(East Rutherford) In their first campaign with the New York Giants, general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll cleaned up a mess that littered the Meadowlands for five years.
Schoen has transformed a franchise in salary cap crisis into an organization that will rely on nearly $54 million to retain quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley — if that’s what he wants — and add players who will fill the many needs of the team in anticipation of the next season.
All Daboll accomplished was to take a club that had just had five losing seasons in a row, to a 9-7-1 record and a playoff appearance.
The Giants won their first round game in Minnesota before being beaten 38-7 by the Philadelphia Eagles, the No. 1 ranked team in the National Conference, in the second round.
The next step for the Giants will be to repeat that success. The team went 1-5-1 against its National Conference East rivals, including three losses in as many games against the Eagles.
After eight games, the Giants were 6-2 and had won five games by six points or less.
“There is a performance gap that we need to close,” Schoen said Monday, as he sat alongside Daboll. Just as quickly, he remarked that the Giants were a good team despite not being the most talented in the league.
Jones, Barkley and tackle Dexter Lawrence will be on the minds of Giants executives this offseason. Jones and Barkley will be free agents and Lawrence will play the option year of his rookie contract.
They were part of the most important group of players in the team.
After the Giants declined to exercise Jones’ contract option, Jones had his best season of his career, with 3,205 yards through the air, 15 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also rushed for 708 yards, a club record for a quarterback, and had seven majors.
Barkley finally recovered from an anterior cruciate ligament injury in a knee in 2020 and had 1,312 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns, in addition to catching 57 passes.
Lawrence played an important role in the center of defense for the Giants with a team-high 7.5 quarterback sacks.
In addition, the Giants have significant gaps to fill, starting at the wideout position. They don’t have a real number one receiver. You also have to anticipate that they will try to improve at inside linebacker and find another player to solidify the inside of their defensive line.