New York Giants offseason in review
New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers.
The 2023 Giants offseason brought significant investments from the Joe Schoen regime in Dave Gettleman-era acquisitions. One of those moves has come to define Schoen’s regime. The team’s decision to give Daniel Jones a four-year, $160M deal with two fully guaranteed seasons, while franchise-tagging Saquon Barkley, ended one long-running partnership and has another on shaky ground. Months after Jones’ ACL tear wrapped a woeful season from the now-well-paid quarterback, Barkley signed with the Eagles.
Following a surprise playoff showing in the Schoen-Brian Daboll partnership’s first season, the Giants tumbled off that tier in 2023. Jones is back in “prove it” territory, while Daboll — his 2022 Coach of the Year accolade notwithstanding — may join his QB in a make-or-break year. This Giants offseason involved key decisions, though it largely boiled down to one call in late April.
Trades:
The Giants look to have benefited from the Panthers’ regime change and the fallout from the now-infamous rejected Rams trade proposal at the 2022 deadline. It took only a package headlined by a second-round pick for the Giants to pry Burns from the Panthers, who had franchise-tagged the disgruntled edge rusher. Burns, 26, will now team with Kayvon Thibodeaux to give the Giants their best-looking OLB duo since at least Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon.
A complex route formed to deliver Burns to New York; a fork in that road emerged in October 2022. As the Panthers regrouped following Matt Rhule‘s firing, they dealt Christian McCaffrey to the 49ers for four picks. None of those was a first-rounder. Other Carolina cogs drew extensive interest, with Burns at the front of that pack. Shortly after the Rams missed out on McCaffrey, the team — at the end of its “eff them picks” period — attempted to add a reinforcement to a sinking Super Bowl title defense by offering two first-rounders and a third for Burns.
Still owing the Lions their 2023 first-rounder from the Matthew Stafford trade, the Rams could not offer their 2023 first. That turned out to matter, as then-GM Scott Fitterer — whose job security was unstable after David Tepper axed Rhule — viewed the opportunity to discuss an extension with Burns as more valuable than 2024 and ’25 firsts. Denying Burns a chance to land in Los Angeles with a likely extension awaiting reframed the Panthers’ re-up talks with their top pass rusher.
Irked at Carolina turning down a big trade offer that doubled as a path for an L.A. extension, Burns did not come to terms with the team that drafted him. As Burns’ asking price soared, Fitterer balked at extending him in 2023. After Fitterer’s firing, the Panthers took what they could get — after pausing extension talks in early March — and finally cut bait.
Burns and the Panthers were not believed to be close on terms, as the five-year veteran pushed for a deal in the $30M-per-year range before Nick Bosa became the NFL’s first $30M-AAV edge rusher. Burns asking for terms bettering T.J. Watt‘s Steelers extension understandably spooked the Panthers, who did receive trade offers for the Ron Rivera-era draftee at last year’s deadline. Of course, those proposals are not believed to have come in near where the Rams went.
The Giants gave Burns a five-year, $141M extension upon completing the trade. Not seeing Azeez Ojulari deliver consistency alongside Thibodeaux, the Giants greenlit a big-ticket deal that should pair well — for the time being, at least — with their top-10 pick’s rookie contract. Although the Jaguars’ Josh Allen passed Burns this spring, the new Giants OLB still ranks third among edges in AAV ($28.2M) and fourth in total guarantees ($87.5M) and fully guaranteed money ($76M). Much will be expected from a player who has proven reliable while settling in outside the top tier, production-wise, at his position.
While Jones’ AAV checks in beyond Burns’, the latter received the most guaranteed money in Giants history. Burns is 1-for-5 in 10-plus-sack seasons, totaling 12.5 in 2022, and he ranks just 12th in sacks since 2019 (46). In terms of QB hits since Burns entered the league, he ranks 14th (95). The Florida State alum has certainly done well for himself despite solid but unspectacular work in Charlotte, though he was asked to deliver high-end production despite his team playing from behind more often than not.
Thibodeaux registered 11.5 sacks on a bad team last season. He certainly stands to benefit from Burns’ presence, and it will be interesting to see how the Giants proceed when their younger OLB becomes extension-eligible. That point comes in January, though with a fifth-year option in place to extend Thibodeaux’s rookie deal through 2025, the Giants have some time with their current arrangement. Burns’ 2024 and ’25 salaries are guaranteed at signing. If he is on the Giants’ roster on Day 5 of the 2025 league year, his full 2026 salary is guaranteed.
This is a big commitment for the Giants, who also looked into Bryce Huff. The team presumably inquired about Huff before Burns talks accelerated, though the trade negotiations with Carolina — which featured extensive familiarity considering Schoen worked with the Panthers for nearly 20 years and worked with Morgan in Buffalo — began well before the trade came to pass.
Free agency additions:
Daboll brought in multiple former Bills pieces this offseason, the Singletary move being the most notable. After producing on a near-veteran-minimum contract with the Texans, the sixth-year RB will be tasked with replacing Saquon Barkley in New York. Barkley and Singletary are on different talent planes, as their respective contracts illustrated in March; the Giants believe they will be able to get by with the latter, who still quadrupled his guarantee figure from 2023.
Singletary, 26, operated in Daboll’s offense over his first three seasons. During that span, the Bills used the 5-foot-7 back as their primary option behind Josh Allen. Despite drafting Zack Moss in the 2020 second round, Buffalo kept Singletary in the lead role. The ex-Florida Atlantic standout — a 2019 third-round pick — missed just one game over his final three Bills seasons and has offered reliable production. From 2021-23, Singletary totaled between 1,091 and 1,099 scrimmage yards. He has not offered too much as a receiver, never eclipsing 280 yards in a season. Receiving production from backs — a Barkley strong suit at points — will be an area to monitor within the Giants’ offense this season.
Next Gen Stats gave Singletary a mid-pack ranking in rush yards over expected, but he outplayed the one-year, $1.77M Houston contract. The Texans turned to Singletary over Dameon Pierce to help their C.J. Stroud-piloted operation to the playoffs. Singletary also ran behind a makeshift offensive line for much of the season, as the Texans dealt with injuries basically everywhere Shaq Mason was not playing up front. Singletary notched a career-high 898 rushing yards, though the Texans did not offer him as much as they ended up paying Joe Mixon (three years, $19.75M; $13M guaranteed at signing).
Big Blue did not offer Barkley much blocking aid, and last year involved a spate of injuries. The team tried a low-cost approach at guard last season; the effort failing prompted more spending in 2024. Enter Runyan and Eluemunor, who are in place at left and right guard.
Having given Elgton Jenkins a top-market contract, the Packers predictably let Runyan walk. The latter will play his home games in the stadium where his father, a longtime Eagles right tackle, frequently tussled with Michael Strahan. One of five UFA guards to draw an eight-figure-per-year contract this offseason, Runyan brings three years of starter experience to New York. PFR’s No. 32 overall free agent, Runyan should be a big upgrade from recent Giants guard offerings.
The $10M-per-year blocker logged full seasons at both guard positions, shifting to RG to accommodate Jenkins’ move back inside during the 2022 season. A 50-game starter, the former sixth-round pick ranked 17th among interior O-linemen in pass block win rate last season. Pro Football Focus slotted Runyan 47th among guards.
This year marks a new position and foreign contractual territory for Eluemunor, who had played on three straight one-year deals (none eclipsing $3M) with the Raiders. The low-cost starter parlayed his work at right tackle and right guard into a midlevel contract. Eluemunor, 29, started 31 games — mostly at RT — for the Raiders over the past two seasons. PFF rated the former Ravens fifth-rounder 36th among tackles in 2023.
The Giants’ decision to give Evan Neal another shot at right tackle will kick Eluemunor inside, where has not played regularly since 2021. Even in his 2021 Raiders debut, Eluemunor only logged 266 snaps at guard. He did not see any time there last season. PFF has rated Neal as a bottom-two tackle regular in each of the past two seasons, and he is coming off a midseason foot fracture — an injury initially misdiagnosed as a sprained ankle — that sidelined him throughout the Giants’ offseason program.
Eluemunor looms as an emergency fix for the Giants, who have some interior insurance in Stinnie — who started in Super Bowl LV and made 11 starts last season — and Schlottmann (14 career starts in Denver and Minnesota). The Giants have converted guard Joshua Ezeudutentatively in place as their swing tackle, but the 2022 third-rounder allowed five sacks despite playing just 266 snaps in place of Andrew Thomas last season.
The offseason additions aside, Neal’s development remains paramount in New York, as the Schoen regime drafted him seventh overall. Neal continuing down this road would remind of Ereck Flowers‘ underwhelming (in New York, that is) career path.
Before the Giants came to terms with Lock, they were on theJameis Winston radar. The latter ended up in Cleveland, helping lead Lock to the Big Apple. A run of rumors has emerged regarding Lock’s role, and while the ex-Broncos and Seahawks QB has not been a team’s preferred starter since Teddy Bridgewater‘s second 2021 concussion forced Vic Fangio to move Lock back into his lineup, the former second-round pick has been mentioned as a possible Jones competitor at multiple points this offseason.
Seahawks GM John Schneider said the prospect of a competition with Jones helped lure Lock away from Seattle, and NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah noted shortly after the draft the Missouri alum carries a legitimate shot at wresting the job from Jones. Lock has said he expects his role to be a Jones backup, and Daboll pushed back on the notion this will be a competition. Lock seeing starts may not remind of the ignominious Mike Glennon stretch, but if the Giants are starting the inconsistent ex-Broncos option without Jones having suffered an injury, the team’s big-picture plan will have veered well off course.
Lock’s only full season as a starter (2020) featured him leading the NFL in INTs (15) despite only finishing 12 games. The Broncos traded for Bridgewater to demote the John Elway-era draftee and then included him in 2022’s blockbuster Russell Wilson trade. Despite Lock initially being viewed as more likely to succeed Wilson in Seattle, he lost a battle with Geno Smithand never threatened the eventual Comeback Player of the Year’s job security again.
Lock, 27, is a career 59.7% passer who holds a 6.7 yards-per-attempt figure. The Giants could look to park Jones late in the season — similar to the Raiders and Broncos’ actions with their starters over the past two years — in a bubble-wrap scenario that prevents $12M in injury guarantees from entering the equation, but that would seemingly only come up if the team is well out of the playoff mix. Still, Lock represents an interesting wild card whose usage could be telling about the franchise’s immediate future.
Wilson’s short free agency tour stopped through New York, though this “what if” involving a Giants QB investment did not rival the one that came in April. Wilson, who ended up with the Steelers on a vet-minimum deal, would have likely held the upper hand on Jones in a competition. As of now, Lock is intriguing insurance.
Re-signings:
Notable losses:
In terms of accomplishments, Frank Gifford is the best running back in Giants history. Production-wise, it is Tiki Barber, who still sits in the top 30 on the NFL’s rushing yardage list. For sheer talent, it is difficult to beat Barkley, whom the Giants hoped would make a Canton case someday. If Barkley is to launch a Hall of Fame case, he will need to make significant contributions in Philadelphia.
The Giants closed a six-year Barkley partnership by determining they did not want to pay what it required — or even close to it — to employ the two-time Pro Bowler in 2024. That will mean, barring injury, two games against Barkley this season.
The team made it clear in 2023 Jones would be its priority and Barkley the secondary concern. Positional value supported this stance, despite Barkley being a far superior player. Barkley played the season on a $10.1M franchise tag. Barkley suffered a high ankle sprain early in the season, but he exited 2023 a safer bet following Jones’ ACL tear. As the Giants launched a serious research effort to consider adding a Jones replacement, Barkley said they were not among the four teams to make an offer (though, Barkley and Schoen’s accounts may differ here, as a recent Hard Knocks trailer dangled). This led to a three-year, $37.75M Eagles agreement.
Even amid another macro reevaluation of RB importance, Barkley was proven right about his value. Before applying the tag in 2023, the Giants submitted multiple offers. The July 2023 proposal featured a guarantee figure around $22M, but the Giants reduced the AAV below $12M in that proposal. Barkley passed, pocketed the $10.1M tag salary and will add $26M more fully guaranteed on his Eagles deal. Barkley fared best of this year’s deep free agency RB class, becoming the NFL’s fourth-highest-paid RB. Though, his guarantees at signing lead the pack.
Next Gen Stats slotted Barkley 10th in RYOE last season, which also featured the former Offensive Rookie of the Year match his TD total (10) from 2022 despite missing three games. Barkley amassed 962 rushing yards, averaging 68.7 per game; both totals ranked fourth in his career.
Passing a on second tag, the Giants still held discussions with Barkley’s team at the Combine. Schoen and Co. ended up viewing Barkley’s age (27) as an issue regarding another payment. They ended up with Singletary, who is just seven months younger. Though, Singletary has been far more durable than Barkley, who has missed 25 games due to injury. Singletary also has 1,063 career touches to Barkley’s 1,489.
The Giants did consider transition-tagging McKinney, which would have cost them $13.8M. This amount that did not stop the Patriots from keeping Kyle Dugger off the market, but in an offseason that saw safety value take a hit, the Giants passed on paying McKinney. It turned out to be quite costly to acquire McKinney, whom the Packers gave a four-year deal worth $67M. McKinney’s camp gave the Giants the chance to match the offer; they did not, ending this partnership after four years. McKinney’s Big Apple stay reminds of Landon Collins‘ initial stint, with both coming to New York as second-rounders from Alabama before each left for monster paydays.
Green Bay gave McKinney a top-four safety contract, an agreement that continues to strip away safety talent from New York’s roster. With an eye on a McKinney extension, the Giants let Julian Love defect to the Seahawks in 2023. The Giants and McKinney tabled talks to 2024, but in an offseason that featured no other free agent safety fetch more than $8M per year, McKinney’s market was strong.
Pro Football Focus ranked McKinney as the NFL’s fourth-best safety last season and the best overall coverage player at the position. A zero-time Pro Bowler who missed chunks of the 2020 and ’22 seasons with injuries, McKinney made a claim about being the NFL’s best safety this offseason. His contract nearly reflected the boast, and with he and Love both gone, the Giants are pivoting to a secondary full of rookie-contract players.
The Giants appeared prepared to let Jackson leaveafter his three-year contract expired. A Gettleman-era signee, Jackson started throughout his Giants tenure and played a key role in helping the team to a wild-card win. After missing extended time with an MCL sprain down the stretch in 2022, Jackson helped the Giants contain Justin Jefferson. Last season, which began with an unexpected move to the slot to accommodate rookie Tre Hawkins, did not generate momentum for the former first-rounder. PFF rated Jackson 117th among corners. Jackson’s completion rate and passer rating as the closest defender skyrocketed from 2022. Ahead of an age-29 season, the ex-Titan remains unsigned.
With plans to part with Jackson, the Giants hosted both Tre’Davious White and Darious Williams on visits; both ended up with the Rams. New York did not add a significant piece at this position in free agency, though Herndon — a Jaguars regular for the past five seasons — has 34 career starts and extensive slot experience. While Herndon figures to compete with Holmes and rookie Andru Phillips for the slot gig, the Giants are preparing to shift previous slot patrolman Cor’Dale Flott to the outside role opposite Deonte Banks.
Lasting only 12 games, Waller’s Giants tenure disappointed. The Giants shipped the third-rounder they received in the Kadarius Toney trade to the Raiders for Waller, who had battled injuries near the end of his Las Vegas tenure. When healthy, Waller had been one of the NFL’s best pass-catching tight ends. More hamstring trouble intervened for the former Pro Bowler, however, leading to a midseason run of absences. The high-priced TE finished with 552 receiving yards, showing signs of his Oakland/Vegas version. But he recently confirmed retirement rumors that circulated in March, leaving the NFL before his 32nd birthday.
Citing diminished desire and detailing a medical event that left him hospitalized for three days, Waller will leave the NFL after nine seasons. Though, a few of those came as he struggled with substance abuse as a Ravens wide receiver. The veteran’s exit leaves the Giants in a dire TE situation.
Despite Waller retirement breadcrumbs, the Giants passed on adding a receiving tight end in free agency. Their draft investment — fourth-rounder Theo Johnson — did average 16.4 yards per catch in 2022. But he never topped 350 receiving yards in a Penn State season. A competition between Johnson, Lawrence Cager and 2022 fourth-rounder Daniel Bellinger is on tap. Cager and Johnson received offseason first-team reps, and while Bellinger — the team’s top 2023 backup — was out with an injury, the less proven pieces may be vying for the pass-catching TE role.
Draft:
Daniel Jones‘ knee injury did not tank the Giants to a place necessary to pull off their 2024 goal; Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito combined to deliver five wins. Rumors about the Giants attempting to reset at quarterback with a draft pick, as Jones’ $81M in guarantees are done after this year, surfaced quickly after the November ACL tear. But the 6-11 record secured the No. 6 overall draft slot. The Giants’ QB research project turned out to produce a clear line of demarcation, and the team’s draft slot proved insufficient to land the passer this front office coveted.
Although rumors connected the Giants to J.J. McCarthy weeks away from the draft, April buzz centered around Drake Maye. The two-year North Carolina starter became the Giants (and Vikings’) preferred option, and the player once viewed as the clear second option to Caleb Williams in this class drew notable trade offers as the No. 3 overall pick neared.
After longtime Jones backer John Mara OK’d a first-round QB pick, the Giants offered Nos. 6 and 47, along with their 2025 first-rounder, for the Pats’ No. 3 slot. Considering the Giants have finished poorly enough to secure top-10 draft slots six times since 2015 and have some rather long odds at 2024 success, the Patriots had a viable offer on the table. Accepting it would have changed the Giants’ plans and turned Jones into a bridge quarterback.
New England declining New York’s trade gave Jones yet another chance, as the Giants — after visits with McCarthy, Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix — did not deem any member of the trio as worthy of the No. 6 pick. Jones’ contract structure leaves the team in limbo, as rumors tying Big Blue to the 2025 QB crop will emerge, but the team is giving the 2019 No. 6 overall pick what almost definitely amounts to a last chance.
Jones succeeded under these circumstances in 2022, powering a moderately talented team to the playoffs. The Giants then became the only team in the fifth-year option era (2011-present) to decline a QB’s option and then re-sign him. Jones, 27, is now coming off a major injury that stands to limit his run-game effectiveness. Considering how pivotal that dimension was (708 yards) to Jones in 2022, the ACL injury keeping him in the pocket more often would increase his degree of difficulty at convincing the Giants to pay his nonguaranteed 2025 salary ($30M, with a $41.6M cap hit). Jones will have better aerial options, at least, while he attempts another bounce-back effort.
A QB-or-WR decision had long defined this Giants' draft, and the Nabers choice will attempt to solve a years-long issue. Since their March 2019 Odell Beckham Jr. trade, the Giants have whiffed on two wideout investments (Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney) and grounded out (Golden Tate) on another. Three years after the Gettleman regime eyed DeVonta Smith — only to see the Eagles pounce as pre-draft rumors of Giants interest circulated — the team has Nabers to help a quarterback that has never played with a WR1-level talent. Darius Slayton has been the team’s top wideout by default; he would not qualify as a No. 2 option for several clubs.
Submitting a dominant season to close his LSU career and help Jayden Daniels win the Heisman, Nabers gives the Giants their best receiver hope since Beckham. After a 1,000-yard 2022 showing, Nabers went for 1,569 yards and 14 TDs. He dropped a 4.35-second 40 time at his pro day, and some teams rated him higher than the more polished Marvin Harrison Jr.
The Nabers backers viewed him as more explosive than the well-rounded Ohio State product. The Giants will find out, as Nabers should be set to become the team’s top weapon immediately. This stands to drop Slayton in the pecking order, though he and Schoen Day 2 picks Wan’Dale Robinson and Jalin Hyatt comprise a better WR corps compared to what Jones worked with in 2022.
Not re-signing McKinney or Jackson, the Giants devoted Day 2 to their secondary. Nubin and Phillips are each expected to vie for immediate roles. The Giants grabbed a Minnesota alum in Round 2 for the second straight year as Nubin follows center John Michael Schmitz. Nubin intercepted a career-high five passes in 2023, earning first-team All-Big Ten acclaim. While Jason Pinnock sits as a Giants safety starter, it would seemingly take an underwhelming training camp to keep Nubin from landing the other first-string post over Dane Belton.
While the Giants did end up using a fifth-rounder on a running back for the second straight year, they were connected to USC’s Marshawn Lloyd and hosted Texas’ Jonathon Brooks on a “30” visit. The latter development influenced the Panthers to trade one spot before the Giants in Round 2 to nab Brooks. Tracy and Eric Gray, barring a veteran option being added — a rumored scenario — will compete for carries behind Singletary.
Other:
Reports of tension between Daboll and both his top coordinators emerged during last season. While Kafka remains — albeit with a potential demotion due to rumblings about the HC taking over play-calling duties — Martindale cursed out his former boss on his way out. The two-year Giants DC, who did not have ties to Daboll before New York, was viewed as disobedient at points last season. He and longtime assistant Drew Wilkins, whom Daboll fired to prompt the shouting match, had been accused of effectively going rogue. Martindale, who drew head-coaching interest in 2023, is now Michigan’s DC.
A lengthy replacement search — which included the Panthers blocking an Ejiro Evero meeting — ended with Bowen, a six-year Mike Vrabel assistant who has called defensive plays in Tennessee for the past three seasons. The Titans ranked sixth in scoring defense during a 2021 season that produced an AFC No. 1 seed, but amid regular injuries, the unit fared worse over the past two seasons. DVOA did place Bowen’s final Titans unit 18th, which bettered his blitz-happy predecessor’s work (21st).
Bowen used a 3-4 base scheme throughout his Titans tenure, which will help make a Giants transition smooth. It is interesting that Bowen is working with several Martindale assistants, minus the Wilkins brothers. That will be a Giants subplot to monitor as the defense takes shape.
Leading the Giants in receiving yards in four of the past five seasons, Slayton became the team’s de facto WR1 due to the team’s above-referenced missteps. He re-emerged from a rare rookie contract pay cut in 2022 to lead the Giants’ playoff squad in receiving and, amid QB issues, managed to cross 700 yards for a fourth time in 2023. Slayton, 27, attempted to secure better terms entering the second season of a two-year, $12M deal. The Giants drafting Nabers cut into Slayton’s leverage, and it did not take much in the way of incentives to bring him back to OTAs.
Top 10 cap charges for 2024:
Barring restructures or extensions, Deshaun Watson and Dak Prescott are on pace to shatter the record for cap hits. Quietly, Jones is also in a position to eclipse that mark. The Giants will not want to add dead money on Jones’ deal beyond 2024, so they are unlikely to restructure the contract to create cap space.
Beyond the incessant scrutiny on Jones, the Giants will attempt to show last season was an injury-driven fluke and stay the course. Logging only one season of 20-plus touchdown passes (2019) and one year in the QBR top half (2022), the Eli Manning successor will enter a sixth season as a starter. Jones hovers at the center of the Giants’ rebound effort, but after so much went into a mission to identify his potential replacement, it would appear more likely than not the team is looking for a new starting QB in 2025. Until then, the Giants will attempt to surprise with their collection of Gettleman-era cornerstones (sans Barkley and McKinney) and Schoen draft choices in a division again expected to feature an Eagles-Cowboys duel at the top.
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