Why the Giants’ Quiet Trade Deadline Was a Sign of Strength

There was no panic in how John Harbaugh and Joe Schoen handled the closing hours of the NFL trade deadline.

The New York Giants will lean on what they have for the rest of the season after coming up empty at the trade deadline for additional reinforcement. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With the dust having settled on yesterday’s NFL trade activity, the biggest takeaway from what the New York Giants did and didn’t do is that head coach John Harbaugh, general manager Joe Schoen, and the rest of the team’s braintrust are rooted in reality.

There were no illusions by the brass regarding the state of the roster, which, while overall solid, undoubtedly could have benefitted from reinforcements at running back and defensive tackle, not just for this year but for the future, when players currently on the team at both positions will hit free agency.

This resulted in no panic moves and no blinking first. As tempting as it might have been to cave to the Indianapolis Colts’ reported demands for more than the second- and fifth-round draft picks the Giants were said to be offering for running back Jonathan Taylor, New York held firm, realizing that as good as Taylor is, there will be other options to pursue.

In the meantime, the group they currently have (Cam Skattebo, Gregory Desrosiers, and Devin Singletary, who are on the roster at the moment, and Tyrone Tracy Jr., who has another three weeks to go before he’s eligible to come off IR) should be able to carry them through the remainder of the season.

The same can probably be said of the defensive tackle group, where, of late, the Giants have gotten much more solid play from Darius Alexander, while youngster Bobby Jamison-Travis has started to make plays regularly.

The Giants Did What They Needed to Do

While the Giants didn’t get anything done at the deadline, and it wasn’t due to a lack of trying, their biggest acquisition came back in September when they picked up young quarterback J.J. McCarthy from the Minnesota Vikings for a fifth-round pick.

McCarthy, who in Week 7 took over the starting quarterback role from Jameis Winston (who was thrust into the starting role following the season-ending knee injury suffered by Jaxson Dart seven snaps into Week 2), has played well enough to keep the Giants afloat, with McCarthy proving to be this year’s feel-good story as he seeks to resurrect a career that stalled out in Minnesota.

And while this is not to say that the Giants’ season was in jeopardy of slipping away with Winston at the offense’s controls, the threat of McCarthy’s mobility has forced opposing defenses to account for him as a runner.

From a bigger-picture perspective, the offense under McCarthy has been more productive. Since taking over in Week 7, the Giants have a +14-point differential in their games, tied for 13th best in the NFL.

By contrast, with Winston at the helm, the Giants had a +10-point differential over Weeks 3–6 (we are tossing out Week 2, when he had to step in for Dart and the game plan was clearly not tailored to Winston’s strengths).

The Future

No roster is ever fully complete in the NFL. But the Giants, keeping their feet on the ground, struck a nice balance between having faith in what they have for the short and long term and saving valuable draft assets to reinforce what needs reinforcing moving forward.

In other words, after several false starts brought on by a major misjudgment of the roster’s talent following the surprising 2022 season and then the turnover of the coaching staff, things are finally heading in the right direction thanks to the Schoen-Harbaugh team.

Sign up for our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news, and send your mailbag questions to us.