The New York Giants enter a season with low expectations, but general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll must either win a certain number of games or show signs of drastic improvement, or they’ll be shown the door.
If neither of those things happens, rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart might play in 2025 because that’ll be this regime’s last resort—and things would have to go disastrously wrong.
It’ll be an uphill battle to reach that unknown win threshold set by co-owner John Mara.
The schedule is not doing them any favors, though, as they have the toughest in the NFL.
Through the first eight weeks, they play the Washington Commanders and Dallas Cowboys on the road, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, the reigning Super Bowl LVIII champs twice in the Philadelphia Eagles and two playoff teams from a season ago in the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos, while having to travel to Mile High Stadium.
From an optimistic perspective, the Giants can survive this gauntlet. Yes, they play the Commanders in Week 1, but Daboll has had success against that franchise during his tenure with Big Blue. Since 2022, Daboll is 3-2-1 against the division rivals.
This is also a Commanders team that, while they made it to the NFC Championship game a season ago, did overachieve with a rookie quarterback at the helm. After starting 7-2, they finished 12-5, squeaked by the Buccaneers in the first round, blew the doors off the Lions in Detroit, and then got pummeled by the Eagles.
Natural regression for a team like this is to be expected, so it’s possible the Giants shock the world in Week 1 and start the season in the win column.
On the other hand, the same sort of success can’t be said for Daboll and co. against the Eagles and Cowboys. Against those two teams since 2022, Daboll has a 1-11 record with his lone win coming against the Eagles in 2023 in Week 18.
The statistics aren’t in Daboll’s favor regarding their division rivals, and after the first eight weeks, well, it doesn’t get much easier.
In the team’s last five games before their Week 14 bye week, they’ll play the 49ers at home, the Bears on the road, the Packers at home, the Lions in Detroit, and then the Patriots in New England.
Two teams that had top-10 picks in the NFL Draft, but they have new head coaches; The Patriots hired Mike Vrabel, who has had plenty of success with the Tennessee Titans, getting the most out of his players even when the talent on his roster wasn’t elite.
The Bears hired Ben Johnson, the highly regarded and intelligent offensive coordinator from the Lions. There’s no guarantee either of these coaches will work out, but New York will have to go into both of their buildings.
San Francisco is coming off an abysmal season with injuries that plagued their season. The roster on paper is worse than it was a season ago, and they’ve only gotten older, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
The Lions were the No. 1 seed in the NFC a season ago, and Green Bay, if it wasn’t for injuries both in the secondary and their offensive line, could’ve made it past Philadelphia in the Wild Card round.
The Giants close out the season after the bye week against the Commanders, Minnesota Vikings, on the road in Las Vegas against the Raiders and at home Week 18 against Dallas.
Record Prediction
At best, this New York Giants team can finish the 2025 season with a 5-12 record. This team’s defense will have to wreak havoc on opposing quarterbacks, and the offense will have to score about 20 points per game to win seven games.
New York has too many loaded teams on the ledger, so it’s going to be an uphill battle. As the season progresses, Dart might make an appearance if things get ugly.
It’s way too early for these predictions, but Week 10 after the second Eagles game is a time that has Jaxson Dart written all over it.
