After seeing their 2022 receiver plan implode, the Giants made a number of moves to address the position this offseason. They added outside free agents Parris Campbell and Jamison Crowder (since cut) while re-signing Darius Slayton and Sterling Shepard. Both Shepard and 2022 second-rounder Wan’Dale Robinson made their way back from ACL tears this year. Big Blue, which retained Isaiah Hodgins via ERFA tender, also drafted Jalin Hyatt in Round 3. But trade pickup Darren Waller stands as the team’s most proven pass catcher. As the Giants have looked like one of the NFL’s worst teams, ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano notes they came into this season viewing their receiver situation as unsettled to the point they hoped Waller and Saquon Barkley could cover it up early in the campaign.
Injuries along the offensive line — after a woeful debut with a mostly healthy offense in Week 1 — have helped sink the Giants to 1-4. Daniel Jones is out for Week 6, and the starter has struggled, leaving any receiver upgrades as largely irrelevant to start the season. The Giants do not have notable cash committed to wideouts beyond this season, being able to escape Slayton’s two-year, $12MM deal fairly easily. The Giants, who rank 32nd in total offense, have only seen one of their wideouts — Slayton — eclipse 110 receiving yards this season. It appears clear rebuilding this group will end up a multiyear project for GM Joe Schoen.
Here is the latest from the NFC East:
- The Commanders‘ defense ranks 31st in points allowed through five games. Although it is early, that is a steep drop-off from its 2022 finish (seventh). The team allowed 40 points to the previously winless Bears, and its narrow wins over the struggling Cardinals and Broncos do not look especially good. That said, the team’s new ownership has not applied early-season pressure on Ron Rivera, CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson tweets. Josh Harris is being patient with Rivera and Co., and while Anderson adds some of the others in Washington’s ownership group do not necessarily share this stance, Dan Snyder‘s successor is allowing this to play out for now. Rivera confirmed (via the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala) no staff changes are taking place.
- Nicholas Morrow has played well in relief of Nakobe Dean, grading as Pro Football Focus’ No. 5 overall linebacker. The former Raiders and Bears starter has tallied 33 tackles and three sacks. But a backup job may be in the cards once Dean is activated from IR. The Eagles should be considered likelier to reinstall Dean as a starter over returning the 2022 third-round pick to a backup role, AllPhly.com’s Zach Berman notes. Dean suffered a foot injury in Week 1, but the Eagles let Kyzir White and T.J. Edwards walk this offseason with the intent on bumping the 2021 Butkus award winner into the starting lineup. Zach Cunningham, who signed with the Eagles during training camp, resides as the team’s other ILB starter.
- Dean’s former Georgia teammate, Jalen Carter is not yet a starter. But the No. 9 overall pick has validated the Eagles’ decision to stop his first-round slide, having totaled 3.5 sacks, four tackles for loss and two forced fumbles through five games. PFF’s top-graded interior D-lineman, Carter slipped in the draft due to off-field matters. Most notably, the standout D-tackle’s arrest warrant for reckless driving and racing — at a scene in which two Georgia program members died in a car accident — led to a few teams passing in Round 1. The Eagles had Carter as the highest-rated player on their board, per ESPN’s Tim McManus, though the NFC champions were not certain he would fall far enough. The Seahawks were high on Carter’s talent but did not feel they had the leadership necessary to make the pick at No. 5, while McManus notes the Eagles felt their veterans and previous Georgia investments (Dean, Jordan Davis) would help keep Carter in line. We had heard about some Georgia coaches passing on endorsing Carter, citing effort and attitude, and McManus notes the DT punching then-teammate Quay Walker in 2020 contributed to this.
The Giants were cautiously optimistic that last year’s excellent season heralded the turnaround that they wanted, and probably expected regression this year. Outside of the Broncos, though, I don’t think that any team has had such a disparity between expectations and the on field product (Jets not withstanding, given that we all expected them to fall suddenly after Rodgers’ injury).
The thing that I was disappointed in most was not being able to see what Daniel Jones could do on a decent team. New York hasn’t ever had a good supporting cast for him, with a single healthy year of Barkley (coincidentally the Giants’ best season in a long time-2022) profiling as his best offensive weapon. Their receiving corps has been mediocre to bad for Jones’ career, and the offensive line been mediocre to terrible.
This doesn’t mean that Jones would be great with better support. It just means that we don’t know WHAT he would look like it if he had it. I was hoping to see what that would look like. Winning boosts confidence in the same way that losing lowers it, and I wanted to see if the Giants’ roster could offer a better product to help see if Jones could perform better on a more confident, winning team. Instead, he’s back to his Judge/Garrett days of scrambling around to avoid getting hit because his receivers are more covered than Taylor Swift at a Chiefs game and his line has more holes than a Mike Florio editorial. The Giants still needed receiving and protection upgrades before the year started, even with the assumption that last year was going to result in a better team. Now, they and we will have to see if they can acquire them by next year to see how bad-or good-that Jones deal actually was. There’s no honest way to evaluate him as a player right now with the rest of the team being just so abjectly bad.
Good analysis. You’re right we really do not know. I thought this year with Neal on year 2 and drafting the center the Oline would improve. With added receiver depth and another year in the system I was expecting the offense to take the next step, even if the team regressed record wise. This is as bad as it gets and not sure where they go from here.
Oh man, I’ll be honest, I loved the Neal pick when it happened. I thought that he was exactly what New York needed-a stud tackle who was an athletic monster to finally solidify the outside of the line. That was a massive disappointment-at least at the moment.
But I completely agree, if I didn’t clarify that.
At this point, don’t we all agree that the ability of the Giants coaching and scouting staffs to judge talent, be it draft or free agent comes into play……their player eval plainly is sub par as compared to the elite teams of the NFL…..good example is the 49’ers drafting Mr. Irrelevant and him eventually becoming their starting QB and looking like the resection of Joe Montana……as compared to our 5th year disaster who fails to elevate the offense on any level…..OLine failures recognized……….
DC is going to look completely different next season.
Agreed. Even if Rivera somehow manages to stay, which I don’t expect right now, the organization is going to have a much different look, I think.
Rivera needed to go 2 years ago. He just can’t last the season.
Any discussion about the Giants ineptitude that is zeroed in on the O line is a waste of space.