Giants' Multistep Plan to Crush the Off-season Roster Building Process

For two straight seasons, the New York Giants have been regressing in terms of on-field results, leaving general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll with a lot of work to do as they once again try to close the talent gaps between their franchise and the rest of the NFC East.
Schoen and Daboll reportedly laid out a multistep plan to team ownership, which John Mara and Steve Tisch approved enough to sign off on both men retaining their respective positions despite the Giants' posting a 9-25 record since their surprising 9-7-1 playoff berth in 2022, the first year of their tenure.
While the plan will unfold over the next several months, here is a look at what we would do to get the Giants back on track.
Get the Salary Cap in Order
According to Over the Cap, the Giants are in decent enough shape cap-wise. They have 47 players under contract, $43.380 million of total space, and $32.062 million in effective space (the amount available to sign players under the top-51 rule).
That might sound like a lot of breathing room, but as any NFL team will probably tell you, no matter what you have, you can always stand to have more.
The Giants, who have some big-ticket items to shop for (more on that in a moment), the more they can get, the better.
During the 2023 offseason, the Giants, coming off their playoff season, had $52.247 million of total cap space and $42.843 million in effective space–both figures more than what they hold today. And back then, they didn’t have to worry about adding a starting quarterback, so some cap cleanup is probably in order this year.
Schoen has historically not liked to kick the can down the road with restructuring contracts, as to do so makes the dead money that comes with the termination of the restructured contracts add up.
But let’s say the Giants do want to open up additional funds. The obvious restructure of candidates and the money that could be saved via a conventional restructure (converting base salary into a signing bonus) would, according to Pro Football Network, be as follows:
- LT Andrew Thomas (2025 Cap = $21,087,941) - could save $12,584,000 with a conventional restructure.
- OLB Brian Burns (2025 Cap = $29,750,000) - could save $16,185,000 with a conventional restructure or $17,264,000 by adding one void year or signing an extension.
- IDL Dexter Lawrence (2025 Cap = $24,134,600) - could save $9,886,667 with a conventional restructure or $11,864,000 by adding two void years or signing an extension.
- ILB Bobby Okereke (2025 Cap = $14,463,333) - could save $3,915,000 with a conventional restructure or $6,264,000 by adding three void years or signing an extension.
- OG Jon Runyan Jr. (2025 Cap = $11,750,000) - could save $4,040,000 with a conventional restructure or $6,464,000 by adding three void years or signing an extension.
The Giants could also lop off defensive lineman Rakeem Nunez-Roches’s contract ($3.6 million savings, $1.433 million dead money) if they, as is expected, decide to dip into the deep defensive line class in the draft.
Some have suggested that the team might move on from kicker Graham Gano ($3.165 million savings, $2.5 million dead money). Despite Gano’s injury issues the last two seasons, I don’t think the Giants will go down that path.
Again, the Giants don’t have to make any cap moves right now, but that cap space they do have will probably go quickly once free agency opens.
Decide on the Option Years for Evan Neal and Kayvon Thibodeaux
This checkpoint should be a no-brainer for Joe Schoen, who is likely to decline the fifth-year option on offensive tackle Evan Neal’s rookie deal, which, per OTC, would have cost them $17.412 million in 2026, but exercise the option year in outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux’s contract ($16.06 million).
The potential decision to exercise Thibodeaux’s option year might not sit well with some Giants fans, who think the former Oregon linebacker hasn’t quite lived up to his draft pedigree as the fifth overall pick in the 2022 draft. Still, there are two reasons the Giants can justify exercising the option.
The first is an argument that can be made that Thibodeaux’s drop in production in 2024 was partly due to his missing time with a broken wrist.
When he returned to the lineup after missing five weeks, he generated 20 pressures on 158 pass rushes (12.7%), joining his on-field partner Burns (21 pressures on 142 pass rushes, 14.8%) as one of four sets of teammates who have recorded at least 20 pressures apiece in that span, and the only such duo who have each forced a turnover on their pressures.
The second reason is that, ultimately, it would cost the Giants less, in the long run, to exercise the option year on a pass rusher than to sign him to a monster extension as they did for Andrew Thomas and Dexter Lawrence before their receptive rookie deals expired.
As up-and-down as Thibodeaux has been, pass rushers don’t grow on trees. And with the team, all but certain to lose Azeez Ojulari in free agency this year, keeping the duo of Thibodeaux and Brian Burns together makes more sense for the next two years than splitting them, especially since the Giants have other glaring needs on the roster that need to be filled.
Once Thibodeaux starts to develop and refine additional pass-rush moves, the hope is that his stock will begin to ascend. Until then, the Giants are unlikely to give up on him despite calls for the team to trade him and replace him with Penn State’s Abdul Carter in the draft if he’s sitting at No. 3.
Get a Veteran Bridge Quarterback
The Giants quarterback room will look significantly different in 2025, as the only projected holdover will likely be Tommy DeVito, an exclusive rights free agent and hence inexpensive to re-sign.
But mark it in ink that the Giants will have a new starting quarterback. That starter will be a veteran currently under contract to another team who has a history of winning games and performing in clutch situations.
Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold remains a popular choice among the fan base despite his bumpy ending to the 2024 campaign. Still, there are questions about whether Darnold can be clutch, given how his regular-season and playoff run ended.
There has also been talk of the Giants trading for either Kirk Cousins of the Falcons or Derek Carr of the Saints, but given the Giants' needs, it doesn’t make sense for them to trade away assets.
Their best bet is to see who hits free agency and who has a history of winning games and coming through in the clutch.
Russell Wilson could be a possibility–the Giants and Wilson had a cup of coffee last year before Wilson took his talents to the Steelers. However, there is also a possibility that Wilson, who enjoyed his finest years in Seattle with Pete Carroll, will be reunited with him in Las Vegas.
Justin Fields? He’s a good young talent with upside, but pairing him with a rookie quarterback might not be how the Giants want to go, given how Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll are under intense pressure to start winning some games this year.
What about Jimmy Garoppolo, who will be a free agent and has a winning record as a starter?
Garoppolo is mobile enough to execute the zone reads and RPOs the Giants seem to like to run in their offense. He has experience playing in a Super Bowl and 14 career fourth-quarter comebacks, including one in the postseason (2022).
According to Spotrac, Garoppolo has a market value of $3 million based on a one-year contract, but that’s based on him being a backup rather than a potential starter.
A more likely contract for Garoppolo or whoever the Giants select as their veteran starter would probably end up being in the three-year, $30 million per year range, with an out after two seasons.
This will give the Giants an established starter for this year and the next two seasons, regardless of what they do in the draft.
Get a CB1
The Giants are probably hoping that the change in defensive backs coaches from Jerome Henderson to Marquand Manuel will be what the doctor orders to get Deonte Banks, who hit the sophomore slump last year, back on the right path.
Regardless of whether that happens, the team could use another playmaker on the perimeter unless they plan to move Dru Phillips from the slot to the outside (which is unlikely).
One free-agent cornerback to keep an eye on if he hits the market is D.J. Reed of the Jets.
Reed is ranked as the sixth best free agent option on Pro Football Focus’s Top 100 players set to hit free agency, and with good reason, starting with a 51.28% lockdown percentage.
How nice would it be for the Giants to have a pair of young cornerbacks capable of slowing down the twin sets of receivers they would face twice a year just in the NFC East alone?
Add Offensive Line Depth
It still boggles the mind that the Giants didn’t manage to draft any offensive line help last year, instead leaning heavily on veterans to fix one of the team's biggest Achilles heels over recent years.
While the plan seemed to work, the line was healthy. The minute injuries started kicking in, the lack of depth was exposed, hurting the team.
Look no further than the revolving door the team had in trying to plug Andrew Thomas’s injury-related absence. The Giants tried to make do with Joshua Ezeudu (a guard) and then with Chris Hubbard (a career right tackle) before finally moving Jermaine Eluemunor to the left tackle spot to stop the bleeding.
That being the case, at some point, the veterans will be too expensive to continue carrying. The Giants have a promising young interior offensive lineman in Jake Kubas, but their backup depth at tackle is bare and needs to be addressed with someone who can step in for Thomas should the injury bug get him again.
Decide on the Play Caller
The identity of the Giants' play caller is just as important a decision as any player personnel move the team might make.
Last year’s decision by Daboll to take over the playcalling didn’t work out as Daboll and the Giants hoped, though one might argue that the quarterback play was also a big reason for the offense’s struggles.
But a bigger problem with Daboll’s taking on the play calling is that the defense and special teams struggled as well, to the point where it’s fair to wonder if he hadn’t been so locked in every week to calling plays, might he have been able to spend more of his time with them, particularly on game day.
If Mike Kafka is hired for the Saints' head coaching job, Daboll could hire Ken Dorsey, who was with him in Buffalo, to call the plays or promote Shea Tierney, who’s had some on-the-job training calling plays for the role.
But if Kafka returns, then there should be no shame or hesitation in giving him back the play-calling duties, especially considering the Giants had their best season in the three-year Daboll regime in 2022 with Kafka calling the play and having consistent quarterback play.
Add to the Defensive Front
The Giants traded Leonard Williams away a couple of years ago, and they still haven’t found a suitable replacement. Instead, they lean on Dexter Lawrence to do it all by himself.
Lawrence is good, but he’s also human. It’s also very noticeable when he comes off the field that teams go right after his spot.
The Giants rolled with the youth movement on the defensive line. They had some modest success, but not enough to where the Giants consistently emerged victorious in their defensive battles in the trenches.
Fortunately for the Giants, this year’s defensive line draft class is so deep that they should be able to get themselves a guy who might impact the defensive front that’s been missing ever since Williams was sent to Seattle.
Draft Better
After two so-so draft classes in 2022 and 2023, the third time was a charm for Giants general manager Joe Schoen, whose 2024 draft class members contributed quality snaps across the board.
The same can’t necessarily be said of the first two classes, particularly in the premium rounds.
Whereas the Giants got starters last year out of receiver Malik Nabers, safety Tyler Nubin, and cornerback Dru Phillips, the 2023 class only yielded two starters out of the top three picks (cornerback Deonte Banks and center John Michael Schmitz).
The 2022 class yielded two starters (edge Kayvon Thibodeaux and cornerback Cor’Dale Flott) out of five premium picks.
Whoever the Giants pick this year needs to spend more on draft picks in the top 100 to solidify the team’s foundation.