The New York Giants stole headlines during a slow NFL news week in July after the premiere of HBO’s “Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants.”
And several around the football community were critical of what they watched on the evening of July 2. One of those people being former NFL general manager and front office executive Michael Lombardi.
“The one thing that I took away immediately from it was — there’s a sense in [the building] that Daniel Jones is a good player, that he’s just been unfortunate for three years,” Lombardi reacted on “The Lombardi Line” podcast on July 3. “And when [Giants GM Joe] Schoen was talking about — well we got to do everything to protect [Jones] and protect ourselves — I didn’t realize Drew Lock was that guy to protect yourself.”
“To me, there’s a disconnect,” the current NFL analyst and host continued. “I felt like, look, they all understand it. They all know that they got to do a better job of protecting the quarterback. But there was a sense… that somewhere on some tape that I can’t find that Daniel Jones has played above the line. Which I can’t find that tape. I don’t see it.”
Lombardi supported this point with several facts about Jones. Including that he’s never averaged over seven yards per passing attempt, that he’s never thrown for 25 or more touchdowns in a single season, and that he’s never achieved 3,500 passing yards in a single season.
“They act like, if he’s healthy, we’re going to be really good. And I’m missing that,” Lombardi stated. “So, for me, that was a hard thing to understand and get my arms around.”
Michael Lombardi Feels Giants Have Lost Identity & Have ‘Too Many Opinions’ in Front Office
Lombardi’s critiques of Schoen and Brian Daboll’s Giants didn’t end there. He went on to explain why he feels the organization has lost its “identity.”
“This is one of the great franchises of all-time, they really are,” the former executive began. “And this is a franchise that believed in a system, believed in a process by the great George Young, that have kind of deviated away from it.”
Part of his reasoning involved Schoen and Daboll allowing new defensive coordinator Shane Bowen to come in and shape the Giants defense and personnel how he wanted. Like they did with Wink Martindale before him.
“They’ve gone through so many coaches. They’ve gone through so many staffs. That the staffs are now instituting the philosophical nature of the company and that’s when companies often fail,” Lombardi said.
His co-host then mentioned the large number of people in the room for each major conversation throughout episode one of “Hard Knocks,” whether it was a debate within Schoen’s office or a scouting meeting with Daboll and Bowen.
“If you want to make a bad decision, ask a lot of people,” Lombardi quipped. “I mean, when you’ve got that many people involved in decision-making, you’re going to make a bad decision. You’ve got too many opinions… They don’t know who they are, and if you don’t know who you are, how the hell do you find players out there that can fix it?”
All of Lombardi’s fears come back to NYG leadership. Right now, that’s Schoen, Daboll and president and CEO John Mara.
Was ‘Hard Knocks’ an Accurate Depiction of Giants’ Process?
“Hard Knocks” tends to put teams under the microscope. It’s a major reason why most NFL franchises do not prefer to be a part of the HBO docuseries.
There’s an element of — how much of your process do you reveal? While also attempting to look like a well-run operation.
Later in the podcast, Lombardi noted that he felt like the Giants were just “picking players” in free agency without any rhyme or reason, because that’s what the episode portrayed. But how much of this peek behind the curtain is an accurate depiction, and how much of it is Big Blue playing the role of “Hard Knocks” host?
There are some things you cannot control when you’re the subject of this show. Namely, it’s difficult for teams to control what their players say or do.
During the offseason, franchises don’t have to worry about their players. So, ipso facto, they have more control of what sort of content they put out to the public.
The Athletic’s Dan Duggan hinted that he felt a lot of the premiere was just the Giants putting on a show for fans and media on July 3. If that’s true, it’d probably be a relief for most supporters of the organization.
If not, and Lombardi is correct in his doubts, this franchise could be in trouble long-term.
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Giants Leadership Under Fire From Ex-NFL GM: ‘There’s a Disconnect’