Defining Success: What Do Giants Need to Deliver to Show an Upward Trend?

New York Giants co-owner John Mara, who spoke to reporters earlier in the summer, has just one request for general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll for the upcoming season.

Be better.

That request, of course, pertains to the Giants’ upcoming season. Mara, who has declined to issue specifics regarding the number of wins the team must reach this season to prove it’s better, is looking for “significant improvement” as the season unfolds. 

Whatever that means. 

“I’m not going to get into what’s successful and what’s not,” Schoen said last week when asked what would make a successful season this year. “We’re worried about Minnesota.”

The Giants are unlikely to win every game played this season–no team has gone undefeated in the NFL since the 1972 Miami Dolphins did so in both the regular and postseason en route to a 17-0 record. 

The 2007 New England Patriots came close, finishing with a 16-0 record in the regular season, but failing to cap a perfect postseason play thanks to the Giants and quarterback Eli Manning’s 17-14 Super Bowl XLII upset.

The easy answer is for the Giants to show improvement in areas where they were just flat-out bad last season–and there were enough that sank their hopes.

But before getting into those, perhaps one of the top criteria team ownership will consider is a return on investment in the talent that Schoen and Daboll assembled.

The Giants spent over $90 million in free-agent contracts this offseason, the largest overall dollars given to offensive lineman Jon Runyan, Jr (3 years, $30 million), running back Devin Singletary (3 years, $16.5 million), and offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor (2 years, $14 million).     

There is also the huge 5-year, $141 million contract given to outside linebacker Brian Burns, acquired in a trade with the Carolina Panthers. 

These investments weren’t made because Schoen picked out those two areas from a hat filled with needs. According to Pro Football Focus, the Giants’ offensive line ranked 30th in pass-blocking efficiency after allowing the second most sacks in league history (85) between multiple combinations thrown together due to injuries.

The pass rush, which had fallen far from the days of Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck, and Osi Umenyiora, also finished with a whimper last year. In 2023, New York’s sacks per pass attempt percentage was 5.84 percent, 30th in the league.

There is also the play of quarterback Daniel Jones, who is on Year 2 of his 4-year, $160 million contract, his $47.855 million cap number this year currently the third-highest among quarterbacks. 

Yes, last season, everything that could have gone wrong for him and the offense did, including the season-ending ACL injury. 

But Jones, when he did play, had his worst season as a pro, finishing with a 70.5 passer rating, his lowest in five seasons, and only two touchdowns to six interceptions among his 160 pass attempts. His success rate in picking up at least 40 percent of the required yardage on first down, 60 percent on second, and 100 percent on third and fourth downs fell to 36.3 percent, also a career low.

The hope is that head coach Brian Daboll’s taking over the play-calling will make the offense more explosive and productive. 

Last season the Giants averaged 15.6 points per game, 30th in the league, while allowing an average of 23.4 points per game, an average differential of nearly eight points (or two scores). 

Even more alarming was the number of games in which the Giants weren’t competitive. Among their 11 losses last season, eight were by two or more scores, the average margin of defeat in those eight games being -22.

With the last of the guaranteed money owed to Jones coming this year, the Giants are at a crossroads with the position. They tried to trade up in the draft to get a quarterback, only to be rebuked by the Patriots, who took Drake Maye, whom the Giants reportedly had eyes for.

When that didn’t work, the team pivoted by drafting dynamic receiver Malik Nabers instead, hoping that by giving Jones a legitimate No. 1 receiver, an improved offensive line, and Daboll in his ear on game days, the hope being that Jones would justify the confidence that the organization has in him.  

In terms of the bigger picture, Schoen and Daboll hope that the work they’ve done on the roster, the changes made to the playbook to better take advantage of their talent, and the other little tweaks made, such as to the training schedule to cut down on lingering injuries, will all result in more wins, the clearest indicator of whether the franchise is headed in the right direction. 

Schoen understands that it’s a results-oriented business and that, ultimately, wins separate teams in the draft order and in the quest for postseason berths.

“(Daboll) and I don’t approach this job without saying, ‘We want to go out and win.’ That’s what we’re here for,” Schoen said. 

“That’s why we work our tails off. That’s why we were here all night doing the waiver cutdown. That’s why we are out all spring at pro days and do all the work. It’s not to come up here and not win games. So that’s always going to be the goal.”