The Giants organization’s most consistent problem the last decade has been their inability to properly evaluate who they are.
The New York Giants have a knack for misjudgment, often stemming from an inflated sense of the value of their own draft picks and players. This repetitive mistake, perpetuated by executives like Dave Gettleman and Joe Schoen, results in the team overlooking glaring deficiencies that are apparent to outside observers.
Another misstep occurs when they overestimate their current potential. This leads to misguided acquisitions intended to enhance the present lineup, when their focus should be on amassing future assets rather than squandering them for negligible immediate benefits.
The blame game is yet another pitfall, with players like quarterback Daniel Jones being unfairly targeted as the root of the team’s issues. This overlooks the broader systemic problems that extend far beyond any single individual.
Additionally, there’s a pattern of entrusting decision-making to the wrong individuals, as seen with John Mara and Steve Tisch’s reliance on Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll. This misdirection further complicates the Giants’ ability to reverse their fortunes.
This misjudgment often seeps into the players’ mentalities. A case in point is Dexter Lawrence, who recently claimed he believes he is performing well, reflecting a disconnect between perception and reality.
Such patterns illustrate why struggling teams remain in a cycle of underperformance. They fail to conduct honest self-assessments, opting instead to hear only what they wish, instead of confronting the hard truths.
Now it’s time for the 2025 version of this Giants identity test.
The next three days will demonstrate whether the Giants (2-6) understand who they are — and who they are not — or if self-preservation and blue-colored glasses will blind them to the most prudent path.
There is a different variable that complicates their decision this year, however. His name is Jaxson Dart.
Amid all of the Giants’ misery, poor draft picks, horrible game management, fineable sideline outbursts and injuries, the Giants have one feather in their cap:
Dart, their late first-round pick and the NFL’s offensive rookie of October, has shown promise at the sport’s most important position. So there is a need to support Dart and get something out of the second half of this lost season.
That means Schoen may continue to try to buy and acquire players instead of selling at the trade deadline.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that in a vacuum if Schoen, for example, wanted to extract an electric playmaker like Jaylen Waddle at a discount from a Miami Dolphins team that just fired GM Chris Grier.
That conceivably could help Dart continue to develop, get to this season’s finish line and improve the team for the future all in one shot. Especially since Dart’s two top weapons, Malik Nabers (torn ACL) and Cam Skattebo (major ankle surgery), are out for the year.
However, the Giants are not a playoff team. Not even close. If they think adding Waddle is going to revive this season into contention, they’re crazy.
And letting Schoen make that kind of trade at this juncture is playing with fire.
Schoen’s Giants have lost 20 of their last 25 games. They have a .347 winning percentage (20-38-1) on his watch.
The GM could be motivated as much by desperation as anything else, and if you think Schoen is above making a trade to add one or two wins to his 2025 season to try to make it to 2026, you haven’t been paying attention.
This franchise runs on social media and optics.
The more prudent course would be to do nothing, to let cheap veteran pickup Ray-Ray McCloud be Dart’s reasonable upgrade Sunday against the 49ers (5-3) and beyond.
The most prudent action would be to sell some players to acquire future assets. The only problem is the Giants don’t have much worth selling.
None of their fringe players will fetch meaningful draft picks from other NFL teams. And the only way they would have something worth selling is if Lawrence, Kayvon Thibodeaux or Jameis Winston requested a trade.
And so far none of them have done that. Winston won’t. Thibodeaux won’t.
We’ll see about Lawrence if Sunday’s game goes badly again and the heat continues to turn up on him.
That’s why the Giants are about to show everyone who they are in the next few days.
Daboll will show if he’s able to avoid going to 2-7 coming off a 3-14 season.
Schoen will show if he’s acting in the best interest of the team or himself.
Lawrence will show if he has more maturity than he and defensive line coach Andre Patterson showed this week.
The Giants, who can set a franchise record for 11 straight road losses next week in Chicago, will show if they know who they are.
Or if they haven’t changed a bit, to their own detriment.
