What Are Giants' Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios Ahead of 2024 Training Camp?

What are we monitoring as the Giants gear up for training camp next week?

Oct 15, 2023; Orchard Park, New York, USA; A general view of the New York Giants helmet with footballs prior to the game between the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium. / Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

The long wait is over, and NFL training camps are starting to come upon us. For the New York Giants, who enter Year 3 of the Joe Schoen-Brian Daboll era, this upcoming camp will be under more scrutiny than ever, given the uneven start to this new era of Giants football.

There will be much to watch this summer, and the Giants hope it plays out as planned. In a recent collaborative effort with all 32 “On SI” NFL publishers, we were asked to give our thoughts on the best and worst-case scenarios for our respective teams.

Here’s what we came up with for the Giants. 

Best Case: Daniel Jones Rises to the Occasion

“Quarterback Daniel Jones plays like, or better than, the quarterback everyone saw in 2022 when he led New York to its first playoff berth since 2016 and its first postseason win since 2011. Jones is coming off a forgettable 2023 campaign that not only included a season-ending ACL injury but was also one in which he didn’t play well at all.” 

Yes, Jones was often under siege; last season, he was under pressure on 30.5 percent of his passing plays, a career-high, and had an average pocket time of 2.3 seconds, a career-low. 

Per Pro Football Focus, 20 percent of the pressures Jones endured were of his own doing. And 13.7 percent of his 160 pass attempts were considered bad throws, a higher percentage than he had in 2022 (12.2 percent) when he had 472 attempts. 

Jones is entering Year 2 of his four-year contract, a pivotal season. If he should stumble again or get hurt, the Giants have an escape hatch out of his deal, as all the guaranteed money will have been paid out after this season.

Worst Case: The Offensive Line isn’t Fixed 

“The Giants invested a lot of financial resources into an offensive line that finished 30th in pass-blocking efficiency rating last year, according to Pro Football Focus. The hope is that new offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo, who has a history of getting the most out of his offensive lines, can work wonders in straightening out the communication and technique issues that snowballed into a historically bad season for the Giants, whose 85 sacks allowed were the second-most in NFL history and set a new franchise record, topping the 62 sacks allowed in 1966. If that line ends up still not being fixed, for whatever reason, the Giants are in for another long season.”

Giants general manager Joe Schoen said it best during one of the Hard Knocks episodes. Not even the great Patrick Mahomes, arguably the NFL’s best quarterback right now, could have functioned behind a Giants offensive line that last year was wrecked by injuries and whose talent failed to develop.

Head coach Brian Daboll, realizing the line was going nowhere fast, brought in Carmen Bricillo, previously with the Vegas Raiders, to turn the unit around. Bricillo has a history of getting his offensive lines to finish within the top half of the league, and he brings to the Giants a much different teaching style than Bobby Johnson, his predecessor.

Bricillo is all about laying out the finer details necessary for a lineman to succeed on a given play, whereas Johnson was said to simply teach a play and leave linemen to figure out the how and the why of getting the job done. 

It was quite telling that young offensive line talent like Evan Neal, John Michael Schmitz, Joshua Ezeudu, and Marcus McKethan all struggled in their respective development. 

The hope is that Bricillo, who also stresses versatility, can get those guys playing at a higher level this year. If it turns out that Bricillo can't work his magic, the Giants are in for another long year of struggles on offense. 

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