Everyone wants to know: What are the Giants going to do — or not do — at the NFL trading deadline?
The key to figuring that out: Determine what first-year general manager Joe Schoen is thinking about his team eight games into the season.
Joe Schoen is a first-time general manager and there is no way in the world he expected his first year of a rebuild to produce such a gaudy record at Halloween or that there is realistic expectation the Giants will be squarely in the playoff hurt by the time Thanksgiving rolls in.
Sitting at 6-2 puts Schoen in a position to be a buyer and not a seller, with the NFL trade deadline set for Tuesday afternoon. There is no doubt Schoen wants to add pieces to augment the roster so that coach Brian Daboll does not have to continue to engage in weekly low-scoring, tight battles that could go either way, putting too much pressure on Daboll and his staff to outmaneuver rather than outplay the opponent game after game.
There is also no doubt Schoen looks at the team he built for 2022 and realizes its limitations and understands he cannot scrap his long-range goals just because the Giants are ahead of schedule in the short term. Winning six of the first eight games — after this franchise won four games all of last season — is a tremendous achievement and a strong endorsement of the Schoen-Daboll pairing. There is every reason to believe Schoen will not do anything to sabotage his plans for 2023 for the sake of instant gratification for the stretch run.
Joe Schoen enters his first trade deadline as the Giants’ general manager. Bill Kostroun/New York Post“Joe and I are in constant communication, lockstep on a lot of things,’’ Daboll said Monday. “We talk about pretty much everything there is to talk about in an organization.’’
The Giants need help, desperately, at wide receiver. They cannot continue to use Marcus Johnson on 86 percent of the snaps on offense, which is what he logged in the 27-13 loss in Seattle. Schoen will look for that help, but the feeling is he believes the Giants are not one wide receiver away from making a big playoff splash.
The defense orchestrated by coordinator Wink Martindale has kept the Giants in every game but is also one of the worst run-stopping units in the league. Schoen could view upgrading the inside linebacker position — and also the depth on the defensive line — as at least as important as adding a receiver who might be targeted only five or six times a game. The most recent injury loss — backup lineman Nick Williams to a biceps injury — heightens the need to add talent up front.
Schoen had to pinch pennies in his first free agency running the show. The Giants are projected to be around $52 million under the 2023 salary cap, which would be the third-most space in the NFL. Schoen’s first draft class, featuring Kayvon Thibodeaux and Evan Neal as first-rounders and also Wan’Dale Robinson, Josh Ezeudu, Daniel Bellinger and Dane Belton, looks like a promising haul. Schoen is not going to cut into next year’s cap or trade away premium picks in 2023 to try to squeeze out another win in 2022.
Does it make sense for the Giants to inquire about Jerry Jeudy, in his third year with the Broncos? Of course it does and it is a good bet Schoen has already done so. Word around the league is that Jeudy is available but he will not come cheaply, considering he is only 23 years old and is due about $1 million the remainder of this season and $2.6 million in 2023.
Brandin Cooks is a proven veteran, with six 1,000-yard receiving years, and the Texans are going nowhere with him. He is also 29 and is under contract for $18 million in 2023. Chase Claypool of the Steelers is younger and makes more sense, as does Marquez Calloway of the Saints. Odell Beckham Jr. is out there but he is coming off ACL surgery and might not be ready until December, at the earliest. At linebacker, maybe the Panthers will make Corey Littleton available. On the defensive line, perhaps Matt Ioannidis (Panthers) or Jerry Tillery (Chargers) entices Schoen.
Schoen would not have traded away 2021 first-round pick Kadarius Toney to the Chiefs for 2023 third- and sixth-round picks if he thought the Giants’ passing game was one receiving threat away from attaining next-level status. Before this past weekend, the Giants were the only team in the league to have every one of its games decided by one score (eight points or fewer).
Every game is such a dogfight that Schoen can go two ways this week. He can try to shove his team into a better place with bold moves or he can try to nudge his team forward by acquiring roster additions that will help a little and not cut into any plans for 2023.
It would come as a surprise if Schoen parts with a second-day draft pick (Rounds 2 and 3). He knows his team needs help but he also knows good things often come to those who wait.
