Greg Hart asks: As the Jaxson Dart era has begun, I recall when Eli Manning replaced Kurt Warner. It may be rocky, but hopefully fun to watch. My question is this; if Brian Daboll is fired during the season
who would get the nod?
Alden Welles asks: So it’s safe to say that Giants fans aren’t thrilled with Brian Daboll and the decisions he’s made lately. If he gets fired midseason, who would be the best options to serve as interim head coach, keeping in mind just how crucial it will be to guide Jaxson Dart’s development?
Ed says: Guys, my guess is the job would go to offensive coordinator Mike Kafka. He is the coach on staff who has consistently received head coaching interviews the past few seasons, and it would also make sense because he has been working closely with Dart.
If I were thinking outside the box, I might offer defensive line coach Andre Patterson as an interim candidate. I doubt he would be a long-term candidate, but he is a respected “adult in the room” kind of coach who, I think, would keep the team together and playing hard.
David Kanter asks: Schoen had made a comment on how difficult it is for a GM’s first draft having to assemble a new staff and prepare with limited time. Is there any better way to set up a new GM for success other than the traditional method of hiring from other organization’s staff’s in the offseason model?
Ed says: David, under the current schedule and with the current rules I don’t think so. A new GM is coming in roughly two months before the draft, when the existing front office and scouting staff have already put a couple of years worth of work into the current crop of draft prospects. You can’t overhaul the scouting department, or the processes being used, in that time and do effective job evaluating prospects.
You also don’t have time to completely revamp the front office.
That first draft ends up being a whirlwind where you do the best you can. It is really after that draft that a new GM can fully revamp the scouting staff, the front office, and the processes/technology that a team uses to evaluate players.
As important as that first draft is, it is a very difficult one to execute. That does not excuse missing on a top 10 pick, but it does complicate identifying the right players throughout the full draft.
Mike Binder asks: Ed, as you’ve been highlighting, Sexy Dexy has been very quiet this season. I’m curious if there has been a change in his alignments? I feel like he’s playing a lot more 2 and 3 technique (my casual view from the couch and my seat in the stadium), as compared to his time under Wink where he was doing a lot more 0 – where he thrived. So, A) is that the case and B) If that’s the case, what the heck is Bowen thinking?
Ed says: Mike, that is actually an astute observation. Lawrence has played 68 of 158 snaps (43%) at nose tackle this season. In 2024, he played 60% of his snaps at nose tackle. In 2022 under Wink Martindale, Lawrence played 71% of his snaps at nose tackle.
I don’t know if that is part of the reason he has not been as dominant as we have become used to, but it might be. I also know that it seemed like Lawrence took very few reps all spring and summer, and it made me wonder if he would start slowly. I suspect that by the end of the season Lawrence will end up looking like Lawrence.
James Fulton asks: The Giants drafted Abdul to strengthen up their defense and their pass rush. Is there a reason why the DC won’t let Carter roam? If they do that, it gives them a better chance of disrupting the opponent’s offense. Do you agree?
Ed says: James, you aren’t the only one who has raised a complaint like this. I’m not sure what you mean by “won’t let Carter roam.”
First of all, I don’t know how you define “roam,” but in 162 defensive snaps Pro Football Focus lists Abdul Carter as having lined up in 14 different spots on defense. Plus, he has played on the punt block unit. To me, that qualifies as roaming.
Carter has played 162 defensive snaps. Brian Burns has played 180 and Kayvon Thibodeaux 179. Is that really a big disparity? Carter played 75% of the defensive snaps against the Dallas Cowboys and 79% against the Kansas City Chiefs. In other words, he has been on the field a ton the last two weeks.
Burns has been the Giants’ best defensive player so far, and Thibodeaux has also been playing very well. In terms of getting Carter on the field and taking advantage of his versatility, I’m not sure what more defensive coordinator Shane Bowen is supposed to do.
Jeff Toto asks: Dru Phillips has been an exciting player for us over the course of his young career. He’s certainly generated a bit of hype as a player with high potential. However, I can’t help but see him as Darnay Holmes/Grant Haley 2.0. He’s grabby and gets picked on. The vast majority of his good plays are at the LOS. Is he overhyped?
Ed says: Jeff, Phillips was impressive as a rookie and I thought he was a nice building block for the secondary. Three games into his second season, I am not going to change my opinion.
Now, there is no doubt he isn’t playing as well right now as he did last season. He has committed five penalties after committing just two all of last season. Per Pro Football Reference, Phillips was targeted 48 times in 14 games last season (3.4 per game). This year, he has been targeted 28 times in three games (9.3 per game).
Why? I don’t know. Maybe it is just a small three-game sample size and it will even out. Maybe teams have discovered something he is going to have to correct or adjust to. I think his play needs to be better, but I can’t draw any conclusions yet.
At some point, perhaps I can talk with him about some of this when I am in the locker room.
Louis Rolston-Cregler asks: As much as Russell Wilson is past his prime, I can’t help but think that the unimaginative playcalling and route concepts set him up for failure (especially at a point in his career when his athleticism has diminished and he can’t improvise as he did in the past). How much the blame for this goes to Kafka, how much to Daboll and why have they both stunk so much in this regard despite their reputations for being offensive gurus before coming here?
Ed says: Louis, no coach wants his players to fail. I think there have been parts of the playbook Mike Kafka and Brian Daboll feel they have not been able to run because of what Wilson could and could not do. I would like to see more and better run game in the red zone. I would like to see a better short passing attack. Neither of those are strengths for Wilson.
I do think they have felt that way with the quarterbacks they have had, though they won’t say, and maybe with the struggles of the offensive line.
The last shot they have with the Giants is getting it right with Jaxson Dart. We’ll see if they can.
Seth Friedman asks: Like many long-suffering NYG fans, I am beyond frustrated with this coaching staff’s inability to maximize the talent on the roster. Further, watching players like Barkley and Jones flourish elsewhere after leaving NY is a total gut punch and speaks to the weakness of Daboll and company.
While there are no shortage of complaints with this offensive offense, I am totally shocked by the inability of this team to make adjustments when the opposing D is executing their game plan. Against both Washington and KC, Daboll refused to go no huddle or even up-tempo. He continued trying to pound the run game, even with the opposing D having 7 or 8 men in the box. Further, there are other questionable decisions that continue to plague this team.
I am beginning to think the problem is Daboll and it is going to take an established coach coming in after he has been let go, similar to how NYG brought in Dan Reeves after the Ray Handley disaster to reset this franchise. Am I wrong to think that someone like Jon Gruden might be the answer?
Ed says: Seth, if the Giants move on from Brian Daboll I do think they might be in the market for an established coach. I think there is no chance that coach would be Jon Gruden. I think Gruden is still radioactive, and I can’t imagine John Mara wanting to bring that kind of controversy to the franchise.
Brian Misdom asks: A number of players this week shared that they found out about Jaxson Dart becoming the starter through social media.
This decision had to be run by Schoen and Mara, right? How do they allow this to be the way players find out? One of the things Daboll cannot afford to do, if he wants to remain HC, is to lose the locker room.
Can this be viewed as anything other than poor locker room management?
Ed says: Brian, as Brian Daboll said, this is the world we live in. As I understand the timeline, Daboll met with both Jaxson Dart and Russell Wilson on Tuesday morning. Maybe he asked them to come in, maybe they were already in the building. I don’t know.
Tuesday is/was an off day for players. Some were probably it the practice facility, but it is their day and they are not required to be. You can’t hold a team meeting when the team isn’t there to be met with. Is Daboll supposed to send a text to the entire team announcing the decision? I don’t know.
I’d guess this went from player to agent to media to X in a matter of about a minute as soon as Dart/Wilson were informed.
We’ve seen players find out from social media that they have been traded or cut. I’m sure that if the decision had been finalized on Monday and the two quarterbacks had been informed, Daboll would have told the entire team.
This is one of those things I can’t blast Daboll for.
Chris Chianese asks: Ed, with the way the Giants have played in the first three games, there is more and more talk about moving on from Daboll and maybe Schoen too. Regarding Schoen, recently there seems to be more of a focus on his drafts highlighting the failures. But, thinking back, most “experts” gave the Giants good grades on their drafts especially after their first Schoen draft. So this leads me to my question … is it Schoen’s drafting or is it the lack of development that has led us to where we are in 2025?
Ed says: Chris, as Daboll has said recently about being 0-3 the failure is “collective.”
There is fault on the part of the GM and front office. The selections of Evan Neal, Deonte Banks, Jalin Hyatt, John Michael Schmitz and Josh Ezeudu have not given the hoped-for results. Trading for Darren Waller and trading away Leonard Williams have not worked out well. A number of talented players have not been kept.
Of course, the question becomes were those all bad picks or have they been poorly coaches/developed/utilized? Why is Daniel Jones playing like an MVP for the Colts when he looked awful for the last two seasons with the Giants? Why has a head coach deemed an offensive wizard when he was hired run one of the worst offenses in the NFL for 2+ seasons now?
It isn’t one or the other. It is a combination of both.
Eric Chavis asks: Sorry for another offensive line question. I’ll give you an option to choose either in retrospect (I do understand hindsight is 20/20) or thinking ahead, how would you go about fixing the offensive line?
Ed says: Eric, the issues with the offensive line go all the way back to then-GM Jerry Reese going from not using premium resources on the line from 2009 (Will Beatty, Round 2) all the way to 2013 (Justin Pugh, Round 1). I could spend thousands of words going through that. I’m not going there.
Let’s talk about going forward. First, since I keep being asked about Jermaine Eluemunor moving to guard and Marcus Mbow taking over at right tackle I want to address that. It is not going to happen. Eluemunor is a tackle, is good at it, wants to stay there and has actually played very little guard in his career. The last time he played there regularly was 2017. There is no evidence he is good at it.
The Giants will need to decide this offseason if they want to re-sign Eluemunor and move Mbow inside, or let Eluemunor go and play Mbow at right tackle. I don’t think playing Mbow inside is a viable option right now. Mbow has not practiced at guard or center, and would likely need to gain weight/strength to move inside. They could also move on from Jon Runyan Jr. after this season.
The Giants need to keep taking swings at it. They need to get sturdier on the interior of the line. They need to use more early draft capital at guard, maybe even center. I don’t know why they won’t give Evan Neal an opportunity instead of Greg Van Roten at guard, but that is about the only real option right now. Unless they think Josh Ezeudu can be viable.
Simon Hines asks: Is $10m for 3 games of Russell Wilson good value for money? With the benefit of hindsight, should the Giants have stuck with Winston, Dart, and Tommy Devito? Winston could have started the season if Dart was not ready. That $10m could have built some extra roster depth?
Ed says: Simon, to answer that question you have to remember the timeline of events. Free agency comes before the draft. The Giants signed Russell Wilson on March 25, a full month before the draft. At that time, they had no idea if they were going to be able to select Jaxson Dart. If you go back to the post-draft press conferences, Joe Schoen said the Giants did not even decide for certain that they would try to trade up from No. 34 to get Dart until a couple of days before the draft. So, the Giants had no idea when they signed Wilson and Jameis Winston if they were going to be able to add the rookie quarterback they had been hunting for the past couple of seasons.
Now, in terms of on-field results the Giants obviously hoped to get more than three games and losses from Wilson for $10 million. In that sense, it is easy to say they wasted $10 million of John Mara’s money, and cap space they could have used elsewhere.
There is, though, another consideration. Analyst after analyst I spoke to after the draft lauded the Giants’ quarterback room and said the two veterans would have a positive influence on Dart. I think that has been the case. Wilson’s skills have declined. His work ethic, his professionalism, his positivity, his leadership, have not.
Here is an example of what Wilson is: On Wednesday, the first practice after Wilson had been told he will be a backup quarterback for the first time in his 14-year career, Wilson and rookie tight end Thomas Fidone were the last two players off the practice field. Wilson took the time after practice was over to throw routes to the seventh-round pick.
That’s professionalism. Being around it is something Dart can benefit from.
Now, is it worth $10 million? That’s for you to decide.
Bob Conyea asks: Ed, I began following the giants in 1967 at the age of 11. Was out tossing the football with my little brother when my Dad opened the kitchen door and said “come in and take a look at this new QB the giants got”. Not sure who they played, but I do remember there were 2 touchdown throws to Homer. Tarkenton was a franchise quarterback, for 5 years, most of them without a decent defense. In the 58 years since then, there have only been 2 more; Phil Simms and Eli Manning. They dont grow on trees, do they? Except for Norm Snead in 1972, and a couple years from Kerry Collins, the years between those 3, have been awful QB wise for the giants. Most fans regard the 2nd half of the 70’s as the low point, but the Dave Brown, Kent Graham, Danny Kannel merry-go-round that followed Phil Simms release was just as tough to sit through. Regardless of how Indiana Jones has started out for the colts, burning 6 years with him was too many given the results.
That often futile reality explains fans hope for Jaxson Dart, despite the fact that the kid has yet to throw his 1st NFL pass. We won’t know whether Dart will prove to be only the 4th Giants Franchise quarterback in 60 years for a couple of seasons yet, but this week’s game is a must watch for sure.
Getting round to my question, what is your definition of a “franchise quarterback”. Years played, levels of success. Does it have to result in championships or does at least making some deep playoff runs qualify? Or need it only be the absence of wishing for a better quarterback every week and the season is shot with the leaves still on the trees?
Ed says: Bob, that is a looong question. I thought the background to it was important, though. Now, to get to my answer.
I don’t think you can go the dictionary and find the definition of “franchise quarterback.” I think everyone will have a somewhat different twist on how they define it.
For me, a franchise quarterback is not just a quarterback who had a good year. It’s a guy who annually has good years. We’re talking about a quarterback who everyone in the room knows is “The Guy.” Not just the starting guy, but the guy they know can and will win them games if they do their jobs and give him a chance. It’s a guy who makes the players around him better and can at least sometimes rise adverse circumstances and lift his team by himself. It’s a quarterback who, when he makes big plays at big moments, you aren’t surprised. You don’t see it as an aberration, you expect it.
They don’t grow on trees. I would guess probably half the teams in the NFL don’t truly believe they have a franchise guy and would take an opportunity to try and get better at the position if they thought they could.
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