I freely admit it. I’m drinking the Giants Kool Aid.
This NY Giants blog has been warning its readers for 19 years not to succumb to the hype of preseason/training camp… the fluff… the puff pieces… the unbridled optimism of being undefeated in the summer. So why am I seemingly tossing my objectivity out the window and… succumbing? Am I so starved for a ray of hope that the emotion is getting the best of me?
Perhaps. But I really don’t think so. Let me explain.
I have been trying to remain as balanced as I can about the Giants. There have been years last decade when I have been hoping for the best yet rationally expecting a poor outcome. I remain open to what I’m seeing. Objectivity is paramount. Every year. If the team has problems, we talk about it. This blog got a reputation for being negative, but we were the ones who were realistic. And right.
And wrong too. The last couple of years we held out some hope that they’d get through. Frankly, I’ll say it this way- Jones maxed out in 2022, and Andrew Thomas has killed the Giants in ‘23 and ‘24. As an example, last year, a turnaround was predicated on the OL stabilizing to middle of the pack. Wonder liked Eluemunor as a swing Tackle. Runyan wasn’t overly exciting but he was a 6/10, functional. And Carm Bricillo offered promise to inject some sorely missed development of other pieces, including Neal. That’s what happened- until Thomas went down again. The Giants OL was fine. The team was 2-3 and frankly could have beaten the Bengals. Thomas goes down and it is a sh*t show the rest of the way.
If Thomas is generating 15 starts this season, there is no reason this team can’t be competitive. Consider:
- The Giants finally have a real QB. Wilson is hitting WRs in stride. Do you know how often that happened last season? I remember 4th stringer journeyman Tim Boyle throwing with anticipation and thinking- my God- I want HIM throwing to Nabers. That’s how insane it was last year. That’s how dysfunctional it got. The “vibe” in camp has completely changed. The old and tired narrative of how Jones is the first one in and the last one out has been replaced by Wilson’s moon balls dropping in WR buckets.
- What has happened to these WRs in past seasons is criminal. CRIMINAL. Watching Wilson connect with Nabers, Slayton and Robinson regularly in practice is (2024) night and (2025) day. That ends this year. Wilson may be 36 but he can still throw the deep pass. That stretches the field, enabling this offense to function at a much higher level. We’ve seen more deep passes hitting these WRs in stride in one week of practice than maybe all of last year.
- Nabers, a rookie, had 4 pieces of schtick dreck throwing him the ball in 15 games and still got 1200 yards. We told blog readers how the hype was not doing this draft pick justice last spring and last summer. We were right. He was better than advertised, if that was possible. Imagine him with a QB. And a Left Tackle. I don’t think the mainstream/nfl really understands this. I think they think that Nabers is very good but do not understand how suffocating it really was for him. That ends with Wilson and a modicum of competence at OL.
- Cam Skattebo. Money talks. He’s already ahead of Tyrone Tracy in Fantasy. That should tell you something about red zone/goal line. Observers are shocked at how good he is as a pass catcher. When we said that the Giants killed the 2025 draft, part of it was Skattebo. He’s going to give the Giants an identity. Finally. That doesn’t mean Tyrone Tracy disappears. Au contraire. We love Tracy. All the better. Glide and Grit.
- Abdul Carter is going to be a nightmare. Jermaine Eluemunor:
“He has traits that you can’t teach. Certain things that – everyone has talent because you’re in the NFL, everyone has hard work and determination, but there’s a little thing that God just blessed you with that he has that I can count on one hand that guys in the NFL have. That’s not to put any unrealistic expectations on his shoulders, but I only think the sky is the limit for that kid, I think – even higher than the sky. (He) works hard, good guy, great off the field, great teammate..” - A former college football RB, when told that Carter was being lined up everywhere (1 technique, 3 technique, 5 technique, LBer) in practice, remarked “that’s not good” (for opposing offenses). He understood immediately that it would be much harder to account for him. Good luck game planning against all of that + Burns, Dex and Thib.
- This is not summer hype. The Giants got two insane playmakers at the top of the past 2 drafts. The fact that one was mothballed by 4 pretend QBs and the other holy hell is about to be unleashed together on the rest of the NFL is not well understood. Two playmakers, one on each side of the field, are about to transform this franchise.
- Objectivity. Listen to this podcast episode from BBB. Their guest is Emory Hunt. He knows the team. He knows X’s and O’s. He knows the draft. And he is not a homer. He said the Giants were winning 3 games in 2024. Bing. He says 7-8-9 wins this season. Maybe I buried the lead in not mentioning this at the top of the post. I believed it myself but hearing an informed and objective opinion observe the same things increased my confidence in the view.
- Emory: “This is the best draft class that we’ve seen from Joe Schoen… and this is his best crop of UDFAs.” We loved the 2024 draft. It frankly saved Schoen’s job. That Hunt thinks 2025 will outdo 2024 is a great sign about the team’s future. It may not all translate here in 2025, and that’s fair. But if it’s going to be a terrific draft class, some of it likely will.
- Emory made an important point about the balance between the Defense and Offense. Dan Schneier warned his listeners before camp started that the Defense would be way ahead of the Offense at the outset. Credit Wilson, but that has not happened. Is Carter undressing our OL? Yes. Yet it’s really evident that the weakness of this team, the Offense, is significantly improved with Wilson in charge.
Am I drinking the Giants’ Kool Aid? Yah, I’ll admit that I’m looking past Wonder (who is bearish), the hard schedule, the OL worts, and growing pains. I think that people are sleeping on this team. If that’s Kool Aid, so be it. Let’s go. Let’s see what preseason looks like. Let’s see how healthy we are on September 7th. I’m willing to admit I’m a little biased here but I think the Giants are being sold short.