New York Giants Hard Knocks: What Did We Learn from Episode 1?

The New York Giants made their Hard Knocks debut on Tuesday. The five-part series, which will air every Tuesday, will cover their off-season activities.

Giants fans already know the main storylines—the Saquon Barkley decision, the draft, the quarterback, and more. But how much were the Giants, who had final editing rights, willing to allow seep out of the walls of their East Rutherford, New Jersey headquarters?

Here’s a look at what we learned from the premiere episode.

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

The trailer released last week teased a conversation between Barkley and Schoen in which the general manager asked if he had Barkley’s word or if the running back would not give him a chance.

That conversation didn’t play out further in this episode, but Schoen’s decision not to apply the franchise tag to the running back for a second year was discussed.

Earlier in the off-season, there had been some whispers about the Giants potentially seeking a tag and trade of the running back if his price wasn’t in their ballpark, and that was indeed discussed among the Giants brass. 

In the end, Schoen felt he couldn’t justify having a $40 million quarterback (Daniel Jones) “hand the ball off to a $12 million (the cost of the franchise tag) running back.”

Schoen presented his plan to team co-owner John Mara, who voiced an opinion in which he remained curious about what Barkley might look like in a healthy offense (unlike last year’s group). 

Schoen gently explained to Mara that he planned to upgrade the offensive line because they had committed at least two years to Jones with his contract, and he felt it more important to upgrade the offensive line to protect the quarterback.

In another scene in which he met with his personnel folks, Schoen also realized that as he rattled off the team’s needs—offensive line, pass rusher, No. 1 receiver, and cornerback—running back suddenly became less of a priority.

Schoen, who, during a brief clip, told Barkley that “the right thing to do is to let you test the market,”  also noted that the free agent class was deep at the running back position and that while there might not have been many difference makers like Barkley, there were guys who captured some of what Barkley does well that they felt they might be able to work with.

In a nutshell though, it was pretty clear that Barkley, once the face of the franchise, was no longer thought of that way by Schoen.

As expected, the cameras didn’t catch the fireworks between head coach Brian Daboll and former defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, again mainly because they didn’t start filming until February, the confrontation in January.

The breakup was mentioned, however, and we also get to see Daboll relaying to Schoen that he decided to offer the vacant defensive coordinator job to Shane Bowen. 

Daboll proudly showed an impressed Schoen Bowen’s recent body of work. Later in the episode, Schoen is seen on the phone welcoming Bowen to the Giants and talking about a personnel meeting in which the coaches get to share what they’re looking for.

That leads into the clip shown in the trailer, with Bowen explaining the base defense, his desire to try Isaiah Simmons as the nickel backer on first and second down, and his desire for smart players at inside linebacker. 

When presented with a choice of another interior defender or a pass rusher, Bowen chose the latter, which was music to Schoen’s ears.

Bowen concluded by saying he wanted four solid pass rushers up front, conjuring up memories of the old “Four Aces” pass-rushing package the Giants once ran under Steve Spagnuolo.

It looked as though the seeds were first planted for the Brian Burns trade at the Senior Bowl. Schoen could be seen joking around with Carolina general manager Dan Morgan and Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane, playfully asking them if they wanted to trade up with the Giants to get the sixth overall spot.

Morgan suddenly asked Schoen if he’d be interested in Burns, which got Schoen’s attention. “You wanna give us two ones for Burns?” Morgan asked.

Schoen wasn’t biting, despite his intrigue. Morgan then reduced the price to “one and something.”

Schoen, who revealed his friendship with Morgan and that their two families planned to vacation together, replied, “Heading in the right direction.”

As expected, we saw a glimpse of Daniel Jones going through his rehab from a torn ACL and talking about the challenges that came with the process and how some days were better than others.

The big question was how serious the Giants were about trading up to get Drake Maye.

That wasn’t answered in this episode, but Schoen, who from the time the 2023 season ended insisted that Jones would be the team’s starting quarterback once healthy, said so again in the episode, noting that because of the way his contract was set up, he was going to get at least two seasons.

Schoen, who admitted that the quarterback’s injury history was a concern, also said this was a big year for Jones. “I’m not giving up on him because he’s under contract for three more years,” Schoen said. “But the best predictor of the future is the past.”

Schoen also said the team needed to protect itself in case disaster struck again. The episode didn’t discuss backup quarterback options, but that’s presumably what he was referring to.

Who was team co-owner  John Mara referring to when he said, “If we pull off this deal, I will have palpitations?” The assumption is that it was Brian Burns, but that was unclear.