen and Daboll have learned from those missteps. Whether they have, though, won't be known for months, as this should be a very telling off-season roster tweaking that's coming up. 

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