Dave Gettlemen’s failure to bring together a foundational core has faltered their progress, and a transparent view of how Daniel Jones has developed as a starter.

Daniel Jones and Joe Judge continue to slowly but surely make progress in their Quarterback-Head coach relationship. However, New York Football Giants general manager Dave Gettlemen’s failure to bring together a foundational core has faltered their progress, and a transparent view of how Daniel Jones has developed as a starter.

Offensive Line

To this day, the New York Football Giants’ offensive line is young, and building chemistry throughout the season. However, that chemistry has been plagued, riddled with interchanging pieces and injuries, leaving the unit as promising at left tackle, but still wanting for much more. Andrew Thomas has begun to come into his own in his sophomore season, leading 2nd year offensive linemen with a 79.0 PFF pass-blocking grade, with 0 sacks allowed in 167 pass-blocking snaps, a massive improvement from last season. Outside of improvement from Andrew Thomas, the Giants offensive line has been a cesspool of misplaced talent, injuries, and awful performances. Nate Solder has been an expensive veteran addition, whose performance has not inspired many in New York. Nate Solder holds a PFF grade of 46.2, ranking 64th among all eligible offensive tackles this season, and has struggled since his arrival in New York at both tackle positions. Guard Will Hernandez ranks 56th of 72 eligible, Center Billy Price ranks 25th of 35 at their respective positions, per PFF.

Consistent Weapons

Dave Gettlemen drafted Saquan Barkeley with the 2nd pick of his first draft as general manager of the New York Giants in 2018. However, he has failed to take the pairing of Daniel Jones and Saquan Barkeley to its maximum potential by starving them of the protection and creativity they require to build consistency in the run and pass game. Former general manager and personnel director Michael Lombardi had this to say about Big Blue’s offense under Jason Garrett. “There’s no imagination,” Lombardi said. “I mean, there’s no design in the running game. The Clapper refuses to design a run game, this is just not a misdemeanor. But look, the Giants have been bad for five years. They’re 28th in win percentage over the last five years, they’re 26th over the last 10 years. This isn’t just a one-time thing. … It’s one of the worst offenses to watch, and you’re not helping the quarterback.” The lack of execution and creativity in the red zone has led to a measly 17 point per game produced by the offense. An offensive line unit that has shuffled older athletes in and out of lineups over three years has led to no consistency between them, and little chemistry for Daniel Jones and Saquan to build with them. Sterling Sheppard, Kenny Golladay, Darius Slayton, Kadarius Toney, Andrew Thomas and Saquan Barkeley all show upside and promise as a core around Daniel Jones. But it’s for naught if the remainder of the offensive line unit is inept and found wanting.

Defensive Unit

The Giants defense had formerly been a positive. Dave Gettlemen’s acquisitions, alongside Patrick Graham and Joe Judge’s guidance lead to an undervalued and sneaky good defensive unit in 2020, finishing 9th in scoring defense and 12th in yards allowed. However, 2021 has not been the same script, as the Big Blue defense is currently 26th in scoring defense, 29th in yards allowed per game, and allowing a 47.1% conversion rate of third down.

Daniel Jones isn’t perfect, but there is promise

Daniel Jones is far from a great quarterback, we need to see him be good consistently. Regardless, he has shown improvement this season, by cutting down his turnovers dramatically and finding consistency in leading drives and converting on third down at a 40% clip, while maintaining a 95.6 passer rating. Due to Saquan Barkeley’s unfortunately being oft-injured, Daniel Jones is the team's leading rusher, a powerful talent, yet the unspoken demise of his health. Due to the environment of his situation, Daniel Jones makes strides to overcompensate for where his team is lacking. This leads to more scrambles, more rushes, and more contact to the franchise quarterback. More contact leads to more injuries. The Giants quarterback entered the NFL’s concussion protocol on Monday after colliding with two Cowboys defenders during a dive near the goal line in Sunday’s 44-20 loss in Dallas. He was unable to finish the game against the Cowboys in week 5 of the NFL season. Aaron Rodgers passed excellent advice towards Joe Burrow after their meeting in week 5 on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’, and the message rings just as true for Daniel Jones. “Slide. You’re too damn talented. You’ve got so much in front of you to accomplish in this league. Sometimes you gotta slide. I would've said the same thing to Andrew Luck.” Joe Burrow and Daniel Jones are similar in many ways. Both quarterbacks drafted high, ascending, (albeit at their own rates), with the weight of their franchises on their shoulders. Both players had moments where they tried to overcompensate for their franchises' holes and weaknesses. Both almost suffered horrifying injuries for said overcompensation.

Where does Dave Gettlemen go from here?

Dave Gettlemen needs to prove during this trade deadline, during the next off-season, and the next season that he is capable of building an offensive line unit that allows for the Giants’ offensive weapons, for both Daniel Jones and Saquan Barkeley to ascend to the promise that they hold. To retool and rekindle a defensive unit that last year held major promise coming into this season. All of these things need to come to light, in order for Dave Gettlemen to stay in the Mara family, and the New York media’s good graces, regardless of his connection to the 2007 and 2011 New York Football Giants.

David Gettlemen has Failed to Build a Foundation for Daniel Jones and Joe Judge