When the Giants decided to retain Brian Daboll after a 3-14 season, multiple players expressed surprise, ESPN.com’s Jordan Raanan notes. This was not the only instance of a team retaining a coach after a 3-14 campaign this offseason, as the Browns and Titans joined Big Blue here, but New York’s operation had trended downward from 2022 — even though that initial Daboll-Joe Schoen season came as a surprise.
Schoen’s decision to let Saquon Barkley walk turned out to backfire, and the NFL may have a difficult time presenting a viable HBO offseason project after how much the Giants’ offering made the Schoen regime look. While a disastrous 2024 did not cost Schoen his job, players viewed his decision not to submit Barkley an offer doubled as an underestimation of the running back’s value on the field and in the locker room, per Raanan.
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Barkley, who had said numerous times he wanted to finish his career a Giant, rampaged for the ninth 2,000-yard rushing season in NFL history and would likely have broken Eric Dickerson‘s single-season record had the Eagles allowed him to play in Week 18. Barkley already delivered a strong revenge performance earlier in the season, and he joined fellow Giants defector Xavier McKinney on the All-Pro first team.
John Mara did not ultimately hold Schoen prioritizing Daniel Jones over Barkley as a fireable offense, as the owner played a key role in that 2023 pecking order forming. Still, as a result of the 2024 offseason decisions and the terrible season that followed, Schoen and Daboll will be candidates for in-season firings if the 2025 slate does not start off better. Distrust emerged in Daboll’s program as well, multiple players told Raanan, though it does not sound as though the fourth-year HC lost the team. He will face a difficult task in completing a rebound, as the Giants do not have a starter-level quarterback rostered just yet.
The team did attempt to fix a cornerback issue in 2023, drafting Deonte Banks in Round 1. That has not worked out just yet, with the Maryland product being benched for his effort level during a midseason game. Several players indicated Banks’ benching against the Steelers was “a long time coming,” which points to the former top pick being a lingering issue — at least leading up to that point. Pro Football Focus ranked Banks outside the top 100 among CB regulars this past season, and neither second-round center John Michael Schmitz nor third-rounder Jalin Hyatt has impressed from Schoen’s 2023 class.
Still, Schoen will hold the keys going into a 2025 draft that may well send a first-round quarterback to New York. When Schoen and Daboll met with ownership regarding their futures last month, The Athletic’s Dan Duggan notes the pair only met with Mara, who then spoke with co-owner Steve Tisch separately. Tisch is not in the team’s facility daily, with Duggan classifying the descriptor “silent partner” as applicable for the 20th-year owner, who has outside business interests. Tisch has not spoken in public about the Giants since 2020.
One of the lead drivers for this Giants season unraveling came when Andrew Thomas suffered his latest injury, a Lisfranc issue that required surgery. The Giants went through multiple plans to replace Thomas, ultimately moving right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor to the left side and bringing Evan Neal off the bench to reprise his RT role. Eluemunor, who had begun offseason work at guard before sliding to RT during training camp, was not a fan of the LT shift, per Duggan, as he has wanted to showcase himself as a reliable right tackle.
A three-year RT starter in Las Vegas, Eluemunor preferred a two-year deal — as opposed to a three-year pact — in an effort to cash in once again in free agency. The nomadic blocker not becoming a steady starter until 2021 did not produce even a midlevel free agency deal until the Giants offered a two-year, $14MM accord. Eluemunor appears to be aiming at another RT season making him a viable option on the 2026 market.
The Giants have several issues to address during this year’s free agency, and they will likely turn to some in-house players to create cap space. One appears to be Rakeem Nunez-Roches, whom Duggan labels a cap casualty candidate. Nunez-Roches operated as a spot starter in 2023, playing behind since-departed D-linemen Leonard Williams and A’Shawn Robinson. A 10-year veteran, Nunez-Roches started all 15 games he played in 2024. The Giants could save $3.6MM by moving on.