Giants' Early Report Card for Most Impactful Offseason Decisions
The New York Giants are looking to follow up a 2022 appearance in the divisional round with an even deeper playoff run in 2023. Their early offseason decisions have reflected this, as the Giants have focused on retaining key contributors while incrementally improving other positions.
The biggest decision New York has made thus far was the choice to give quarterback Daniel Jones a new four-year, $160 million extension. That's far from the only big move the Giants have made, though, as they also gave running back Saquon Barkley the franchise tag and added a couple of new pass-catchers.
How might New York's early offseason decisions play out? That's what we're here to examine.
Below, you'll find a look at New York's most impactful decisions of the offseason thus far and how they grade out based on factors like value, potential impact and cap consideration.
Extending Daniel Jones, Tagging Saquon Barkley
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Keeping Jones in the fold was a smart decision by New York. The Duke product showed a lot of growth under first-year head coach Brian Daboll in 2022, and keeping him means that the Giants aren't starting over at the game's most important position.
However, this decision was a costly one. $40 million annually is a lot to give a quarterback with one above-average season on his resume. Jones posted a career-best 92.5 passer rating in 2022 and was a dangerous runner, but he threw for only 3,205 yards and 15 touchdowns.
It will be interesting to discover who, if anyone, the Giants were bidding against to come up with a $40 million price tag for Jones.
Keeping Barkley at the cost of $10.1 million on the franchise tag was a far more reasonable move for New York. He had a projected market value of $12.3 million annually, and it's impossible to ignore his injury history.
Barkley stayed healthy throughout 2022 and returned to Pro Bowl form. Between 2019 and 2021, however, he missed 21 games and was often inefficient as a runner (3.7 yards per carry in 2021).
By utilizing the tag, the Giants can keep Barkley at a fair price without taking a massive long-term financial risk. The Jones deal doesn't look as good, on paper, but only time will tell if New York truly overpaid to keep its quarterback.
Taken as a tandem, this set of moves is more good for the Giants than bad.
Grade: B-
Trading for TE Darren Waller
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The Giants now have a responsibility to continue developing Jones as a signal-caller. Their trade to acquire 2020 Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller could help achieve that goal.
When healthy, Waller is among the league's best receiving tight ends. He had back-to-back 1,100-yard campaigns in 2019 and 2020. To land Waller, New York only surrendered a third-round pick (100th overall) in this year's draft.
However, this was anything but a slam-dunk decision by the Giants. Waller hasn't been healthy over the past two seasons and appeared in only 20 games during that span.
Waller will also turn 31 in September and will carry a $14.5 million cap hit in 2024. If he doesn't return to Pro Bowl form and/or can't stay healthy, New York will have a tough financial choice to make in the offseason.
This was very much a risk-reward decision by the Giants. The potential reward is a Pro Bowl-caliber pass-catcher who can provide Jones with a security blanket and an elite target. The risk is that Waller flops and gets released after one season while New York is down a Day 2 selection.
This move will be much easier to grade a year from now, but the potential reward for the franchise and for Jones far outweighs the risk factor.
Grade: B
Signing Parris Campbell
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In a deal that didn't generate headlines like the Jones contract or the Waller trade, the Giants might have made one of the best value moves of free agency. New York signed former Indianapolis Colts receiver Parris Campbell to a team-friendly one-year, $4.7 million deal.
It was a terrific move for the Giants because New York desperately needed to upgrade its receiving corps. Campbell can do that, and he could emerge as a long-term building block in the offense.
The Ohio State product is only 25 years old, and while his first three seasons were hampered by injuries, he had a breakthrough in 2022. He caught 63 passes for 623 yards and three touchdowns in an Indianapolis offense that ranked 30th in yards per pass attempt (5.2).
Campbell's 623 yards would have ranked second on the 2022 Giants behind only Darius Slayton, who was re-signed in free agency.
The Giants are getting a young receiver who is finally healthy and appears to be on the upswing. While Campbell needs to prove that he can stay healthy and continue improving, it's not costing New York a ton to give him a one-year audition.
That's a huge win for a franchise that paid heavily to keep Jones and Barkley and now has just $4.2 million in cap space available.
Grade: A-
*Cap and contract and market information via Spotrac.
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