It’s time for the Giants to shift focus to 2022

There’s no hope in the Giants saving this season, so let’s talk about the future.

We’re six weeks into the 2021 NFL regular season. And the Giants should already shift the organization’s focus to next year.

I know, it’s depressing, and it’s become all too typical in recent seasons. But it’s the truth — the Giants are 1-5, there’s no hope in them turning everything around, and right now, the goal is to start over in the offseason.

But they must do it the right way this time, and there are numerous moves they will need to make in order to optimize a pending restart.

Fire Dave Gettleman

Following Sunday’s awful 38-11 loss to the Rams, Dave Gettleman is now 16-38 since taking over as the Giants general manager.

His poor offseason decisions have played significant roles in the below-average performance during his tenure.

Gettleman has addressed the offensive side of the ball in the first round every single year since he assumed his current position — he drafted running back Saquon Barkley in 2018, quarterback Daniel Jones in 2019, offensive tackle Andrew Thomas in 2020, and wide receiver Kadarius Toney in 2021.

And that 11-man unit is still as inconsistent as ever — following their Week 6 defeat, the Giants are 27th in the NFL in scoring (19.0 points per game).

Gettleman has also made it a goal to fix the offensive line, even saying after the drafting of Thomas that they wanted to achieve that task “once and for all.”

As you can guess, that unit still experiences its fair share of struggles and allowed four sacks against the Rams on Sunday.

The veteran GM spent a significant amount of money on the defensive side of the ball in the last 19 months. He signed:

• cornerback James Bradberry (three years, $43.5 million)
• cornerback Adoree’ Jackson (three years, $39 million)
• linebacker Blake Martinez (three years, $30.75 million)
• extended safety Logan Ryan (three years, $31 million)
• extended defensive lineman Leonard Williams (three years, $63 million)

And the defense, thus far in 2021, has been among the league’s worst. The Giants are 27th in the NFL with 401.3 total yards allowed per game and tied for 29th with 29.5 points allowed per game.

Gettleman entered his first full season in 2018 after the Giants won just three games in 2017. His job was to fix a struggling franchise, and in the midst of his fourth full season, the organization has dug itself deeper and deeper into the mud.

Collect Additional Draft Capital

There are a number of players on this current roster who the Giants, one way or another, could part ways with — they might as well try to get something in return for at least one of these guys.

New York may look to deal Saquon Barkley, Evan Engram, Darius Slayton, and/or Jabrill Peppers ahead of the Nov. 2 deadline. Engram and Peppers have expiring contracts and it may not be worth bringing them back anyway due to either’s limited on-field ability.

Barkley and Slayton, on the other hand, are under contract through 2022, but the former is injury-prone while the latter is descending the depth chart. The Giants could also try to trade either following this current season.

Find a New Offensive Play-Caller

The Giants, when healthy, have all these weapons they could utilize and made a number of moves this past offseason in order to improve the group.

And somehow, in some way, offensive coordinator Jason Garrett still won’t implement any sort of creativity, and it’s resulted in the Giants having sat as one of the worst offenses in the league since the commencement of the 2020 season.

The Giants were 31st in scoring last year and are 27th in that same category through six weeks. The team also still needs to figure out whether Daniel Jones is the long-term answer at the quarterback position, and the fact Garrett hasn’t unlocked the third-year player’s full potential isn’t exactly speeding up that process.

With Garrett handling the playbook, the Giants are running a slow-moving, dull offense in a league in which offenses of the opposite qualities are thriving. He has failed to realize this, and it’s unclear when he truly will.

Follow Ryan Honey on Twitter: @RyanHoneyESNY

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