Giants touted ‘plan,’ ‘process’ for keeping status quo, but do they have either?

There was a lot to process Monday, as New York Giants players, co-owner John Mara, general manager Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll addressed the media to close the book on the forgettable 2024 season.

Though the return of Schoen and Daboll for a fourth year was the headline of the day, there’s plenty more to dive into as the focus shifts to a pivotal offseason:

What’s the plan?

A popular talking point from Mara and Schoen was their confidence in the “plan” and “process.” Unfortunately, neither articulated what the plan is. One thing is certain, the plan has changed drastically at multiple points during Schoen’s tenure.

When Schoen was hired, the plan was not to build around quarterback Daniel Jones. But then there was the unexpected success of the 2022 season, and the plan shifted to an “accelerated” rebuild around Jones. The Giants continued with that plan this season, although the faith in it was crumbling last offseason.

Now, the Giants are pivoting again to starting over at quarterback. Schoen tried to sell this plan as being on track because the Giants “aren’t digging ourselves out of a financial hole or (have) a lack of draft capital.”

The Giants’ draft war chest is far from stocked. They have eight picks in the 2025 draft, which is one more than the standard allotment. They don’t have any additional picks in the first three rounds. Their one bonus pick should be a comp pick at the end of the fourth round due to their free-agent losses last offseason.

If building draft capital was a priority, Schoen wouldn’t have dealt a 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick to the Carolina Panthers for outside linebacker Brian Burns last year. The Panthers took the No. 39 pick from the Giants and flipped it in a draft-night trade to the Los Angeles Rams for the 52nd pick, a fifth-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick. That additional second-round pick would be valuable for the Giants, especially as they might need to dip into their picks this year or in the future to move up from No. 3 for a quarterback.

The Giants are projected to have $54.5 million in salary-cap space, which is the 15th-most in the league. That’s fine, but it would be far better without the $22.2 million in dead money charge from Jones’ contract.

Having that much cap space this offseason shows they could have afforded to re-sign running back Saquon Barkley and safety Xavier McKinney last offseason. Letting those players walk was understandable from a resource allocation perspective, but it created two big holes on a roster lacking talent. The savings from Barkley and McKinney will need to go toward trying to sign players of their caliber this offseason.

Draft master?

Mara pointed to the 2024 draft class as evidence Schoen has the team headed in the right direction despite the lack of results. It was undoubtedly a successful class, with first-round pick Malik Nabers already looking like a bona fide No. 1 receiver and fifth-round pick Tyrone Tracy representing the type of value teams can find at running back later in the draft. The rest of the class showed varying levels of promise, with a baseline established as starting-caliber players.

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The question is whether 2024 is an indication Schoen has mastered drafting after two woeful classes to begin his tenure. The optimistic spin is the 2024 draft was Schoen’s first with his full scouting staff. The problem with that theory is it’s simply not true.

Assistant general manager Brandon Brown was the only addition Schoen was able to make for his first draft after being hired in January 2022. The Giants had two picks in the top seven and five picks in the top 81 in the 2022 draft. When Schoen was hired, he said he had already scouted the players ranked in the top four rounds on the Buffalo Bills’ board in his role as Buffalo’s assistant GM.

Perhaps some of the misses in the later rounds in that first draft can be attributed to the unfamiliar scouting staff. But GMs don’t lean heavily on area scouts when making top-10 picks. Schoen had plenty of exposure to Kayvon Thibodeaux and Evan Neal before making those selections.

Immediately after the 2022 draft, Schoen fired director of college scouting Chris Pettit and hired assistant director of player personnel Dennis Hickey, national scout Mike Derice and area scout Scott Hamel. Schoen’s hand-picked college scouting department was intact for the entire 2023 draft cycle. That class leaves much to be desired after two seasons.

The Giants parted ways with area scout DJ Boisture after the 2023 draft. Otherwise, the same crew is responsible for landing the impressive 2024 class.

Schoen might have uncovered a formula to conquer the inexact science of the draft as his staff gains experience together. That will be necessary because draft classes such as 2024’s will become the expectation after Mara cited that success as the main reason to retain Schoen.

You sure about that?

Mara also offered a surprisingly favorable review of the 2024 free-agent class. Although technically acquired via trade, Burns was the gem of the offseason additions.

The Giants got what they paid for in the five-year, $141 million contract they gave Burns, who continued his remarkably consistent career. His 8.5 sacks, 17 TFL and 18 QB hits were in line with his typical stellar production.

The rest of the class was far more mixed. Guard Jon Runyan is another veteran who performed at the expected level after signing a three-year, $30 million contract. Runyan was solid, but he wasn’t a major upgrade over Ben Bredeson, who left for a one-year, $3 million contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Jermaine Eluemunor is another veteran who came as advertised after signing a two-year, $14 million contract. After the Giants wisely ditched the idea of playing Eluemunor at guard, he was a stabilizing presence at right tackle. He further demonstrated his value by capably filling it at left tackle late in the season.

The Giants’ other midlevel free-agent signings were flops. After losing Barkley, the Giants pivoted to running back Devin Singletary with a three-year, $16.5 million contract. Singletary struggled with fumbles early in the season, lost his starting job to Tracy after missing time with an injury in Week 5 and averaged a career-low 3.9 yards per carry.

Schoen gave quarterback Drew Lock a one-year, $5 million contract to be the backup plan for Jones. But when the Giants moved on from Jones, they leap-frogged Lock for No. 3 quarterback Tommy DeVito. Lock eventually made five starts and, aside from an inexplicable virtuoso performance in a win over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 17, it was ugly.

Any calculation of the Giants’ free agency must account for letting Barkley and McKinney walk. Both players will likely earn first-team All-Pro honors with their new teams.

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Not tanking but …

Mara was adamant the Giants didn’t tank Sunday’s 20-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles’ backups in the season finale.

“We are never going to do that in this organization as long as I’m standing on this side of the grass,” Mara said.

No one is accusing the Giants of throwing the game. Their healthy starters all played. But young players like linebacker Dyontae Johnson, cornerback Divaad Wilson and safety Anthony Johnson were given their first substantial playing time of the season, and established veterans like Burns saw their workloads reduced.

The personnel usage felt like a preseason game, multiple players said. There’s nothing wrong with using a meaningless late-season game to get a look at unproven players. But Sunday’s approach was a drastic departure from the previous week when the Giants went all out to beat the Colts to snap a 10-game losing streak and avoid going winless at home for the first time in franchise history.

It’s hard to ignore that Daboll and Schoen had the lengthy meeting with Mara that assured their return in between those games. So even if the Giants didn’t tank, the returning brass likely wasn’t upset the loss landed the No. 3 pick instead of winning and picking sixth.

If the Giants had used Week 17 to evaluate little-used players, they might not have beaten the Colts and therefore would have the No. 1 pick. The shift was consistent with the flying-by-the-seat-of-their-pants approach of this regime and the organization overall.

Another new DC?

Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen was put on notice when Mara said, “Quite frankly, I didn’t think our defense played very well this year at all.” Daboll said Monday he hadn’t yet thought about any staff changes, but it’s hard to imagine an assistant coach surviving that level of scrutiny from the owner.

The Giants can afford to sit tight with Bowen because the coordinator cycle takes longer to start up since there are so many head-coaching vacancies to be filled. Bowen spent the previous six seasons on Mike Vrabel’s staff in Tennessee. With Vrabel arguably the top head-coaching candidate on the market, the Giants could wait to see whether he’ll request to bring Bowen to his next stop. That would allow the Giants to get out of Bowen’s contract without firing him.

Tough slate

The Giants’ 2025 opponents have been finalized. They’ll host the Eagles, Cowboys, Commanders, Vikings, Packers, Chiefs, Chargers and 49ers. Gulp. They’ll face the Eagles, Cowboys, Commanders, Lions, Bears, Broncos, Raiders, Saints and Patriots on the road.

Things change from year to year in the NFL, but that looks like a gantlet. It makes the demand for immediate improvement, likely with a rookie quarterback, that much more of a tall task.

(Photo of Joe Schoen: Aaron M. Sprecher / Associated Press)