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When will Daniel Jones take over?

Eli Manning hasn’t been the same for years now, a fact the Giants seem to have finally accepted. They drafted Daniel Jones at 6 in this year’s draft, and even though that was probably a reach, they need to prioritize his development. The question is how will they do so? They obviously need to get him at least some game time experience but they shouldn’t throw him to the wolves. We saw how dreadful the Giants O-line was for Eli it might be worse for Jones as a rookie. The worst thing that can happen is Jones losing his confidence. On the flip side however, you can’t just bench him for the entirety of the season, as that would be pushing his development process further down the road. I think they’d be smart to put Jones in midseason, at that point the Giants will most likely be far behind in the playoff race so there won’t be as much pressure on Jones to win or be elite right away. The Giants shouldn’t give him the burden of being the team’s savior, and instead develop him in a low-pressure environment.

Can Saquon Barkley become the leader of the Giant’s offense?

Now that Odell is gone the Giants are missing a significant amount of production offensively. They’ve seemingly put a band aid on it with the Tate signing but Tate is much older and not nearly as good as Beckham is. The burden of trying to fill in Beckham’s production is probably Saquon Barkley. He had a terrific rookie season, but the Giants may need him to do even more this year. Manning is over the hill and Jones is too green, so Barkley will likely be the guy the Giants rely on to consistently move the chains. I think Barkley is capable of handling this load, I’m just concerned it’ll affect his career longevity.

How can the Giants make this season matter?

The Giants are most likely going to be dreadful this year. It’s hard to see then being anything more than 3rd place in their division and they likely won’t come close to even sniffing the playoffs. So, what can they do to bring value to this seemingly pointless transition season? Well to give meaning this year they need to do three things. Those are developing the young players, establishing a culture and identity of the team, and making a decision on the coaching staff. Obviously they’ll need to develop the young core, as they’re likely the future of this Giants team. It’s also important for them to have a clear identity going forward, and to stick to it. Having a positive culture and good chemistry in the locker room helps with that. They should also pass judgement on the coaching staff. Pat Shurmur’s first year went poorly and there’s question about his long term fit on the team. The Giants front office needs to make a decision about it now, rather than deal with it later, when the timing of the transition will likely be much poorer.