Giants Must Address These Two Crucial Areas

The New York Giants have a lot of work to do this offseason in two major areas.
Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell (46), left, and safety Brian Branch (32) pressure Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold (14) during the second half at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025.
Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell (46), left, and safety Brian Branch (32) pressure Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold (14) during the second half at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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The New York Giants already made the first crucial offseason decision to retain head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen.

Believe it or not, team ownership was the easy part. But now, the challenging part begins as the brass attempts to fix a team that has badly regressed for the last two seasons.  

The two most crucial decisions plaguing the Giants this offseason are what to do at quarterback and what to do with the porous defense.

At quarterback, the Giants finally gave up on Daniel Jones, their 2019 first-round draft pick who struggled to take control of the position and quell concerns about his worthiness to succeed Eli Manning.

With Jones gone, the Giants primarily ran with Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito, who didn’t inspire confidence as the short-term answer. The 2025 quarterback class in the draft isn’t exactly brimming with talent, not like the 2024 class was.

New York cannot solely depend on finding a quarterback in the first round of this spring's NFL Draft. Neither of the top two quarterbacks, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, is guaranteed to be there when the Giants exercise their pick at No. 3, nor can anyone say right now that one or both of those signal callers is on the Giants’ radar.  

The top free agent quarterback coming out has to be Sam Darnold, currently with the Minnesota Vikings into the playoffs on a one-year deal worth $10 million. On the heels of his successful season–and inspired by the Vikings’ quick exit in the postseason–Darnold

Darnold will be looking for a significant raise next season from whatever team he goes to. He has experience playing in New York, as he was the original draft choice of the New York Jets.

If the two sides can agree on a cap-friendly contract, Darnold would make sense, at least until the Giants develop a quarterback they can pick up in the later rounds of the spring draft or a top-flight quarterback in 2026.

As for the defense, the Giants have already decided to retain defensive coordinator Shane Bowen for another season, instead opting to replace defensive backs coaches Jerome Henderson and Michael Treier. 

Coaching aside, the Giants' defense needs a major infusion of talent on this side of the ball in the worst way. On their defensive line, they have Dexter Laernce, but they have not quite found a player in the mold of Leonard Williams who can pair with Lawrence to help take some of the onus off him.

Brian Burns was solid enough for the Giants at the pass rush level, but Kayvon Thibodeaux, in an injury-interrupted season, didn’t take a big step forward. At the same time, Azeez Ojulari once again couldn’t stay healthy.

In the defensive backfield, the cornerbacks and safeties struggled with consistency, especially after Tyler Nubin was lost for the season midway through the year.

The Giants need to stock the defense better with players who fit what Bowen wants to do on defense. In contrast, the rest of the defensive assistants need to figure out how to get those players who were maybe intended to be a fit for Wink Martindale’s system to feel more comfortable in their roles in Bowen’s system.

It all comes down to a lot of work in what’s already a long offseason for a Giants team. If Schoen and Daboll can’t get these issues right, it could spell bigger problems and a potential change coming sooner rather than later.


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Scott Salomon
SCOTT SALOMON

Scott Salomon joined On SI in April 2024 covering breaking news and analysis for Miami Dolphins On SI. Scott also does the same for the New York Giants On SI, Miami Hurricanes On SI and San Antonio Spurs On SI. Scott is based in South Florida and has been covering local and national sports for over 35 years. Scott has been credentialed for the Super Bowl, the NFL Combine, various Orange Bowls and other college football championship bowl games. Scott was also credentialed for the NBA All-Star game and covered the Miami Heat during their first six seasons for USA TODAY. Scott is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Communication and the St. Thomas University School of Law.