The New York Giants didn’t make a trade prior to the 2025 trade deadline back on Tuesday. They neither acquired a receiver to help fill out a perilously thin wide receiver depth chart, nor were they able
to trade any players to add draft picks for the future.
That might not have been for lack of trying, however. We heard reports that the Giants were making calls with regards to the big name receivers like Jaylin Waddle, however the asking price was too high for the Giants’ liking. There were also reports that the Giants were fielding calls regarding players like wide receiver Jalon Hyatt and guard Evan Neal. However, it appears as though the Giants weren’t going to offload them for a pittance — which is curious considering neither seems to figure into the Giants near-term plans.
But regardless of how things unfolded behind the scenes, Giants fans aren’t happy the team didn’t make any moves.
It’s legitimately interesting that more than two-thirds of fans are unhappy that the Giants sat out the trade deadline. In our polls leading up to the trade deadline, fans were roughly split down the middle on whether they wanted the team to make trades.
Of course, that was also before we saw Jaxson Dart take multiple big hits after his receivers were unable to get open.
The reporting around the Giants trade plans also changed over time. Earlier reports had the Giants exploring the trade market, but not seriously pursuing a trade. That, however, seemed to change with the injury to Cam Skattebo, which further depleted an already thin offensive roster.
However it went down, reinforcements didn’t arrive. And barring further injury, Dart will have Wan’Dale Robinson, Darius Slayton, Ray-Ray McCloud, and Hyatt, in addition to Theo Johnson, Daniel Bellinger, Tyrone Tracy, and Devin Singletary.
It’s a group that has several useful, reliable players, but no weapons that can really scare a defense.
At the same time, the Giants were also unable to add to their future draft capital. It’s possible that they set Evan Neal’s price higher than expected because he is in their plans as a replacement for Greg Van Roten. However that’s also difficult to square with the fact that he’s been a healthy scratch until he was forced to be active on game day due to the spate of injuries.
The Giants’ inaction at the trade deadline may also be related to cratering confidence in the team’s future prospects.
Fans have been calling for Shane Bowen’s job for weeks now, and Brian Daboll’s inaction on that front — in addition to his own game-day mistakes — has his seat red hot as well.
In addition, fans are also calling for Joe Schoen to be fired as well, though those calls haven’t been quite as loud. While Schoen has certainly made mistakes, he also drafted a potential Franchise Quarterback in Jaxson Dart, as well as stocked the roster with mid-round contributors like Micah McFadden, Daniel Bellinger, Dane Belton, Darius Muasau, Theo Johnson, Marcus Mbow, and Cam Skattebo.
Those are two of the most difficult things for a GM to do, yet fan patience has worn thin.
The Giants were simply out-played by a similarly depleted San Francisco 49ers team, and the defense that was expected to be the strength of the Giants has become a liability. Seeing the team be manhandled by the 49ers has fans to (almost) new lows in confidence.
