by Collin Lindsay of the Great Blue North Draft Report
Just by way of introduction for this week, there really isn’t much to see on the college football schedule this week (or next for that matter) so we thought we’d post a few more general comments that we have been saving up.
The title of this article is a bit of a take-off on a sign held up at a Giants-Cowboys game in Dallas way back in the bad old days of the 1970s that joked “Mammas don’t let your sons grow up to be Giants,” which in turn was a take-off on the classic (and I use the term liberally) old C&W song “Mammas don’t let your sons grow up to be Cowboys.”
No question that last two weeks has been one heck-of-a roller coaster ride for Giants’ fans, which included one of their best wins in years followed by one of the worst losses in team history right up there with “The Fumble” in 1978, the playoff loss to the Vikings in 1997, the playoff loss to the Niners in 2002, the loss to the Titans in 2006, and the loss to the Eagles in 2010.
In fact, we had several Giant fan correspondents write in this week asking why even care any more even about the draft because it never ends! Our simple answer is “because it will end.” We’ve been a Giant fan since the late 1950s and have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. And that includes the 1970s which, trust me, were infinitely worse than the current period. We also remind folks that the turnaround that began in the late 1970s didn’t happen overnight. The Giants, for example, didn’t win their first Super Bowl until LT’s 6th season in the league and Phil Simms’ 9th.
And in a somewhat curiously morbid way, we are actually not all that troubled where the Giants are right now. The reality is, particularly given the schedule, that the Giants, coming off a dismal 3-14 season and now with a rookie QB, weren’t ever likely going to be a legitimate playoff team, much less championship contenders this year. Indeed, the Giants next 6 opponents have a combined record of 28-11-1 – for the mathematically challenged that’s a 71.5% W-L percentage – and they don’t play anyone with anything even remotely close to a .500 record – and that’s Washington – until the middle of December. Ouch!
For us, the goal this year wasn’t so much to win games, although obviously 3-4 would be nicer than 2-5 at this point, but to be able to go out and be competitive on a weekly basis against even the better teams. And they have pretty much done that. Indeed, they are what, two plays away from being 4-3, while the other three losses were all one score games well into the 4th quarter.
So what we’re looking for is for the team to go and be competitive over the final ten games and hope to see continued development of young players like Jaxson Dart, Abdul Carter, and Cam Skattebo. And, in our view, being in a position to add another young quality player, especially one with impact potential at an impact position, with another top ten pick isn’t necessarily the worst outcome of the year.
We did get some blowback from last week’s preview which focused on WRs. However, we did so because of a confluence of a couple of factors: one, that just about all the top prospects at the position were on national TV and two, that the Giants themselves were very much pointing at the need at the position with reports that they were actively looking to trade for a veteran WR. Clearly, it’s an area of need, especially with Malik Nabers barely 50-50 to be available for the start of the 2026 campaign at best, although it is also interesting to note that the Giants put up 66 points over the past two games (against pretty good defences) with barely much more than a cameo appearance from any of their outside receivers.
And the fact is that, at least at this time, the strength of the top half of this year’s opening NFL Draft round looks to be receivers, defensive ends, and offensive tackles. The guess here is that the Giants would be more than happy to add any of one of the top WRs like Jordyn Tyson, Makai Lemon, Carnell Tate or Chris Bell; one of the top DEs like Rueben Bain or Keldric Faulk; or one of the top offensive linemen like Francis Mauigoa, a plug and play prospect and who would be a nice fit at either OT or inside.
At the same time, we did want to reiterate the fact the Giants are going to be limited in what they can reasonably expect to address in the upcoming draft as they only have two premium picks. And yes they can add some valuable depth with their third-day selections, but no team can just plan to fill holes with mid-to-late round picks. As such, free agency will likely be at least as important as the draft in addressing several positions like the interior offensive line, DT, CB, and LB. Although we would note that it appears there will be some talent at each of those positions when the Giants get on the board with their 2nd round pick next April.
We also wanted to briefly circle back to Sunday’s loss in Denver, just in case anyone thinks that we weren’t totally mortified by the 4th quarter melt-down. Trust us, we were as we didn’t fall asleep until the very early morning hours Monday morning and that sickening feeling in the gut every time it comes to mind still hasn’t quite dissipated.
What makes it all so frustrating is that it really just didn’t have to happen. Just under 5 minutes to play, you have the ball up two scores with a 3rd-and-5 on your own 30-yard line. Run the ball, force the Broncos to call their last TO, then punt it away and put them in a position in which they would have to drive 70-80 yards for a score, recover an onside kick, and then drive for a second score – all with no timeouts. Barring some kind of divine intervention, it’s almost impossible to do that in less than those 5 minutes.
But the Giants (and I’m looking at you Brian Daboll) gave them that divine intervention when they opted to throw on that fateful 3rd down. The one thing the Giants could not do in that situation was turn the ball over and give the Broncos a short field. And yes one can point a finger at Dart for an ill-advised throw, but he never should have been in that position in the first place. Run a QB draw (which has actually been the Giants most effective play since Dart took over). Heck, take a knee, just don’t turn the ball over.