After an exciting Conference Championship Sunday, two teams survived and will battle it out to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. But, the New York Giants have been making some noise during their early offseason. Let’s review my thoughts on them this week.
Welcome to the Giants, Brian Daboll
Once again, it’s a new era for Big Blue. After interviewing a wide range of candidates, the New York Giants hired Brian Daboll to be their 20th head coach in team history. Formerly known as the Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator, he brings a resume that includes calling plays for an offense that ranked in the top five this season.
He hasn’t always worked in the NFL. in 2017, he won a national championship with the Alabama Crimson Tide as the offensive coordinator. After his time in the college football ranks, he worked for the Bills for four years before coming to New Jersey. His hire comes after ownership chose Joe Schoen to be the new general manager. Schoen also came from Buffalo, serving as the assistant GM for the Bills before arriving at the Giants.
As of right now, no offensive coordinator has been hired. However, Daboll has expressed his content with bringing back Patrick Graham to be the defensive coordinator.
My thoughts: The Daboll hire shows that the Giants are doing things differently compared to the past. His offensive playcalling will be key to jumpstart a Giants squad that has ranked in the bottom half of points/game over the past few years. Both Schoen and Daboll believe in Daniel Jones, which is nice to see given that the former Duke quarterback has not had consistency at the coaching positions. There is still much work to be done, but hiring Daboll to be the head coach is a great start to this rebuild.
Joe Judge + the Giants = Terrible
When Joe Judge was hired to be the head coach two years ago, he brought a style of coaching similar to what Bill Belichick runs in New England. However, it was reported that the players were unhappy with his methods. After all, you don’t see coaches making the team run laps when they do something wrong.
My thoughts: Personally, I had my doubts when Judge was hired by the New York Giants. He was mainly known for his time as a special teams coordinator with the Patriots. But, as we all know, coaches that leave New England do not have much success (See: Matt Patricia, Bill O’Brien).
You simply can’t revert to high school drills in order to send your message amongst your players. If anything, you’re overworking them to a point where you have players landing on the injury report every week. Good riddance Judge is gone. He doesn’t deserve another opportunity to be a head coach, especially when you’re saying things like this.
What the New York Giants should do with their first-round picks?
It’s early, but we are starting to see mock drafts come from different analysts and sports websites. Pro Football Focus released their predictions, and they project the Giants to choose Kayvon Thibodeaux and Tyler Linderbaum in the first round.
My thoughts: I LOVE IT! Ownership knows they’ve done everything to screw up Daniel Jones. Drafting Linderbaum is the first step to making things right. He played center for the Iowa Hawkeyes and only allowed 19 pressures during his time in Iowa City. Billy Price is not the answer for New York. Jones needs time in the pocket instead of seeing a defender in his face immediately after he receives the snap. Linderbaum is part of the solution.
As for Thibodeaux, he would bring an immediate boost to a defense that lacks a pass rush. Azeez Ojulari was outstanding for the Giants this season after being chosen in the second round during this past draft. With eight sacks to his name, Ojulari could breakout next season. Pairing him with Thibodeaux would strike fear into opponents and rejuvenate a defense that allowed almost 355 yards/game this season.
