The ESSENTIAL Football Show 
Top 51 Cap Space: 2026: $16.6 million | 2027: $86.9 million | 2028: $275.5 million
Draft Picks: 2027: 1-6 | 2028: 1-7
Football Decision Makers: GM Joe Schoen | HC John Harbaugh | OC Matt Nagy | DC Dennard Wilson | ST Chris Horton
State of the Team
A year after Giants ownership essentially announced that Brian Daboll was being retained as head coach because they didn’t want to be an organization firing coaches every two years - only to fire Daboll before Thanksgiving - New York has a semi-fresh start, with John Harbaugh stepping in as the head coach to Joe Schoen’s continued role as general manager.
Keeping Schoen in place was a bit of an eyebrow-raiser, but similar to Broncos GM George Paton, who appeared to be tracking the wrong direction when Denver hired Sean Payton as head coach and lead decision-maker, it’s possible that Schoen does a better job in the construct of a John Harbaugh-driven organization.
The Giants have a potential franchise quarterback in Jaxson Dart, but as it stands, the foreseeable future in New York appears to be more about John Harbaugh than their second-year quarterback. Harbaugh often pulled the right levers at the coordinator position in Baltimore, headlined by firing offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and replacing him with Jim Caldwell in December of the 2012 season, a move that sparked a Joe Flacco-led Super Bowl run.
And that brings me to what was perhaps the most significant “what-if” of the NFL offseason cycle; if Todd Monken was the Giants OC instead of the Cleveland Browns head coach, I would feel significantly better about this team - and Jaxson Dart’s - prospects with Matt Nagy running the offense.
Offense
My evaluation on Jaxson Dart is fairly straightforward. I think his physical skillset and playmaking ability are very close to those of Bo Nix out in Denver, and if Dart’s game was trending toward what Nix has developed into, he would be on track to be a solid quarterback.
Unfortunately, Dart’s play style is its own thing; I find his tape immensely frustrating to watch. There are flash moments mixed in, and I’m not questioning whether he can develop, but as it stands, Dart is leaving far too many opportunities on the field in the passing game, and while some of those turn into big plays in the scramble drill, the execution isn’t where it needs to be.
The frustrating part from where I’m sitting is that Dart doesn’t appear to have a strong grasp of what he is supposed to be doing on a given play relative to most NFL quarterbacks; there are too many moments where his eyes are not connected to his feet, and on top of that, it’s often difficult to decipher what concept he is trying to find, with reps that look like he is randomly scanning the field looking for options.
All of that could be fixed with coaching and development, but while it’s not a 1:1 comparison, Nagy did about as bad a job as could be imagined adapting his playbook to Justin Fields in Chicago, and while he enjoyed some early success in that Bears tenure with Mitchell Trubisky, he ultimately didn’t get enough out of either highly-drafted quarterback in Chicago.
That lack of creativity is particularly concerning for a quarterback like Dart, who relied heavily on his running ability as a rookie; Dart needs to scale back that part of his game in certain regards (namely, protecting himself), but that’s going to be a process, and you’d like to see the Giants tap into those tools as Dart develops the rest of his game. Swap out Nagy for Monken, who has successfully worked with all styles of quarterbacks at both the college and pro levels, and it’s a different discussion, but that’s not how things played out.
The Giants should have decent pieces to work with around Dart; the skill group hinges on a return to form for superstar receiver Malik Nabers, but veterans Darius Slayton and Darnell Mooney make sense as a “body-out route-runner” (Slayton) and more of a “speed/off-the-line” guy in Mooney, while 3rd-rounder Malachi Fields, a 6’4, 220 pound receiver from Notre Dame, should see opportunities to displace the veterans. New York signed Isaiah Likely at tight end, giving them an above-average pass catcher to go with Theo Johnson, who can also add something to the passing game, and Chris Manhertz, who specializes as an in-line blocker. Ideally, Cam Skattebo returns to form and gives the Giants a “plus” player at running back, but if his return is slowed, Tyrone Tracy can step in as a decent option, and Devin Singletary should have some run left in him after last year’s modest workload.
Andrew Thomas is the offensive line’s anchor at left tackle; when healthy, Thomas is an outstanding player, but he has missed 22 games over the past three seasons. Francis Mauigoa, the 10th overall pick in this year’s draft, has a chance to be an impact player at right guard as a rookie, and while the last three players slot in as more “average”, left guard Jon Runyan, center John Michael Schmitz, and right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor can all be competent starters in a good offense. Throw in the massive Daniel Faalele, who can be a problem in the downhill run game even if his lack of quickness is an issue in pass protection, and the Giants should be at least solid on the offensive line, although Eluemunor’s vision of them as a Top 10 group might be a bit lofty. (Appreciate the hype, but Eluemunor landing 53rd in OL contract AAV suggests the NFL didn’t fully agree with Eluemunor’s self-assessment as the league’s best right tackle).
At the end of the day, it’s a lot of interesting pieces, but in the short term, the key question is whether they can get the quarterback up and running; in most cases, I’d say the first month will be interesting, but given Nagy’s track record of putting out clunker game-plans in Week One, we might learn a lot more than we normally would from what sorts of schemes and tactics the Giants emphasize in Week One.
Defense
The coaching on the defensive side is more promising, as Dennard Wilson did a solid job given the dearth of talent on a Tennessee defense that featured Jeffery Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat, but lacked difference-makers beyond the defensive tackles.
New York has worked to beef up the defensive line, adding veterans Shelby Harris and DJ Reader to replace the trade of Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals ahead of the NFL Draft. If Lawrence had been healthy last season, the discussion would be different, but I didn’t feel like I ever saw the same player who was MAULING offensive linemen left and right during the 2023/2024 seasons in 2025; if he had been that guy, the 10th overall pick would still have been an interesting price for a rebuilding team like New York, and if he doesn’t return to form in Cincinnati, there’s a chance that move winds up looking like a steal for the Giants.
There’s no lack of starpower even without “Sexy Dexy”, as the Giants added Arvell Reese with the 5th overall pick. Word out of New York, is that Reese will line up as an off-ball linebacker next to free-agent addition Tremaine Edmunds, but I’d expect to see a creative, flexible defense that moves Reese around a good bit. The presence of ascending second-year player Abdul Carter should both allow and force Wilson to get creative; Carter showed unbelievable quickness and agility off the snap as a rookie, but he can also get completely overwhelmed in the run game. That does present a bit of a conundrum, as veteran Brian Burns, New York’s most accomplished/traditional edge defender, is also not known for his run defense, so this defense’s fortunes may very well hinge on whether their veteran defensive tackles provide enough of a presence for the well-known edges and off-ball players to thrive with their specific play style.
The backend returns several pieces; Paulson Adebo, a free-agent addition in last year’s class, is joined at outside cornerback by Greg Newsome, who signed a one-year deal this offseason. They will be pushed by second-round pick Colton Hood, with 2024 third-rounder Dru Phillips should continue to man the slot. Tyler Nubin and Jevon Holland are slated to start at safety, and if Wilson, a former defensive back, can get this group to be more than the sum of its parts rather than less, it could make for a very solid defense. (Ar’Darius Washington, who had a great finish to 2024 before tearing his Achilles ahead of 2025, is an interesting X-Factor at safety as well.)
This defense had pieces last season, but the consistent problems in the back end and negative game scripts prevented them from truly unleashing all the players on the front. It needs to come together, and the lack of elite players heading into the season would appear to limit the ceiling, but this team does have some depth, and could certainly be a solid unit in 2026.
Final Takeaways
The Giants are as in about as uncertain a place as any team in the league. They might have their quarterback of the future on the roster, or they might be half a season away from deciding the Dart/Nagy pairing is not going to work.
From an organizational standpoint, the Giants should benefit from having Harbaugh’s experienced hand steer the ship, but we’ve all seen how quickly those perceived benefits can evaporate when a team isn’t winning games. If Dart takes a step forward and Malik Nabers and Cam Skattebo are both healthy, this could be a feisty football team, but there’s the flip side where those critical factors go the other way, and in that case, the Giants need to hope to totally bottom out and get to the top of next year’s quarterback class.