After a 2-8 start to the season, the New York Giants have decided to bench Daniel Jones, marking the end of the Jones era in New York. There has been speculation about the Giants potentially cleaning house and firing head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen as they’ve yet to capitalize off of their 2022 playoff run. While they faced numerous injuries on both sides of the ball in 2023, they came into the 2024 season with some negative headlines due to the Giants’ Hard Knocks appearance. The team let star running back Saquon Barkley walk in free agency and he’s having a redemption season with their division rivals Philadelphia Eagles, something co-owner John Mara was hoping wouldn’t happen, and were openly attempting to trade up for a quarterback in last year’s draft. Any confidence Jones had with the team he signed a four-year $160 million contract extension with the previous offseason seemed to derail and it’s shown on the field, even with Daboll taking over play calling duties. Now, with Mara in position to either fire Daboll and Schoen or give the two another season, he should give them another run at fixing the team. 

In Schoen’s tenure with the Giants he has hit on Kayvon Thibodeaux, Deonte Banks, Micah McFadden, and Nabers as they’re proving to be great additions while Wan’Dale Robinson, Tyrone Tracy, and Tyler Nubin are looking like quality starters. His best move was trading for Brian Burns to pair up with Dexter Lawerence and Thibodeux to form a lethal pass rush. He has also made some bad moves such as trading a third round pick for Darren Waller, using a top ten pick on Evan Neal, and the worst being re-signing Jones to a big extension.

Yes, Schoen made a mistake and has faced deserving criticism for it, but Jones was playing well under Daboll and helped lead the team to the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and their first playoff win since they won the Super Bowl in 2011. In the 2023 season, Jones played 6 games, and the Giants were injury riddled. Schoen and company went into the offseason focused on getting Jones back, giving him better help upfront, and getting a number one receiver. The offensive line hasn’t improved much as they’ve allowed the 8th most sacks (30), but they got a game changing receiver in Nabers. 

Schoen has been aggressive in making moves to improve the team, specifically last year where they tried to trade with the New England Patriots for their third pick to draft a quarterback. The problem they faced trying to trade up is that they’d have to be willing to give up the team’s future in exchange for a quarterback that needs a solid foundation around him to develop and succeed. Even though both Schoen and Daboll were intrigued with the idea of trading up for a quarterback, we saw how this exact scenario played out last year with the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears as Bryce Young had a terrible rookie season because the Panthers traded their best player on offense and their future for him, which ended in the firing of both head coach Frank Reich and general manager Scott Fitterer. The Patriots wanted similar compensation for their pick as what the Bears got from the Panthers and that was something the Schoen and company weren’t willing to do. Schoen couldn’t risk his and Daboll’s job without putting a solid roster around a rookie quarterback first. 

Daboll has faced a lot of criticism this season, some of it deserving, but this is all due to his quarterback play. He got one good season out of Jones before he got injured again in 2023 and reverted back to poor play in 2024. If Daboll gets the opportunity to develop Shedue Sanders or Cameron Ward, both of whom are good at protecting the ball and are good pocket passers, then we’ll see just how well he can coach an offense. The run game has been good under Daboll and ranks 14th (119.9 per game), but it’s the quarterback play that has held the team back. The offense was supposed to be better with Daboll as the play caller, but very few coaches can lead an offense to points with Jones as their quarterback. The defense was also supposed to be better this year and has done well against the pass but they’re terrible against the run. It doesn’t help that 5 guys on the defense are on the injured reserve. 

Looking Into 2025:

Schoen and Daboll have the opportunity now to draft a quarterback as they’re currently slated to have the 4th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The quarterback prospects for this year’s upcoming draft doesn’t compare to last year’s, but Sanders and Ward are promising and will most likely be top five selections. The Giants have a solid roster to help either rookie quarterback properly develop and succeed. Their receiving corps is solid and having Nabers as a number one is helpful to any quarterback. Their o-line isn’t good and still needs improvements, but this is something both Schoen and Daboll continue to pursue which is a positive. I think once they get Thibodeaux back and add some more help against the run, they’ll be an improved defense that will keep the team in games. 

Three seasons is not enough time to fairly ponder firing Daboll and Schoen. Mara needs to give them another opportunity to get another quarterback at the helm before making a decision on their future.