The New York Giants and owner John Mara arrived at an all-too-familiar fork in the road this past January.
After watching his beaten and beleaguered Giants walk off the field as 13-7 losers to the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles‘ backups, Mara had to decide if general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll had shown enough progress in their third season to return for a fourth or if they’d follow in the footsteps of Joe Judge, Pat Shurmur, and Ben McAdoo over the past eight years out of the tunnel, and banished from 1925 Giants Drive.
“They lost themselves in those [last] two years,” former Giants running back Tiki Barber said, during a recent appearance on the GoLong Podcast. “And it became a really unwatchable product. I called a couple of those games and it was just like, “What am I even looking at right now?”
Over those past two seasons, the Giants combined for just nine wins, dispatching former No. 6 overall pick, quarterback Daniel Jones, along the way last November.
It’s obvious that Daboll and Schoen needed a major course correction, and the confidence from ownership that this power structure could adapt in ways predecessors Dave Gettleman and a litany of former coaches proved incapable of.
A big step will be, instead of Jones, it will be Russell Wilson leading the Giants out of the tunnel with first-round rookie Jaxson Dart working towards his and New York’s football future.
Barber sees the seeds of a back-to-basics approach taking root in East Rutherford.
“I think this offseason it was, ‘We have to get back to a plan and create an identity,’ Barber said. “And so much of that starts on the defensive side of the ball. And you saw it right in free agency bringing in Jevon Holland and maybe more importantly Paulson Adebo who is a big corner. When I was out at practice, I saw him working out on the side because he was recovering from that leg injury and I was like, ‘That dude looks like a tight end or a running back,’ and he’s a cornerback. He’s jacked. You can see the musculature in his body.”
Barber believes in the blueprint of a dominant pass rush, headlined by first-round pick Abdul Carter’s arrival, bolstering the impact of Kayvon Thibodeaux‘s and Brian Burns‘ havoc in the backfield, a formula that added a pair of Lombardi Trophies to the foyer of the Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
“So, we know that it’s going to be aggressive up front. Obviously Sexy Dexy is back and then there’s Darius Alexander. All those guys that they’ve brought in. It’s going to be about stuffing the front. You draft Abdul Carter. You have Thibodeaux and obviously you have Burns. And so now maybe you can get into that race-car package.”
“Remember that from the Giants in the mid-2000 years when they had those three defensive ends on the defensive line all at the same time on rushing situations? So I think it’s to create a tough, versatile defense and limit offensive possessions for the other team.”
If Barber’s confidence plays out on the field for the Giants’ defense, perhaps unveiling a new-look, new-school offense finally capable of leaning into Daboll’s tendencies as a play-caller will take flight, sparking a North Jersey Revival.
“It’s why you get Malik Nabers a year ago,” Barber explains. “It’s why you bring in Russell Wilson. As odd as a signing that might seem, the one thing that Russ has done consistently over his entire career — even if some of the things he says are corny — on the football field he makes big plays. You see it every single year. Now, he may not be as consistent and mobile as he used to be, but he makes big plays and he’s here to win games for them.”
Marrying an elite pass rush with a field-stretching passing game isn’t necessarily novel in most buildings across the NFL, the least of which being the one 90 miles south down Interstate-95. But, for this era of the Giants, it could be a revolutionary change with major upside.
“So I see what they’re attempting to do identity-wise,” Barber explains. “And it starts old school: ‘We’re going to run the football. We’re going to take some shots. And we’re going to play great frickin’ defense. It feels Old School Giants in a way, and I kind of love that.”
‘Best Case Scenario’ For New York Giants’ Jaxson Dart is Complicated
Adam Hunger/GettyThe New York Giants have no easy answers for how to handle QB Jaxson Dart’s rookie season.
Much of the Giants’ vision for 2025, and beyond, are opposing forces.
Daboll and Schoen must win enough games to preserve their job, which entails Wilson turning back the clock and cranking up the explosiveness with Nabers and Darius Slayton on the perimeter. Meanwhile, getting Dart meaningful snaps could be significant for his long-term development as the Giants’ franchise quarterback of the future.
Likewise, playing Dart, even if he struggles while taking his lumps and developing, could offer a longer runway for Daboll and Schoen beyond this season.
However, Fox Sports’ Ben Arthur believes Dart sitting on the bench and learning for his rookie season might offer the most upside.
“The best case scenario is that Dart takes in everything he can from them in a “redshirt” year,” Arthur writes of Dart. “So he’s ready to start Day 1 in 2026 — while still being ready to play in 2025 if New York’s quarterback plan falls apart.”
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Whether the Giants rush to get Dart playing time out of self preservation for their head coach and GM, or Wilson wins enough games to keep him on the bench, or the season devolves to the point that playing Dart becomes beneficial to getting his first reps out of the way in meaningless action before 2026 will be fascinating to watch unfold.
There just don’t seem to be many easy answers for the Giants on how to walk this tightrope they’ve put themselves onto.
“Not Rocket Science” NFLPA Calls on Giants to Make Major Change
Nick Laham | GettyThe New York Giants may once again hear vocal calls to replace the MetLife Stadium turf with natural grass.
MetLife Stadium is set to host the World Cup Final, and as a result, will need to replace its notorious artificial turf playing surface with a grass pitch to meet FIFA’s standards for hosting the event.
“It’s really basic,” NFLPA Executive Director Lloyd Howell said last year. “It’s not rocket science. Ninety-two percent of our union wants grass. That’s compelling. The bottom line is, it’s unquestionable that our union wants to have a working condition where they play on grass.”
After years of players calling on teams across the NFL to ditch turf in favor of grass, the NFLPA seems to be hoping this temporary change winds up being permanent.
It remains to be seen if the Giants will keep the natural playing surface in place, and if the teams will take into account the calls from the union to upgrade the field. But, laying down grass to accommodate FIFA is likely to resonate with players across the league.
‘Unwatchable’ Giants: Tiki Barber Reveals the Truth and Their New Old-School Plan