It isn’t an easy time to be a Giants fan. They’re in the midst of one of their worst seasons in franchise history. With only one game remaining the Giants have gone 3-13 and had a franchise record ten-game losing streak before the Week 17 win versus the Colts. With so much losing on the field, many fans have turned to the past to kindle happy memories. Looking back at the successful seasons they’ve had over their 100 years as a franchise.
One year many fans have looked to is 2022. Going into that season the Giants were projected to be one of the worst teams in the league. However new head coach Brian Daboll led this team to a 9-7-1 record and a divisional round appearance. It seemed like this would start a new era of contention for the Giants.
Yet, two seasons later, with how bad they’ve been, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that 2022 was a fluke. It was a team filled with players who overachieved and got lucky in one-score games. Where a lot of the teams’ problems and flaws were overlooked because they were winning. When looking over everything, the Giants making the playoffs in 2022 set the franchise back.
The Giants Overevelauted Players
As mentioned before, overachieving caused a lot of people to think the roster was better than it was. More specifically a lot of people felt that Daboll had unlocked something in Daniel Jones. Jones had his best season in 2022 throwing for 3205 yards and 15 touchdowns to only five interceptions. He also showed his rushing ability, running for 708 yards and seven touchdowns. His performance in the Wild Card round against Minnesota gave the Giants front office and fans the confidence he could be the franchise guy.
Because of that the Giants were pretty much forced to bring him back. Although the track record wasn’t there, if the Giants let Jones walk and he continued to play like he did in 2022 the Giants would look really bad. They would look stupid for moving on from Jones after his best season. Especially after using multiple coaching staff to try and get him to that point. Whether the front office wanted to or not they had to give Jones the four-year deal.
If the Giants don’t give Jones that contract and move on from him after 2022, they’d have more cap flexibility. Allowing them to possibly give the extra money to Saquon Barkley or Xavier McKinney. Making it more likely they stay and become guys to build around. Daboll would also have the opportunity to pick his quarterback, something he hasn’t has and might not get the opportunity to do.
Didn’t Allow Joe Schoen to Build The Roster Properly
When Joe Schoen was hired in 2022, it was a sign that the Giants were looking towards the future. After the disastrous job Dave Gettleman had done, Schoen had to pick up the pieces of a broken roster. There was an understanding that it was gonna take a few seasons before the Giants were ready to win again.
However, the team making a run to the divisional round changed the way the fans and ownership viewed the roster. Rather than seeing it as a roster that needs to be overhauled, it was believed the Giants were ready to take the next step. That they were a few pieces away from being a legit threat in the NFC. This caused Joe Schoen to change his strategy. He could no longer focus on the multiple-year rebuild because the expectations were so much higher.
Had the Giants played closer to expectations in 2022, Schoen could’ve continued with his original vision. He would’ve continued to move on from pieces of the Gettleman era and tried to repeat what Brandon Beane did in Buffalo. Whether it would’ve worked is a different question, but he would’ve at least been able to build the team the way he intended to.
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