Are The New York Giants For Real In 2021? The First Season Of Joe Judge In Review

New York Giants' head coach Joe Judge. Credit: Jim McIssac

The NFL season comes to the end for most teams, including the New York Giants. The New York Giants finish the season 6-10 after a weird ending with the win against Dallas and the Eagles losing to Washington to eliminate the Giants from making the playoffs… 

They started off the season by losing Saquon Barkley for the year and as the year progressed Daniel Jones played inconsistently but dealt with injuries. There was some late-season hope to make the playoffs but the team failed to do so. 

The New York Giants organization has a lot to build on with this coaching staff and super young roster with some talent on it. With the right pieces added and subtracted here’s how they can contend in 2021…

FRONT OFFICE

They need to recoup and build towards the future and gather some real talent. That starts with ditching Dave Gettleman. In Dave Gettleman’s tenure with the New York Giants, he is 14-34, which is simply unacceptable. He is not a good general manager but is a good talent evaluator.

I expect him to either retire or step down and take an advisory role. Go after someone along the lines of Ed Dodds, Nick Caserio, or Monti Ossenfort. The New York Giants could also elect to retain him, at the price of him giving up most roster power to Joe Judge since he seems to be the true leader of the organization.

STAFF CHANGES

Another staffing change they need to change is the offensive coordinator. Jason Garrett has given the Giants a bottom-five offense during his tenure. The New York Giants need a fresh face that uses the whole offense and creates problems for defenses pre-snap. Need to be able to push the ball vertically and have a scheme where the QB is comfortable while also giving him his reigns to the offense. 

ROSTER

Quarterback

Daniel Jones failed this year, regardless of injuries or talent around him. He didn’t play to his potential so in that case, draft or sign a Quarterback, regardless if you keep Daniel Jones. If you keep Daniel Jones then get a quality backup like Ryan Fitzpatrick or Jacoby Brissett to put some pressure on Daniel Jones. Drafting a backup is also a good option, have two young guys battle it out while also learning how to sit back and learn from another. 

Wide Receiver 

The New York Giants need help at the Wide Receiver position, badly. Sterling Shepard is really the only solid option on offense, he will be the slot WR next year. Darius Slayton has real potential to be a great WR2, but not a WR1. I think he’ll thrive with adding a guy like Allen Robinson or Chris Godwin in Free Agency, or Rashod Bateman, and Ja’Marr Chase in the NFL Draft this April.

Offensive line 

Keep adding on, that’s it. Shane Lemieux is a great piece in the running game but struggles in pass pro. Will Hernandez is young and has looked great at sometimes, and other times atrocious. Andrew Thomas and Matt Peart both show a lot of positives and a lot of negatives. Ditch Kevin Zeitler and Nate Solder and add a cheap veteran. 

Defensive Line

With the reality of losing either Leonard Williams or Dalvin Tomlinson, make sure to find a replacement for the guy you don’t sign. Both have been great this year and I wouldn’t mind either back. Leonard Williams is a monster in the middle of the defense and I would keep Leonard Williams over Dalvin Tomlinson, in my opinion.

Pass Rushers

The New York Giants desperately need help in this category. Patrick Graham caused most of the sacks this year to happen, not just the talent of the player. Either need a big-name free agent or someone along the lines of Gregory Rousseau or Kwity Paye in the 2021 NFL Draft. Cam Brown, Carter Coughlin, Oshane Ximines, Lorenzo Carter are nice young players but you need an alpha dog in the room. Also, try to retain Kyler Fackrell or Jabaal Sheard who have been solid veteran options this year.

Linebackers

Blake Martinez is the man. But the second linebacker position is almost as important as the starting linebacker. Tae Crowder has shown flashes but has also shown why he was the last pick in the draft at certain points, which isn’t a good thing. I’d like the Giants to get a more pass coverage-heavy LB to fill next to Martinez. 

Defensive backs

The New York Giants got a steal in free agency with James Bradberry and got a nice young slot corner, Darnay Holmes, in the 2020 NFL Draft. Now the second cornerback position needs to be filled. Ryan Lewis started out playing there and was decent, then got immured. Since then Isaac Yiadom filled the void and played decently. But winning teams have two guys who they can one-on-one, in which the Giants only have that in James Bradberry. 

RECAP

The New York Giants have a decent roster with some good coaching. Once Dave Gettleman is gone, is when the New York Giants have the chance to become a good/great team. Dave Gettleman has yet to have a season where the New York Giants don’t have less than 10 losses.

This team needs to be changed around if they want to win big football games in the future. I know that the owner wants Dave Gettleman to “finish what he started” but that will just put us another few years behind. The Giants are close to contending, yet so far.

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Ethen
Ethen
2 years ago

I pretty much agree with everything definitely need to give dj one more year with sum good talent before we give up and I think Jason Garrett was a cancer to DJ looks like u lost his confidence at time