What's Really Wrong with the New York Giants Offense?

Besides the quarterback position being in flux, why has the Giant's offense struggled to become what head coach Brian Daboll has likely envisioned?

Michael Lee | 14 Hours Ago

New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

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New York Giants

In a previous analysis, we asked whether the New York Giants’ defensive scheme fit the players.

The ultimate answer is “not really.” While Shane Bowen has altered his scheme somewhat from what he called in Tennessee to fit the Giants’ players, it’s still an awkward fit at best.

But what about the Giants offense? Is the personnel an ideal fit for the scheme that head coach Brian Daboll wants to run? Is the team merely a quarterback away? Or is there much more involved?

If anything, this is an even more consequential question than the defensive side of the ball. After all, the Giants have invested heavily in their offense over the last couple of years, and offensive performance tends to be more predictive of future success – or struggles – than defensive performance.

The short answer is significantly more nuanced than the defensive side of the ball. That’s because the Giants’ defense has shifted several times under Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, as circumstances have changed over the previous three years.

Let’s go over what has transpired.

New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka / Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Offense’s “Variations”

The first offense we saw in the regular season (2022) was based heavily on RPO concepts while being fine-tuned each week to exploit their opponents’ tendencies.

That offense, however, was a double-edged sword as opponents learned the Giants’ tendencies, and defenses could force them into the options they wanted the Giants to use.

That made them predictable, and the offense spun its wheels up until the Giants switched and used classic West Coast quick-game concepts as the foundation. This approach was successful against weaker defenses, but opponents with superior defenses were able to clamp down.

The biggest weakness of both offenses was that they were both inherently conservative. While that allowed the Giants to keep possession of the ball and win plenty of close games, they had no margin for error.

The 2023 offseason saw the Giants seek to acquire explosive weapons in tight end Darren Waller and receivers Jalin Hyatt and Parris Campbell.

The Giants wanted to add a significant vertical threat to the NFL's shortest-range offense, as doing so would ideally open space underneath for running back Saquon Barkley and receiver Wan’Dale Robinson. As we know by now, that plan didn’t materialize outside of two quarters against the Arizona Cardinals.

The Giants doubled down on an explosive passing game by drafting Malik Nabers, replacing Darren Waller with Theo Johnson, and shifting the emphasis further away from the running game and toward the pass.

Once again, that hasn’t worked out, and the Giants’ offense is performing even worse. So, we should probably conclude that the scheme is bad and doesn't fit the players, right?

Again, it’s a complicated and nuanced question.

Former New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Quarterback’s Role

The elephant in the room is the quarterback position. Daniel Jones thrived in a short-ranged offense that limited his reads.

His best season – his rookie year – came in Pat Shurmur’s offense, based on half-field reads and simple coverage-beater concepts.

Under Jason Garrett, the Giants tried to move to a more aggressive Air Coryell-inspired offense, but that also didn’t work.

Daboll’s offense with Jones running it was functional when it was short, quick, and involved one- or two-man reads. However, opportunities down the field were often passed up, and deep passes were imprecise when they were attempted.

This led the Giants to an inherent friction. They could either call the offense that fits the quarterback and try to get the skill position players to fit within that framework, or they could feature the skill position players and put the quarterback in a scheme for which he’s ill-suited.

The only correct answer was the one the Giants chose: build the offense around the quarterback and try to make do. Over the last two years, the Giants have done a good job getting their skill position players open in space.

In 2023, Jones, Tommy DeVito, and Tyrod Taylor had three of the four lowest rates of throwing into coverage in the NFL (around 10%). This year, Jones’s rate bumped up slightly to 15%.

Unfortunately, defenses have been able to play downhill, making moving the ball a chore for the Giants.

New York Giants quarterback Tyrod Taylor (2) looks for an open teammate in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, January 7, 2024. / Kevin R. Wexler / USA TODAY NETWORK

There Was Hope…

We might have gotten our best glimpse of the offense the Giants wanted to run when Taylor got the start. Taylor has always been a talented deep passer, and he averaged a full two yards more in intended and converted air yards than either Jones or DeVito.

Taylor was seventh in the NFL in his depth of target, nestled right between Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson.

The Giants also fielded one of the more explosive offenses in the NFL during Taylor’s starts and got good play from Slayton and Hyatt.

The quick-game, RPO, and catch-and-run concepts remained while Taylor was the Giants’ starter. However, adding the explosive element allowed the offense to function more fluidly than they did with either Jones or DeVito.

The Giants’ offense has largely looked like an engine running without a cylinder, so we can infer that it hasn't had a fundamental problem. That would make sense, as the offensive roster has been rebuilt for Daboll’s scheme.

New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen / Lucas Boland-Imagn Images

…But There Are Also Questions

There are certainly questions regarding the Giants’ offensive line. However, when healthy, the unit can execute the Giants’ diverse running scheme and hold up long enough for the vertical element.

Likewise, Tyrone Tracy, Jr.’s vision, quickness, and contact balance make him well-suited for both inside and outside runs, and he’s also a very capable receiver – as evidenced by his touchdown reception against the Falcons from a receiver alignment.

Johnson and Bellinger are competent blockers and effective receivers who can make tough catches and gain yards after the catch. The Giants also have a diverse cast of receivers that can be threats at all three levels.

Nabers must continue honing his attention to detail to reduce his drops and alignment penalties. However, his ability to stretch the defense, pick up crucial first downs, and rack up yards in the open field makes him a true number-one receiver.

Robinson is an effective slot receiver with good route running and ball skills who makes difficult catches in the underneath area of the field. His powerful lower body weathers individual tackle attempts, allowing him to pick up yards after contact when he makes catches in this area.

We don’t currently know whether Slayton will return in 2025–our guess is he won’t, as the losing has taken its toll on him. Plus, one gets the sense that he wasn’t too happy to see Jones, with whom he came into the NFL in 2019, be made a scapegoat for all that ails the offense.

Trying to re-sign Slayton is worth taking the chance. He’s valuable as a veteran receiver and deep threat who can help stretch the field.

He can take advantage of the attention paid to Nabers and create opportunities by threatening the defense deep. His departure would leave a significant hole in the offense that would need to be filled.

Hyatt, who has been largely forgotten by the offense this year, offers some of the same skill set as a deep-threat speedster with good ball skills.

The Giants would likely want to keep Hyatt and Slayton together, both for depth and to have another receiver with 4.3 speed for three—or four-receiver sets. But if Slayton departs in free agency, as is believed to be the case, the Giants will need to draft to replace him.

New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers / Kevin R. Wexler-NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Final Thoughts

Overall, the fairest assessment is that the Giants’ offensive personnel fit the offense as initially conceived but might not fit the offense they’ve been forced to call to fit their quarterback.

It might be best to conceive of the quarterback position as the foundation for the rest of the offense (and the team as a whole). It’s impossible to build a skyscraper on the foundation of a raised ranch.

The quarterback question will loom over the Giants’ off-season, perhaps alongside questions regarding the head coach and general manager. Whatever the Giants take, they’ll need to find a quarterback who fits their offensive concept and intended scheme.

That way, they can (hopefully) fit in with the skill position players they’ve identified as their core pieces, and the team will be able to pull itself out of the doldrums in 2025.