Giants Hover Near Bottom of SI's "Way Too Early" 2024 NFL Power Rankings
The New York Giants are coming off an injury-plagued, 6-11 season in which seemingly everything that could go wrong did go wrong, especially on offense. They had injuries at nearly every skill position on offense, which led to their offense finishing 29th in the league (280 yards/ per game).
The Giants' offense could look entirely different next season. They are expected to revamp their offensive line and add a legitimate X-receiver to a unit without a 1,000-yard receiver since Odell Beckham Jr finished with 1,052 yards in 2018. The Giants are also potentially looking at a shakeup in their running backs room, where starter Saquon Barkley and backup Matt Breida are set to be unrestricted free agents.
New York has the sixth overall pick in this year's NFL Draft and has two picks in the second round. They could turn things around quickly if they drafted wisely and spent wisely in free agency. But until their off-season moves are known, SI.com's Conor Orr has a bleak outlook on the Giants' chances of turning things around next season.
In his way too early 2024 power rankings, Orr ranked the Giants 28th, noting:
This team has needed to shed weight for a long time in order to properly recalibrate. Could they take care of both a teardown and a buildup in the same offseason? I’m not one to put undue pressure on Brian Daboll, a person who has consistently shown he can win games despite meager resources. But the honeymoon period could be over for the less impatient among the Giants’ fanbase.
The Giants are expected to continue to build around quarterback Daniel Jones after giving him a four-year, $160 million contract last offseason. General manager Joe Schoen has already said the expectation is that Jones, who is rehabbing from a torn ACL, will be the starter once he's healthy. However, Schoen also did not rule out the possibility of drafting a quarterback at some point in the upcoming selection process.
As for head coach Brian Daboll, he built up some equity in his first season thanks to his Coach of the Year campaign. While last year was disappointing, some within the building attribute it to a perfect storm of injuries to key players, a ridiculous start to their 2023 campaign, and some coaching issues that Daboll presumably addressed after the year ended.
This doesn't mean that Daboll's seat isn't warming up beneath him, but there's no question that team co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch want to see forward progress in the franchise's direction.
