A lot of good things happened for the New York Giants during the offseason. Nothing is ever perfect, though. so, what was the worst move of the offseason for the Giants? Below, Big Blue View writers try to answer that question.
Chris Pflum
Not investing more heavily in wide receiver
It feels a bit odd to suggest that a team that added six wide receivers and a hybrid tight end haven’t invested heavily enough in pass catchers.
However, supporting Jaxson Dart has to be the Giants’ first priority and I can’t shake
concerns that the Giants’ passing attack could be the team’s Achilles Heal. I wrote about two weeks ago that trading AJ Brown could have unintended consequences for the Eagles’ offense. Those concerns also hold true for the Giants’ offense as well if Malik Nabers isn’t up to being a dominant force.
There are still concerns that Nabers won’t be ready for Week 1, and might not be “himself” until some date in the murky future. And even then, Nabers’ play prior to being injured leaves me feeling uneasy. He only caught 51% of his passes last year for just 271 yards and 2 touchdowns, a stat line that drops to 41% for 104 yards, and no touchdowns when he wasn’t playing the Cowboys’ putrid defense. Even in his rookie year, Nabers only caught 64% of his passes with a 51% success rate, nine or 10 drops (depending on who’s doing the accounting), and a 46% contested catch rate.
If Nabers isn’t able to be The Guy, do the Giants have a passing attack that can force defenses to choose neutral or light boxes for the run game to be successful? Can they find (or create) the room for their other receivers to succeed? Can they give options for Jaxson Dart so he can both continue to develop as a passer and not feel forced to will plays into existence (and put himself in danger)?
Arguably, the fatal flaw of John Harbaugh’s tenure in Baltimore was not giving Lamar Jackson enough options in the passing game. The Giants have added a ton of receiving options, but how many good ones? How many can be good without a primary threat to dictate to the offense? And can the Giants compete with the top teams that can field not one, but two “number one” receivers?
Teams can’t fix every problem in one offseason, but will not fixing this one going to come back to haunt them?
I don’t know.
- What is the best decision the Giants made this offseason?
- If Malik Nabers isn’t ready, do the NY Giants have enough talent at WR?
Tony DelGenio
Letting Wan’Dale Robinson walk
The Giants may never have had a more undervalued wide receiver than Wan’Dale Robinson. He’s been in the crosshairs of Giants fans ever since Joe Schoen passed on George Pickens to select him in Round 2 in 2022 even though he probably still would have been on the board in Round 3. I know, he got $17.5M per year from Tennessee, too much money for a small slot receiver. That amount is tied for 26th among NFL wide receivers, though, while his 1,014 receiving yards in 2025 was 17th. He only had three drops, tied with 21 others for 50th. And get this: Wan’Dale was ninth in the NFL in deep (20+ yards) receiving yards and seventh in the NFL in YAC on deep passes. Not bad for a 5-foot-8 slot receiver.
No problem, the Giants have a zillion wide receivers, they won’t miss him. But who knows when Malik Nabers and Darius Slayton will return; who knows how good Malachi Fields will be; who knows what the Giants can get out of Darnell Mooney and Calvin Austin III; who knows what if anything OBJ has left; who knows if Isaiah Likely can be anything more than the fifth option he was last year for the Ravens? (Admittedly he missed three games so he would likely – pun intended – have been third in targets if he played every week.) For four years Robinson has been the security blanket for Giants quarterbacks, and now that blanky is gone. I think the Giants can replace Wan’Dale’s numbers, but it will take a village. Will they have anyone who can keep drives going on third down?
Nick Falato
Losing Dexter Lawrence
Now, let me make this clear… the Giants got a quality return on investment for Dexter Lawrence. The tenth overall pick for a player whose relationship soured dramatically here in New York is a win, in my opinion. Still, Dexter Lawrence is arguably the best interior pass rusher in the NFL, and he’s a dominant run defender who was at his lowest value. Replacing a player like Lawrence will be very difficult, and the Giants did a solid job bringing in enough veteran talent to put together an adequate rotation, but the loss of Lawrence fundamentally changes what Dennard Wilson is able to do defensively. I don’t hate how the Giants handled the situation once it soured, but I don’t love that the relationship soured. And, to be frank, losing Lawrence is still a massive hole that could plague the Giants in 2026, so I still have some worry about his departure.
David Hartman
Hiring Matt Nagy as OC
I’ll stick with the coaching tree and go with the decision to bring in Matt Nagy as offensive coordinator. I trust Harbaugh, but this one left me scratching my head. What did Nagy do in Kansas City to recommend him? The Chiefs’ offense got worse every year he was there. I get that they had injuries and personnel issues, but so does every team. He had Patrick Mahomes, and the offense went through long stretches of being very predictable and ordinary. I’m hoping for better results with Jaxson Dart and the rest of the offense, but I didn’t like this move.
Valentine’s View
Losing Dexter Lawrence
These “best and worst moves of the offseason” round tables were my idea. I thought they were a good one … until I sat down to figure out what I thought was the Giants’ worst move of the offseason.
Truth is, I think there are a LOT of moves that can be debated.
- As Chris suggested, whether they have enough at wide receiver can be debated. Don’t forget, though, that Isaiah Likely should be an upgrade over Daniel Bellinger as a receiver.
- As Tony suggested, losing Wan’Dale Robinson. Thing is, I absolutely believe the Giants were right not to compete for Robinson at four years, $70 million with $38 million guaranteed. I don’t believe he will ever do again what he did for the Giants in 2025. Thus, I don’t believe he will ever justify that contract.
- As David suggested, hiring Matt Nagy. Name a slam-dunk better hire, though? Kliff Kingsbury? Brian Callahan? Mike Kafka? Nagy is a good coach who had more success with Mitch Trubisky than anyone probably had a right to. His resume says he should be fine.
- We can, and probably will, debate drafting Sisi Mauigoa instead of Caleb Downs for years to come. We’ll just see how that works out.
- Not retaining Carmen Bricillo as offensive line coach. If the line play regresses, that move will be criticized.
- Retaining Joe Schoen as GM. I am a bit surprised no one selected that as worst move. Still, Schoen and John Harbaugh seem to work well together, and Schoen has the confidence of ownership.
Which brings me back to Lawrence. It is hard for me to call trading Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals the “worst” move of the offseason. Lawrence forced the Giants’ hand. He no longer wanted to be a Giant. I’m told he made that clear when he said no to an extension the Giants offered that included more money and more years than the one-year, $28 million extension he accepted in Cincinnati. The Giants did what had to be done.
The Giants made the best of it and were — to the surprise of many — able to get the 10th overall pick in the draft in exchange for Lawrence. They used it on Mauigoa, helping them on the offensive line.
So, it hard to say it was the “worst” move. Maybe it was the most regrettable. It will be the hardest move for them to overcome. D.J. Reader can approximate the 2025 version of Lawrence. He can’t come close to replicating the 2022-2024 version of Lawrence. No one can. That version of Lawrence plunked into the middle of the Giants’ defense potentially makes them a top five NFL defense. Can Lawrence still play like that. The Bengals will find out.
The Giants tried to replace Lawrence the only way possible, with volume. Aside from Reader, though, every player they added has a lot to prove as to whether he can or should be a regular contributor to a defensive line rotation.
