I find myself in an uncomfortable position as my fingers tap on the keyboard of this brand new MacBook Air laptop the fine folks at Vox Media delivered to my doorstep this week. I am about to agree with something written by Pat Leonard of the Daily News, a good journalist but one whose style is about as far from mine as could possibly be.
So, why am I in this uncomfortable position as I work my way through this post on a drizzly Saturday morning. Because Leonard recently wrote a reasoned take on the
state of the 2026 Giants that I actually believe is on the mark.
Here is the essential part of what Leonard wrote:
John Harbaugh’s prudent and at times frugal spending, with a heavy concentration on one-year contracts and Band-Aid deals at positions of need, seems to signal a longer-term approach rather than any rushed urgency toward retooling the current team for an immediate 2026 run.
Not that the Giants are punting on the 2026 season. They can’t. Not with Andrew Thomas and Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns on those contracts and with quarterback Jaxson Dart stepping into his critical second pro season.
That’s why they recruited a playoff-experienced middle linebacker in Tremaine Edmunds and bought tight end Isaiah Likely at the top of his position’s market. And that’s why they’re throwing numbers at the receiver position, where No. 1 target Malik Nabers’ availability is in doubt as he recovers from a torn ACL and meniscus in his right knee.
Still, Harbaugh was not hired to wave a magic wand on the Giants for this fall. He was hired to get them back on track for the long haul, starting with but not limited to this current core.
So although he is patching together this year’s roster as best he can, it is clear that Harbaugh’s focus here is on long-term sustainability. He is not overcommitting deep into the future to many new players on this roster.
This strategy helps the 2026 team try to return to a baseline of competence by giving the special teams units a complete facelift and targeting veterans such as Calvin Austin II, Darnell Mooney, Greg Newsome II and Ar’Darius Washington at reasonable costs.
But it does not tie up the Giants’ salary cap or sacrifice draft assets in 2027 and beyond.
It keeps the Giants patient. It doesn’t assume the Giants have what it takes to return to the top of the NFC immediately.
It feels like a sound evaluation of the Giants’ current roster: Not close to where it needs to be, needing to learn how to walk before it can run.
The Houston Texans’ Nick Caserio did something like this when he took that franchise over in 2021.
He signed a ton of veterans to two-year max contracts when he came on board, steadied the books, kept losing, found a way to fleece the Cleveland Browns for Deshaun Watson, accrued assets, built through the draft and now is knocking on the AFC’s door.
BBV’s Tony DelGenio recently wrote a free agency analysis in which he said that “I would not conclude that their roster is improved over 2025.”
Tony probably has a point. The kicking game will almost certainly be better, but the Giants still have not addressed the trenches and have used most of their salary cap space to fill holes created by players who left. Whether that ends up being a net positive or net negative we won’t know until they get on the field.
If the Giants are going to be better in 2026, it is likely going to be in the margins. It will be on special teams. It will be because they are coached better, on the field and off. It will be because players won’t be allowed to spent three quarters of the season being late to or missing meetings and practices altogether, like Abdul Carter did last season. It will be because players will need to be accountable for their play and their actions, rather than being able to say they were playing fine when in reality they weren’t.
The overarching point, though, is that Leonard is right.
The Giants have been a wayward, lost franchise ever since Tom Coughlin blew past co-owner John Mara on his way out the door after the team kicked him to the curb in January of 2016.
John Harbaugh wasn’t hired to win the Super Bowl in February of 2027, though that would be nice. He was hired to put the pieces of an organization that has resembled Humpty Dumpty for the last 10 or more years back together.
If you are expecting a Chicago Bears like turnaround from 5-12 to 11-6 and an NFC North championship, or an even more dramatic New England Patriots turnaround from 4-13 to 13-4 and a Super Bowl appearance, you might want to recalibrate.
Those turnarounds are not the norm.
The Giants are being sound financially, even if I don’t love the three-year, $36 million Tremaine Edmunds contract. They are not foolishly chasing a quick fix.
There is a lot of gnashing of teeth right now about the offensive and defensive lines. They will find a way to address both before the season begins, I am confident of that.
Will every decision they make work out perfectly? No. The perfect general manager or head coach has never been born.
The Giants will be better in 2026. Does that mean seven or eight wins? Does it mean nine or 10 wins? I don’t know.
They will be in a better place, though, with a future where they should be competitive consistently and four-win seasons should be an aberration rather than the norm.
