The morale surrounding the New York Giants when Joe Schoen took over operations in January 2022 was at an all-time low for the franchise. The lasting effects of previous GM Dave Gettlemans’ tenure gave Schoen a leash that is rarely seen in New York sports. Despite the patience, it is difficult to see the future direction of the New York Giants as Schoen begins his third offseason with the team. With the long-term signing of Daniel Jones, and departure of veterans Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney this week, Schoen may have created more questions than answers.
The Good: Trades and Draft Capital
Joe Schoen has proven that his biggest asset to the Giants is with trading. Over the past two seasons Schoen has shipped out WR Kadarius Toney and DL Leonard Williams for a 2023 Compensatory 3rd Round Pick, 2023 6th round Pick, 2024 2nd Round Pick, and 2025 5th Round Pick. This is a tremendous haul for players that are not in the Giants future plans.
In the draft room last April, Schoen traded for the the 24th pick (CB Deonte Banks) by giving up picks number 25, 160, and 240. The Giants later received the 73rd pick (WR Jaylin Hyatt) for picks 89 and 128. Schoen also acquired more young talent in LB Isaiah Simmons for a 2024 7th round pick last season.
Joe Schoen has shown an ability to manipulate the draft by trading up for desired players and by acquiring draft picks during the season via player trades. However, it can be difficult to celebrate the excess of draft picks if they are used improperly.
The Bad: Asset Management
Much like previous GM’s Jerry Reese and Dave Gettleman, Joe Schoen and the Giants scouting department continue to struggle during the draft process. Since the last Super Bowl in 2011 the Giants have only drafted 6 Pro-Bowlers. Only one Giants draft pick has made First Team All-Pro (Landon Collins, 2016) during this time.
Schoen has focused much of his effort on fixing the offensive line by using a first, second, third, and fifth round pick to do so over the last 2 drafts. None of these players have worked out and Schoen is yet again left to exhaust picks this April in order to find a hit in the draft. Outside of 2022 5th round selection LB Micah McFadden, Schoen has essentially missed on every pick in rounds 5, 6, and 7. It has been too long since the Giants had a late round “steal” in the draft.
The Giants lost starting safety Xavier McKinney to free agency as they did Julian Love the offseason prior. Outside of unproven Deonte Banks, the draft replacements brought in to help the depleted secondary in Cordale Flott and Tre Hawkins have been below average. Schoen is losing talent in his secondary and failing to bring equal talent back in.
Finally, the decision to give long term security to Daniel Jones over Saquon Barkley was the wrong choice in hindsight. Saquon Barkley was a victim of the same offensive line that Joe Schoen is currently having trouble building. Barkley was the face of the franchise and identity of the team on and off the field and with no Saquon in the mix it becomes difficult to imagine what Joe Schoen’s Giants are trying to be (and how they will move the ball).
Without an average O-Line, and especially a star running back, the ground game will be subpar at best. The Giants were never supposed to be an arial assault-like team with Daniel Jones running the offense. Joe Schoen now has the near impossible task of rebalancing the offense and defense in a single offseason, mostly in response to his own shortcomings as General Manger. There is no denying the mess that Schoen inherited, but it is now becoming more difficult to feel comfortable with the Giants vision towards the future.