The mail’s here!
Michael Munger asks: With all the focus being on the QB position I figured I’d go a different route with my question. We have a true No. 1 WR with Nabers, a solid slot guy with Robinson, and a question mark still with Hyatt. Would you be in favor of getting a true No. 2 WR in the 2nd/3rd rounds? A guy like Xavier Restrepo who set records at Miami seems like the perfect guy to bring in to pair with Nabers. Your thoughts on Restrepo the player and whether or not the WR position should be a focus that high in the draft.
Ed says: Michael, yes I would be in favor of getting a wide receiver to go along with Malik Nabers. Wan’Dale Robinson was a second-round pick and Jalin Hyatt a third-round pick, so simply using a pick on a wide receiver in one of those rounds guarantees you nothing. I haven’t studied Restrepo, but he is a slot receiver like Robinson. He’s not an outside No. 2 type receiver.
I think the Giants have a No. 2 in Darius Slayton. They just didn’t have the ability to get him the ball in 2024. I also think Slayton is going to want to move on. I don’t know that the Giants will spend big money on wide receiver in free agency, but they at least need a quality veteran to replace Slayton.
I also think that if the draft falls such that they land Travis Hunter they would likely use him full-time at cornerback and have packages for him on offense. That would also change the equation.
Ciro Scalera asks: Most Giants fans in last week’s mailbag are asking you about the QB selections facing the Giants. I read your responses that the variables of draft position, head coach and GM are up in the air so you could not make an informed decision. I don’t disagree but we read you for your “views” even if at any given time they might be somewhat speculative. Can you lay out what you would see as viable “options” for the Giants QB dilemma as if you were our GM and had to do this analysis?
Ed says: Ciro, I promised you I would do this once we had all of the information and I did that on Wednesday. I will quickly lay it out here, and if you haven’t read that post my full thoughts are there:
- Draft Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders: If one is available and the Giants LOVE the player available, fine. If the player they love is not there at No. 3, do something else.
- Sam Darnold: Risky because it could be the Daniel Jones mistake all over again, but I think the Giants might see it as their best immediate option. I am, honestly, queasy about this one.
- J.J. McCarthy: Many analysts think he would have been graded above Ward or Sanders if he was in this class. I am a McCarthy fan, and would be in favor of this … provided getting him does not involve giving up the No. 3 overall pick.
- Bridge QB/Day 2 pick: I think this is the fallback if the first three scenarios don’t work out.
Michael Perez asks: We have lost our identity as a football team. We once where a team built on strong offensive and defensive lines, with a strong running game behind a qb who was not elite but effective enough to keep the chains moving and not turn the ball over. Eli was an exception as he was elite to me. I don’t believe the G-men need that but someone like JJ McCarthy a winner on every level reminds me of Phil Simms or Hostetler. I think trading for him would be a smart move because he fits the Gmen’s mold at QB. Smart, great character, student of the game and someone who won’t put us terrible situations. Thoughts?
Ed says: Michael, I answered a bunch of McCarthy questions last week. I also spent a lot of time on McCarthy in my look at 2025 quarterback options for the Giants. The thoughts you are looking for are contained in those two posts.
Frits Verbruggen asks: I was reading the other day (again) about the field in the MetLife Stadium and that it was recently replaced. What caught my eye was a comment from Mr. Mara about the grass and that if they have grass that grows all year round he would go for it.
Now I know that the World Cup final will be played next year on the 19th of July in the MetLife stadium! I also know with certainty that it will be played on natural grass and not artificial.
Could this be the opportunity to leave the grass? At least for a season? Thoughts?
Ed says: To my knowledge, there is no intent to do that. The Giants, and the New York Jets, don’t believe at this time that the capability exists to maintain a playable grass surface. That is because it is a cold climate, two teams play on that surface through colder weather, and there are concerts and other events there throughout the spring, summer and fall that would trample the grass.
As of today, there are 25 events — concerts, dirt bike and monster truck events, two days of Wrestlemania — scheduled at the Stadium in 2025.
The feeling is that a safe, playable surface just can’t be maintained given the weather and the heavy usage.
Douglas Mollin asks: Seems like there has been a windfall of second-life QBs in the NFL in recent seasons.
Wilson, Darnold, Goff, Mayfield, Smith and to a lesser extent, Winston and Flacco.
Do you think NFL teams are more open to building the team first and getting the QB later?
Or is the QB always the primary objective no matter how bad the team’s roster is?
This could apply to the Giants this draft. Given their uncertain future with the team, do Schoen and Daboll “burn” a high pick on QB who likely won’t play much in 2025? Or if they do play, likely struggle.
Ed says: Doug, that “chicken or the egg?” argument goes around and around. I think that quarterback is the most important position in all of team sports, and teams who don’t have one they think they can win with are always on the lookout for chances to find/acquire someone they think might be that guy.
I think if you don’t have the quarterback you think can be your guy for the next decade and you have a chance to grab that guy you take it — whether you think your team is “ready” or not.
Alan Backman asks: Read your articles and the comments from a lot of the readers. I’ve got to ask. Why is there so much emphasis on the OL? Don’t get me wrong. The Giants OL needs help. The OTs missed time with injury. Van Roten is old and a FA. However, all the starters graded better than 60 and most higher than that in pass blocking. Overall, the OL prior to Thomas’ injury was 11th best in pass blocking. Is the team really going to improve that much if we got that to top 5 in pass blocking? Yes, I do agree that we need to find OL depth. Neal is a FA at the end of 2025. Ezeudu just does not seem to be developing. This year showed you clearly need depth. But there’s a difference between needing depth vs needing starters now. We all know that we need starters at QB and DT2. And your mock drafts addressed that. Now tell me. Who is WR2 and CB2? Of course, we have Nabers for WR1. But his usage was incredibly high. Just not sustainable. I like Slayton but he graded in the 50s this year and likely wants a bigger role somewhere else. Even worse, at CB you arguably don’t even have CB1 given Banks’ poor play. On top of all this, I think you can make a pretty good argument that a starting WR or CB is going to have a bigger impact on the team’s performance than an OL who may only be a backup. What is your thinking?
Ed says: Alan, there is so much emphasis on the offensive line because it has been a problem for most of the last dozen years or so. I think by now it is ingrained in Giants fans to think “offensive line help” any time team needs come up.
You raise valid concerns about all of the other positions that you mentioned. But, remember that I always say you have to build from the inside out — from the offensive and defensive lines out. All the skill position talent in the world on offense or quality defensive backs on defense can’t be maximized without those things.
The Giants’ offensive line was better in 2024. There is still an issue, though. That issue? There is no young talent in the pipeline.
Greg Van Roten is 34 and headed to free agency. Even if he is brought back, you have to start thinking about how much longer he can play at a quality level. Jermaine Eluemunor will be in the last year of his contract. Andrew Thomas has been injury-prone.
Josh Ezeudu hasn’t yet proven he can be a reliable player. Marcus McKethan is out of the league. Evan Neal remains a question mark. I like Jake Kubas, but he didn’t show enough in his limited audition for me to think the Giants should count on him going forward.
Teams should ALWAYS continue to feed the offensive line pipeline. Do you really want to be playing Ezeudu at left tackle if Thomas gets hurt again, or have to bring in a washed journeyman like Chris Hubbard? Or, pull a Justin Pugh off the couch midseason?
Want to build a consistently good offensive line? You have to keep putting young players in the pipeline. We know what happens when the offensive line isn’t functional.
Edwin Gommers asks: I strongly believe Giants fans should move on from considering drafting Shedeur Sanders.
– Shedeur Sanders got sacked 42 times last season for a total of 356 sack yards
– Cam Ward got sacked 22 times for 142 sack yards
Pretty indicative of Sanders’ bad decision making, slow processing and the fact that he tries to escape pressure by running around behind the line of scrimmage, leading to him taking a lot of sacks.
That combined with how poor the Giants o-line has been largely for the last decade should be solid indicator for the Giants to take a hard pass on Sanders. We saw with Jones what bad decision making and slow processing especially behind a leaky o-line leads to.
Add to that how vocal Deion is, it starts to draw parallels with David Carr being the media mouth piece of his younger brother Derek. Basically saying all the things in the media that Derek can’t.
Not a big fan of Ward either but I’m intrigued by Allar should he declare and Milroe/Dart even though they would need to sit probably for a year behind a veteran bridge but I think either 3 will provide more upside in the long term than either Ward or Sanders.
What do you think?
Ed says: Edwin, first I think you should read the 2025 quarterback options post I mentioned earlier.
I think this will be argued about for the next 4½ months. I think If I had to make a choice today, knowing my own biases and preferences I would take Ward over Sanders. I think I am not ready to make a definitive statement saying that is where I am putting my marker down. I think I have a lot of studying to do before the draft comes. I think there are pros and cons to Ward and Sanders, and to every potential quarterback scenario for the Giants. One last thing: I’m not sure where your Dave/Derek Carr shot comes from.
Brad Nellis asks: After looking at the Giants 2025 schedule and realizing that no matter who the coach, GM or QB is, the Giants will be lucky to win 4 games. They have the most difficult schedule in the NFL. I think Mara and Tisch made the right decision to bring back Schoen and Daboll vs. bringing in a new regime that would have no chance at success in their first year. Let Schoen and Daboll take their lumps and bring in a new GM, coach and QB1 in 2026…do you agree?
Ed says: Brad, no, I do not agree. That may, indeed, be what ends up happening. There is no way, however, that the Giants are pre-emptively throwing away the 2025 season. Rightly or wrongly, they made the decision that they made because they thought it was the correct thing to do.
John Urbielewicz asks: There must be more to this story. On a team bereft of talent (especially wide reciever) They bring Hodgins up in crunch time where every game was must win and he responded with 33 catches for 351 yards and FOUR touchdowns in only eight games to make the playoffs. Then in a playoff victory he goes off for eight catches for 105 yards and a touchdown.
Then the following year you have no plans for this guy?
Ed says: John, I really don’t know. It has been clear since the spring of 2023, when Hodgins was running with the second team most of the time, that his role was going to be diminished. Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll are very familiar with what Hodgins is, and is not, because they were in Buffalo with him. They felt the guys who were playing were better.
Brandon Clarke asks: The Vikings added DJ to the practice squad for a small cost and recently activated him ahead of the playoffs. This allows them to receive the comp pick if he signs somewhere next year. Is there a reason the Giants did not keep him until the end of the season to potentially receive the same comp? Was the only reason out of respect for Danny? I don’t recall an additional cap hit and figured Joe would do what’s best for the organization, but it seems they released him just to be nice and grant his request.
Ed says: Brandon, despite what you may have read or heard the notion that the Giants could have gotten a compensatory pick for Daniel Jones is incorrect. Daniel Jones would not have been a free agent at the end end of the season. There were two more years left on his contract with the Giants. The Giants would have had to cut him before the league season begins in March, and teams do not get compensatory picks for players they cut.
From Over The Cap:
It is important to note that only certain players qualify for the compensatory formula. Those are only players whose contracts expire. Players who are cut are the most common example of free agents ineligible to become CFAs, but other methods of disqualification, such as a Restricted Free Agent not given a tender, also exist. In its most general sense, players only become Compensatory Free Agents if they are free to leave their old team against that team’s will.
Jones was never going to play another down for the Giants. Even a major practice injury that made him unable to pass a physical in 2025 would have put them on the hook for the $23 million injury guarantee.
Jones did request his release, and the Giants granted it. What might have happened had he not done that was that Jones and the Giants might have agreed for Jones to go home for the rest of the season, which is what happened with Derek Carr in Las Vegas a couple of years ago.
The Giants did do what was best for the organization by making sure that injury guarantee never kicked in.
Ryan Perry asks: How much was John Mara involved in the decision to retain Daniel Jones after 2022, including his compensation? If Schoen’s hand was forced, and he compensated Jones with more cap space than what he would have preferred, would that play into the decision to retain Schoen?
Ed says: Ryan I don’t know that Mara pushed for Jones to be kept. I know that the Giants had very few real options in free agency or in the draft because of where they were positioned. Would they be any better off right now had they drafted Will Levis?
Mara said this week that he “approved” the contract. He, of course, could have said no. He did not, so he has to take some of the responsibility for that decision.
Simon Hines asks: After Monday’s news that Schoen and Daboll have been retained for year 4, it has been a relatively quiet week. Does this mean that all the coordinators and position coaches are safe? Could we still see Daboll making changes? I appreciate Kafka is still interviewing for HC jobs, but does Daboll’s lack of change indicate they would like everyone back?
Ed says: Simon, I don’t think anything is etched in stone at this point. I don’t know what will happen with Mike Kafka. I was surprised by NFL insider Mike Garafolo saying he didn’t think the Giants would allow Kafka to interview for other offensive coordinator jobs if he didn’t get a head coaching job. I think the Giants are going to take their time and assess their defensive coordinator options. Shane Bowen was Mike Vrabel’s defensive coordinator in Tennessee, and might want to go with Vrabel when he takes a head coaching job.
Marcus Mewborn asks: With Daboll coming back for another year, what can he do to evolve/grow as a head coach?
Ed says: Marcus, Patty Traina and I talked about this extensively in our podcast on Friday. There are a couple of things.
First, there are still some questions about how Daboll treats his coaching staff. It is easy to work well together and play nice with each other when you’re winning. I’m still not sure Daboll deals with his coaches in a constructive way when things are going poorly.
A major thing for me is that I don’t think Daboll does a good enough job holding players accountable. There are myriad examples of lack of accountability throughout the season. The other thing is that if you are going to build a culture and have players buy what you are selling, players have to believe the coach is telling them the truth.
If you read Jordan Ranaan’s excellent story on Friday, you know that at least some players aren’t sure Daboll does a good job holding players accountable for their mistakes, and there seems to be a belief that the players aren’t getting the truth from the coach or the GM.
Those things have to change.
Charles Calabria asks: I have seen a lot of mock drafts where the simulations offer trading back from three. With the roster having multiple holes on both sides of the ball, shouldn’t the team consider trading back? If you were the GM what is the minimum compensation you would accept and what types of offers do you believe the Giants will get to move?
Ed says: Charles, yes, the Giants should consider the idea of moving back if the quarterback they want is not on the board at No. 3 — or is a guy they think they can get later. As for compensation and offers, it is so early I couldn’t tell you. If I was Joe Schoen, though, I would be looking for picks I could use this year. In the best circumstances, I might be looking for any package to include a Day 1 or Day 2 pick next year, but Schoen and Daboll need results immediately and that might impact what they would look for in a deal.
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