The New York Giants’ 2024 season has been an absolute disaster. A year that was supposed to celebrate the franchise’s 100th season in the NFL will be one that fans will want to forget.
The team is 2-10 and are on the verge of breaking the franchise’s record for most losses in a season (13). The team will be underdogs in their final five games of the season, and if they lose out, drastic changes will be made within the organization.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but here’s a look at the five decisions that derailed the Giants’ 2024 season.
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Letting Saquon Barkley fly away to the Eagles
The contract saga between the Giants and Saquon Barkley came to an end in March when general manager Joe Schoen elected to allow Barkley to test the market and see what he’s worth. This led to the superstar running back signing a three-year $37.75 million deal with the rival Philadelphia Eagles.
Rookie Tyrone Tracy is having a solid year and has a promising future, but he doesn’t have the skillset of Barkley who is one of the favorites to win NFL MVP. New York doesn’t just miss what Barkley provides on the field, but his presence and leadership qualities are sorely missed in the locker room. The 27-year-old has the cachet to hold others accountable and to be a mentor to the younger players. Yet, the Giants didn’t deem him valuable.
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Brian Daboll not mending fences with Wink Martindale
Last season there were rumblings that head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator were butting heads. This proved to be true when Daboll fired two of Martindale’s assistants Drew and Kevin Wilkins, which promoted the defensive coordinator to leave the facility, and eventually led to the two sides parting ways.
Any time a team changes coordinators, the players must learn to adapt to the new system. Although New York’s defense has 36 sacks on the season under new defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, it has struggled mightily in other areas.
They’re ranked 29th against the run (145 yards per game) and set an NFL record for most consecutive games (11) without recording an interception. Darius Muasau’s interception of Sam Darnold in Week 1 remains the lone interception the defense has for the season.
In addition, players such as Deonte Banks who were thriving in Martindale’s system, have looked out of place and regressed in Bowen’s system. If Daboll had been able to mend fences with Martindale, the team may not be in the predicament they’re in.
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Not getting a viable option that could supplant Daniel Jones
Based on Daniel Jones’s history of injuries and subpar play it was apparent to everyone except for the powers that be in the Giants organization that the team needed a viable backup quarterback. But instead, they opted to go with the trio of Jones, Drew Lock, and Tommy DeVito. Needless to say, this backfired.
Jones’s struggles continued and he was eventually benched in favor of DeVito and shortly thereafter released. The offense has looked as inept as ever over the last two games with DeVito and Lock at the helm, which does not instill confidence for the final five games of the season.
The Giants could have signed Russell Wilson, who is leading the Steelers to a 9-3 record, or drafted Bo Nix, who has thrown 17 touchdowns and is making strides every week. Quarterback is the most important position in the NFL and for Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen to come into the season with a quarterback room consisting of Jones, Lock, and DeVito is one of the reasons they’re on the hot seat.
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Not re-signing Xavier McKinney
A case could be made that it was not in the Giants’ best long-term interest to re-sign safety Xavier McKinney to a lucrative contract. But the way things have unfolded this season, it looks like it was a grave mistake by New York.
As mentioned, the Giants’ defense has only recorded one interception this season, whereas McKinney is tied for the league lead in interceptions with seven.
The Giants have lost five games this season that were decided by one score and if they had their former safety, maybe he could have made a game-changing interception that would have helped New York win some of these games.
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Not having a backup kicker in Week 2 against Washington
Coming into their Week 2 matchup against the Washington Commanders, kicker Graham Gano was listed on the injury report with a groin injury. The team elected not to bring a backup kicker to Washington, and as fate would have it, Gano injured his hamstring on the opening kickoff which led to him going on IR.
New York lost to Washington 21-18 in large part due to not having another kicker available. Punter Jamie Gillan missed an extra point attempt which prompted the offense to go for two for every touchdown they scored and forced them to go for it on 4th down late in the game, despite being in field goal range.
Had New York won this game, they would have been 1-1, and with the team winning next week at Cleveland they would have been 2-1 and building momentum. Instead, they dug themselves into a 0-2 hole that they were never able to come out of.
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