While I still think the New York Giants are a year away from being a year away, I do recognize they have a handful of interesting pieces on both sides of the ball worth investing in. Although the offense still needs another offseason or two to get it right, the defense might be ahead of the curve. Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeaux are savvy veterans, while Abdul Carter is a rookie phenom.
My biggest concerns with the Giants are their coaching staff, the front office, and the state of their quarterback room. I am stunned Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen got another year on the job. It just goes to show John Mara is not his father as an owner... While I could go either way on rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, the team will be buoyed by the play of its defense. However, we must pump the brakes...
Burns said as much during the early stages of training camp, citing the defense has not done squat.
"Everybody feels encouraged and excited and hyped up at the beginning of the season. At the same time, we look great on paper, but we ain't do s**t yet, you understand? So, it's all on us. We can take this as far as we want to go. I mean, everything look good with the names that we have and the potential and this and that, but until we put that s**t to stamp, ain't really nothing to talk about."
As far as what it may take to help the defense get over the top, Burns says it will be all about trust.
"Trust. Trust. Being able to trust the man next to me and really being able to know and depend on, he's gonna do his job and I know what he's gonna do."
Again, there are plenty of pieces worth investing in, but the Giants need one more offseason of churn.
Brian Burns has right approach to New York Giants' ascending defense
When any team tries to reinvent itself after scraping along at rock bottom, it is important to figure out what the reincarnated version of the team's identity will be. The good news is it often presents itself. It starts by having a few quality players at a certain position group, hopefully, being elevated by a strong coaching staff. For the Giants, I think their pathway back to being relevant is winning with its defense.
Burns and Lawrence are known commodities in the league in the defensive front-seven. While Thibodeaux is a bit too distracted to ever be as good as he thinks he is, I still like his upside and his potential. Of course, potential is a horrible thing to waste. As far as Carter is concerned, he is the only player taken in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft that is bust-proof. He was the safest pick by far!
So what I am getting at is for the Giants to play cohesively as a unit. Whether it be a quite or cocky confidence, I do not care. The whole point is for them to start making a mess of things in the trenches for the opposing offense. If they can keep the other team from scoring at will on them, they might be able to steal a game or two this year in the hopes that the offense progresses, probably under Dart.
For some reason, I think Schoen has a better shot of keeping his job that Daboll does after this year.