The New York Giants have been in the football basement for a while now. Still suffering from the missteps of Dave Gettleman, and trying to cope with the loss of superstar running back Saquon Barkley to the division rival Philadelphia Eagles, the Giants started 2024 in a bad spot. As the season went on it became clear just how desperate the situation truly is. 

The Giants started the year with 6th-year QB Daniel Jones leading the charge under center, newly signed RB Devin Singleterry, and rookie Tyrone Tracy in the backfield. With a mess of an O-line and semi optimistic hopes for the receiver room led by rookie Malik Nabers and potential breakout candidate Wondale Robinson, the Giants offense seemed to be in for a mediocre year at best. The defense wasn’t much better. The Giants had a complete lack of cover ability at every spot in the secondary. A washed up Adoree Jackson, an underwhelming sophomore corner in Deonte Banks, and two safeties that are much more useful in the run game than in the pass game. Their linebackers are lackluster at best, and their defensive line, while stacked with superstars in Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence, and the up and comer Kayvon Thibodeaux could only do so much to save their floundering unit. 

The 2024 season was also the prove it year for the Giants staff. Coach Brain Daboll and General Manager Joe Scheon. The duo started their tenure with the team 3 years ago after the Giants parted ways with coach Joe Judge and Dave Gettleman. Their first season in New York was impressive, helping a team that went 4-13 in 2021 to make it to the Divisional Round of the playoffs just a year later. Since then however the Giants have gone a putrid 9-25 and look more lost on and off the field than they maybe ever have. 

This season seemed to be the metaphorical nail in the coffin for most of the regime fans have grown used to seeing. Daniel Jones was let go, Barkley left before the season began, Xavier McKinney left in the offseason, Andrew Thomas while still technically on the team was lost to injury in Week 6, and Evan Neal is not only disappearing on the field but hated by fans off it. The team is a disaster. The offense finished third worst in the league, the defense was bottom 10 and the team now sits with no plan at quarterback, with a pick outside of the range to draft one, and a lack of talent pretty much everywhere outside of the defensive line and their wide receiver one. So what now?

Well first up for the Giants is free agency. They have roughly 59 million in cap to work with. First things first, the Giants need to keep the little talent they have. That didn’t go so great last offseason, but lucky for them most of their top guys are locked up for the foreseeable future. That being said there are still some depth pieces that need to be paid, Azeez Ojulari, Adoree Jackson (though there is no way he should be their CB1 again), and a majority of their offensive line players come to mind. Once that’s taken care of, the G-Men should still be sitting with a pretty decent amount of dough left. If the team wants any chance of being competitive next year, which I would assume they do as Daboll and Scheon’s jobs depend on it, they need to make a splash in free agency. This year’s free agent class is loaded. The Giants main targets are likely to be Tee Higgins, Sam Darnald, Ryan Kelly, and Javon Holland, but actually getting these players to sign will be easier said than done. The Giants seem to have no plan, an uncertain future at head coach and no real leader on the offensive side of the ball, not exactly great selling points. Unfortunately they can’t get all the help they need in free agency, so they’ll have to fill in the gaps through the draft. 

While the Giants are likely no longer in range for a top quarterback due to being behind the Titans and the Browns (two other QB needy teams)  they still are in line to get a blue chip prospect . Travis Hunter, Tetairoa McMillon, Will Johnson, Will Campbell all at their fingertips. That makes the first round selection a bit easier, but building on it won’t be so simple. The real questions come later in the draft, however this year seems like it will be hard to miss in a lot of categories the Giants need. This running back class has the potential to be one of the best in recent memory if not of all time, and the edge class has immense depth, the receivers aren;t nearly as touted as they’ve been in past years but there still should be some late round gems, however solid tackles and quarterbacks will be tough to come by this year past the top of the first round. This is why it will be crucial for the Giants to make free agency count especially in those last three areas. 

For Giants fans the road ahead looks a bit grim, but it isn’t all doom and gloom. Malik Neighbors looked fantastic this season, the top 3 pick should give them another young stud sooner than later, they boast a d-line with tons of talent, and they have some money to spend. All this mixed with a coach and GM fighting for their jobs could lead to some interesting outcomes come this offseason and beyond, and hopefully will lead to turning this ship back around.