Brian Daboll faced one of the largest downgrades in quarterback talent from one year to the next for any playcaller when he arrived in New York in 2022.
Daboll went from Josh Allen, a superstar and (now) league MVP, to Daniel Jones.
Despite the downgrade, Daboll still took Jones and the Giants to the playoffs in his first season.
The last two seasons, due to injuries and performance, the Giants started Jones, Tommy DeVito, Tyrod Taylor, and Drew Lock.
Not a single one of them recorded a winning record.
Combined over the last two seasons, Giants quarterbacks delivered just 30 touchdowns while racking up 157 sacks and interceptions.
That single stat line is atrocious, but it is also the most telling about the state of quarterback play for the Giants.
Looking back on it, I wonder if Daboll would trade his playoff trip in 2022 and subsequent Coach of the Year award to live in a parallel universe in which they lose in 2022, Jones is never given a $160 million contract extension, and he’s able to bring in a new, young QB to develop.
Because Daboll ended last season on the hot seat, and the seat hasn’t gotten any cooler this offseason.
Daboll’s previous hopeless quarterback situation involved Jones, DeVito, Taylor, and Lock.
Now it involves Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston.
I’d personally take either of those current quarterbacks over the four that Daboll has worked with since 2022, so that’s a positive.
But before we get into what Wilson brings to New York, can we first note the ridiculous position the Giants find themselves in right now?
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How Did the Giants Get Here?
The morning of December 29 last year, the Giants were in line to land the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
They earned that with a ridiculous 10-game losing streak.
They hadn’t scored more than 20 points in six straight games.
They sat at 2-13.
To lock up the No. 1 overall pick, they just needed to lose their final two games to two teams vying for the playoffs: the Eagles and Colts.
But for some reason, this organization allowed the offense to explode against the Colts, scoring 45 points with Lock throwing 4 touchdowns.
If you are ownership and you are smart at all, you do not allow that to happen.
A win against the Colts on December 29 was not going to save the season.
A win wasn’t going to make the fans happier.
In fact, fans booed the win, knowing it might cost them the No. 1 draft pick.
And it did.
If the Giants simply lost that game, they would be drafting Cam Ward with the No. 1 pick.
And they aren’t running around desperately signing both Wilson and Winston.
John Mara could have had the No. 1 draft pick.
He just needed clear communication with his coaching staff to ensure the proper players started and proper strategies were used to bow out of the 2024 season gracefully.
The sentiment is very different now.
This offseason, Mara was asked, “How long will it take to improve the product?”
Without any hesitation, Mara quipped, “It better not take too long because I’ve just about run out of patience.”
What a wild response from an owner who either allowed or signed off on multiple massive mistakes within just the last few seasons, mistakes which put the franchise in this position.
1. Extending Daniel Jones
2. Letting Saquon Barkley leave
3. Giving away the No. 1 overall pick with 8 days left in the season by not losing out
It’s fair to ask the age-old question of Mara: Would you rather be a really bad team for 9 of 10 years but win a Super Bowl in Year 10, or a consistently okay team without ever winning a Super Bowl?
His move to extend Daniel Jones and his edict to win games now without an actual franchise quarterback tells me he’d rather be consistently okay.
He’d rather become the NFC version of the Steelers. Lots of non-losing seasons but nothing to show for it in the postseason.
Over the last decade, the list of QBs to lead their team to a playoff berth, a playoff run, and a Super Bowl consists of:
- Patrick Mahomes
- Tom Brady
- Peyton Manning
- Matthew Stafford
- Jalen Hurts
That’s it. There aren’t scrubs on that list.
There aren’t any journeyman quarterbacks on that list.
There aren’t any players like 2022 Daniel Jones or 2024 Russell Wilson or 2024 Jameis Winston.
Yet those are the QBs that Mara agreed to pay.
The Giants aren’t set up to win a Super Bowl this year, and I don’t think Mara expects it.
But the point is they need to land a franchise quarterback, and he’s shown no prowess in his ability to ensure it happens.
You can blame the GM if you want, but GMs come and go.
It is Mara’s team, and he’s not going anywhere.
But if he wants to win another Super Bowl anytime soon, he'd better figure out a way to land a franchise quarterback.
That quarterback is not Russell Wilson, but Wilson certainly will be an upgrade over what the Giants have worked with.
How Does Russell Wilson Fit with the Giants & Brian Daboll?
One of the most stable ways to evaluate a quarterback is early down performance from a clean pocket.
Out of 43 qualifying quarterbacks in that metric last year, Wilson ranked:
