No tag for Barkley, Danny Dimes buyer's remorse: The Giants appear ready to hit the reset button

Stephen Knox|published: Tue 5th March, 15:55 2024

source: Getty Images

The New York Giants are reportedly looking to move on from QB Daniel Jones — whom they signed to a four-year, $160 million deal — and decided against using the franchise tag on Saquon Barkley, arguably the second-best player in franchise history.

Maybe the Giants will end up working out a long-term deal with Barkley this offseason, or maybe they are simply allowing him to hit free agency while he is still viewed as a dominant player. What it looks like the team is in the process of is a tear-down project.

Big Blue already released their best interior offensive lineman — Mark Glowinski. Following the move, the G-Men have nearly $40 million in cap space. Last offseason they signed top wide receiver Darius Slayton to an incentive-laden two-year deal. Wandale Robinson is on a rookie contract, and Darren Waller might retire.

And if the Giants do draft a QB, they can move on from Jones in 2025 and suffer only a love tap of a dead cap hit, as opposed to the shot to the throat the Denver Broncos will receive after releasing Russell Wilson.

We saw how much New York regressed last season. Brian Daboll was able to use Barkley, twist ties, and gorilla glue to cobble together an offense that was good enough to slide into the playoffs at 9-7-1 in 2022. But after Daboll emptied his junk drawer, the Giants stumbled and fell into a 6-11 record in 2023.

What’s good for Daboll is that he gets to build an offense the way that he sees fit. He helped Josh Allen morph from a turnover machine into a 40-touchdown-per-season performer. With cap space and the No. 6 overall pick as well as two second-rounders, Big Blue’s HC will be able to start to fill a roster with more holes than the roof in Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson” video.

The process of patching that roof is going to take time. Hopefully that playoff win over the Minnesota Vikings and some chicken cutlets from the DeVito family will be enough to hold over Big Blue fans until the retooling is done.