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Giants general manager Joe Schoen never likes to share expectations publicly before the season, so it wasn’t a surprise when he side-stepped questions on the topic during his annual post-cut day news conference last week.
However, with co-owner John Mara stating in early August that he wants to see “significant improvement” this season, Schoen was asked how he’ll measure the progress his boss desires. Schoen bristled at the question before explaining all of the work he and coach Brian Daboll put into winning games.
“The goal is to win games,” Schoen said. “Always.”
Winning games would obviously be the most direct route to demonstrating improvement. If the Giants win nine games and are back in the playoff picture, Mara will be able to meet his standard of “feeling like we’re moving in the right direction” when he walks off the field after the final game of the season.
But such improvement in the win column could be a tall task for a team with a win total projected at 6.5 games. Still, there are ways to show progress.
For Schoen, he needs his draft picks to deliver. The best players on the roster, left tackle Andrew Thomas and defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, are holdovers from the previous regime. The other premier players, outside linebacker Brian Burns and inside linebacker Bobby Okereke, were expensive veteran acquisitions.
None of the picks from Schoen’s first two draft classes are established yet as upper-level players, although 2022 first-round pick Kayvon Thibodeaux showed promise with 11.5 sacks last season. The biggest hope for a star draft pick is this year’s first-round selection, Malik Nabers.
Second-round rookie Tyler Nubin is in line to start at safety, while third-round rookie Dru Phillips will be the starting nickel cornerback. Picks like that need to develop into core players.
Misses in previous drafts forced Schoen to pivot to veterans this offseason. Schoen went 0-for-4 on offensive line additions in 2022, with first-round pick Evan Neal, third-round pick Josh Ezeudu, fifth-round pick Marcus McKethan and free-agent signing Mark Glowinski all failing to become reliable starters.
The Giants signed Jon Runyan to a three-year, $30 million contract and Jermaine Eluemunor to a two-year, $14 million contract in free agency to fortify the line. But that wasn’t enough, so Greg Van Roten signed a one-year, $2 million contract a week into training camp because Neal remained sidelined by an ankle injury. That led to a reshuffling of the line, with Van Roten inserted at right guard, Runyan shifting from right guard to left guard and Eluemunor kicking out from left guard to right tackle.
Schoen held off on spending on a veteran cornerback all offseason, expressing confidence in the young options on the roster. But after 2022 third-round pick Cor’Dale Flott and fourth-year pro Nick McCloud struggled throughout camp, Schoen re-signed cornerback Adoree’ Jackson to a one-year, $1.8 million contract last Friday.
On one hand, Schoen and Daboll deserve credit for not gifting starting jobs to young players who haven’t earned them. But stopgaps like Van Roten and Jackson aren’t part of the long-term vision Schoen has been preaching this offseason. Obviously, the Giants would be in a much better spot if third-round picks like Ezeudu and Flott were viable starters by their third season so that the late veteran signings wouldn’t have been necessary.
If Schoen doesn’t start getting more production from his draft picks, it will be hard to meet Mara’s desire for significant improvement.
GO FURTHER
New York Giants ownership expects ‘significant improvement’ in 2024. Will they get it?
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