Subscribe
Follow Us
Ah, the NFL offseason. For the New York Giants and all other teams, it is a beautiful, savage landscape of smoke-filled rooms, backdoor dealings, tampering/non-tampering…
… and hope. That beautiful, cursed thing for the Giants over the past eight years.
The NFL offseason is a period of wild speculations, of tall tales and “didn't you hear?”‘s, and a time of unrealistically high hopes for not just the Giants, but every single franchise in the league. It truly is the Christmas of the NFL's calendar. Fans are nicer, teams are going through shopping frenzies and white elephant gift exchanges (read: trades) left and right, and houses/stadiums are being prepared for the big day to come.
And before that big day comes and disappoints everyone with how boring the offseason actually is, let's hope a little together for this offseason with some bold predictions. We'll start with four for the New York Football Giants.
Take 1: The Giants will have a top 5 receiver corps on paper
For starters: Saquon Barkley counts. He's not just a running back when he's healthy: the man's speed, strength, and agility make him a top tier threat when he lines up in the slot or in motion.
Add into that the rumors that the Giants are pursuing the offseason's biggest prize after the franchise tag deadline in Kenny Golladay, and you already have a wild improvement over last season.
Add Saquon in, let Darius Slayton and Daniel Jones continue to grow together, and sub the shriveled corpse of Golden Tate for Kenny Golladay, and you have a balanced and potentially overwhelming attack for the Giants that is filled with youth.
It gets better:
Take 2: Penei Sewell or Kyle Pitts will fall to the Giants at 11 in the draft
This one is more of a ‘cross your fingers‘ type of situation, but let's be realistic here: no team drafting above the Giants actually wants a tight end over the other options available in their situation.
Detroit, Miami, and Philadelphia will probably go for a splashier name at WR. The Panthers, Jets, and Jaguars are all slated to take quarterbacks. Atlanta is in the quarterback conversation with the perceived decline of Matt Ryan (throw Miami in here as well if they don't have the faith in Tua that they should). Dallas and Denver would be wiser to shore up their defense. Then come the Giants.
New York could collect the ambrosia and nectar that falls to the Giants at the eleventh pick. Kyle Pitts offers a wild upgrade to Evan Engram, who has posted solid counting stats but gets a severe case of stone hands when the game matters most. Penei Sewell, meanwhile, is the clearest OL1 since Quenton Nelson, and will put pressure on last year's Rd 1 pick Andrew Thomas to grow at a faster rate.
This is a draft rich in wide receiver talent, and luckily enough, with the right moves. The Giants don't just need it. They need generational potential at TE and on the offensive line. Boom.
Take 3: Dalvin Tomlinson and James Bradberry buy in
If there was one light of hope for last year's Giants, it was their Top 10 defense, anchored by a hardnosed mentality and stifling containment blitz package. Two key pieces of that defense were Dalvin Tomlinson and James Bradberry, and while Bradberry is still safely under contract for next season, Tomlinson's status with New York going forward is in question after the team spent its franchise tag on Leonard Williams.
Where Bradberry is carries importance for this offseason is in his contract. It is speculated that the Giants and Bradberry are currently in discussions to restructure his contract to spread out over a few more years, which would create some valuable cap space necessary to re-sign Dalvin Tomlinson. And as a potential cherry on top, this move could possibly motivate Tomlinson to be more flexible with the team when talks come back around, if it is spun that Williams' franchise tag was meant to highlight Tomlinson as a key piece for the future.
This only happens if Tomlinson and Bradberry both buy into that future. And for the first time in a good few years, the Giants might have one.
Their previously anemic defense showed signs of life last season, and had room to do better if not for the Giants' offensive woes keeping them on the field. And that's without Saquon Barkley or a primary receiving threat, both of which are bound to be coming next season.
This defense should be chomping at the bit to show the world what they can do next season. And all signs point to them seeing that.
Take 4: Danny Dimes returns
This take is more for about the upcoming season, but it is contingent on this Giants offseason, nevertheless.
Let's get one thing straight: Daniel Jones hit the sophomore wall. Even before his injury, he was still making Giants fans quake in their boots every time he threw the ball. Not necessarily because of a lack of accuracy or talent, but because of bad decision making and less-than-stellar weapons and protection.
The Giants were at the bottom of the barrel in most offensive metrics last season. And the blame for that falls not on Daniel Jones, who spent a significant portion of the season injured, but on the entire offense as a whole. Last years fourth overall pick Andrew Thomas underperformed. Evan Engram continued to prove to be overvalued. Saquon was gone in week one. The entire receiving corps was decimated by injury. And this was all taking place during a complete offensive overhaul with the installation of Jason Garrett's playbook.
What quarterback, short of an all-time legend, could possibly hope to overcome that?
This year marks a critical period in Daniel Jones' career. And he has shown enough flashes of brilliance that Joe Judge and Jason Garrett are willing to buy into Gettleman's initial vision of what he could be. The third year signal caller throws a beautiful, snappy football, is sneakily a top tier rushing quarterback in the league, and if nothing else, New York tough. Give him a year to learn this new offense. Give him a year outside of his first that isn't marred by injury. Above all, give the poor kid some protection, dammit.
Give him those things, and watch Daniel Jones start to drop dimes all over the place once more.
