NFL Network Insider Mike Garafolo on the New York Giants Upcoming Season

NFL Network Insider Mike Garafolo on the New York Giants Upcoming Season

on today’s locked on Giants podcast we’re joined by NFL Network Insider Mike garolo who talks to us all about the Giants that’s coming your way [Music] next you are locked on Giants your daily New York Giants podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day today’s episode of the lock on Giants podcast is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet visit fanduel.com Lon today to get started hello New York Giant fans and welcome to another edition of the lockon Giants podcast part of the lock on podcast family your team every day I’m your host Patricia tra and on today’s locked on Giants podcast I am joined by the one the only Mike garolo of the NFL Network Mike arolo is an NFL Network Insider and you can find him on the Insiders which airs Monday through Friday at 7 pm on the NFL Network Mike very good to see you thank you so much for joining me hi Patricia Traina how are you uh didn’t get over there this spring to see you guys but I’ll definitely be there for for training camp um so hope everything’s going well by you and the family and everybody uh and look forward to seeing everybody out there yeah yeah it’s been a long time for those who don’t know Mike used to be the king of the New York Giants beat when somebody had a scoop it was usually Mike and he has gone on to bigger and better things and and uh it’s always a treat to have him on the show to talk to him to see him and whatnot so Mike we got a lot to talk about with the New York Giants let’s Jump Right In um first off what is your overall impression of the Giants the direction they’re headed what’s the mood like is this necessarily A make or break year for everybody in the organization um I’m laughing because I just I’ve been I’ve been wrong every year like every time I think they’re going to be good they stumble and every time I think they’re going to stumble they wind up being good it feels that that way for the last four or five years um and I’ve been off either like I thought the first year on the Brian dble they they would struggle they they played really good really smart football uh won some games tried to build on that year too you could talk about injuries you talk about a bunch of things uh just didn’t happen and I’m like you know what I’m out of the predicting business when it comes to the Giants but um you do look at a roster and you do look at you know that they’re good in a lot of areas right and if some of these young guys can really come along particularly at the receiver position I see no other position where uh you’re going to have to rely on your first and second and third year guys there to really carry you which they can which is possible which is doable um you know their their pieces are in place and if Daniel Jones is healthy and from the time of the injury through the surgery they’ve been optimistic that he’s going to be ready to go it seems like that’s still going to be the case it seems like you know barring a setback and uh he builds in training camp and who knows how much if any you see him in the preseason but it seems like he’s locked in for week one or on the road to week one I should say um you know it’s you’re starting to feel like they’ve got pieces in place and that’s what they feel right that’s what you’re feeling from inside the building is they feel good about the construction of their roster right now um it’s easy to say that on paper it’s hard to do it on the field Mike A lot has been said about the quarterback position for the Giants you know there was a lot of work done by Brian dable uh Joe Shane and the scouts over the you know leading up to the draft the Giants were rumored to want to move up to take Drake May in the draft that didn’t happen so they pretty much have decided to run it back with Daniel Jones I mean to me that’s mixed messages it’s like you know they wanted to trade up to get a guy but now they’re going to run it back with him I mean how do you kind of see that unfolding moving forward with Daniel I mean he’s the guy right now but how long of a leash do you think he’s going to have during the season um you know if he’s healthy he’s the guy weak one like there’s no question about that I know you know that um but some people have said you know could Drew lock you know make a run at the he’s not gonna make a run at the job for week one but he could be a guy where if Daniel Jones is struggling or maybe not performing because the knee’s not right or whatever it is you’ve got Drew lock in the offing who they felt really good about enough to bring in I understand that the practices in the spring were a little eye of the beholder and up and down sometimes but um uh you know I I I think he’s got a a decent shot uh about as good a chance as he could have hoped for at this point to prove over the course of a season with now some weapons around him provided everybody stays healthy with what should be an improved offensive line in front of him uh to make a long-term statement for the job uh and he has to because of the final year of guaranteed money in that deal and if he doesn’t perform one way or another they’re going to be moving on right if if if this regime is still in place it’s going to be time for them to move on number one if they’re not in place you’re bringing in a new regime that means you likely have one of the top picks in the draft then that should settle that at that point so I I know that the mixed messaging that you talked about perturbed Daniel Jones a little bit and he made it clear that he wasn’t happy about the fact that they were nosing around other quarterbacks um but he should be grateful he should be grateful for the fact that this is year three of a new regime and I’ve as you cover this league and you see it time and time again anytime a new regime gets an opening not anytime clearly not in this case but most times they get an opening to get themselves their own quarterback they take it and these guys could have done it because two more uh quarterbacks were coming off the board even though um one two and three were quarterbacks they could have done that three more excuse me forgot about Bo Knicks uh so they could could have forced it and said we’ll take the best of the three and they said no there was a clear drop off in their mind after Drake May we’ll take a weapon to help our current quarterback in place he should be grateful for that uh and he it should spur him to perform you know last year one of the you know the things with Daniel Jones who you know I think we can both agree he didn’t play well you know injuries and or or no injuries he didn’t play well but um one of the things was he didn’t have saquon Barkley he didn’t have Darren Waller well this year he doesn’t have saquan Barkley Barkley’s in Philadelphia Waller is retired he’s got Malik neighbors who has yet to play a down promising Prospect but he’s yet to play Down realistically speaking Mike is too much being put on Malik neighbors to quote unquote save Daniel Jones do you think um yeah maybe but you take a receiver that high like if you take a receiver in the first round you’re into the you know teens or something like that you you can’t expect that guy to come in you shouldn’t expect that guy to come in right away when you take a guy f especially when you or six excuse me especially when you pass over these other quarterbacks that I’m talking about it better be because he’s going to hit the ground running and they obviously feel that way about him I mean that was the talk of and and not only them but that was the talk of of the league with Marvin Harrison and Malik neighbors and there was some real chatter around the league about what receiver to take I like the way the CJ Stout approached it which was don’t be stupid take Marvin Harrison Jr and the Cardinals weren’t stupid and they did um and who knows maybe both of these guys flourish in the 1500 plus yard receivers early in their career uh but when you take them that early especially when you’re passing on a on a quarterback I think it’s not unfair to say that this guy’s got to contribute right away you’re putting it on him by the decision that you made at that spot at that moment in time so you know I I it’s it’s the Jaylen Hyatts and ju Del Robinson’s on the roster that you hope help along the way and it’s not just this guy’s got to be the guy they should all be performing together I think that group as a unit Hyatt showing flashes last year Robinson showing like he’s getting healthy off the ACL especially late in the year last year okay now you’ve got the makings of a wide receiver core an actual group of wide receivers that you can’t really just lock in as a defense and say that’s the guy who they’re going to have have tried to beat us we got to lock him down hey giant fans summertime means baseball the NBA finals and more and you can bet it all on FanDuel no matter what you’re into you’ll find something that matches your interest and a whole host of odds stat lines money lines and more to bet on when you hook up with FanDuel America’s number one sports book right now when you sign up for an account with FanDuel you’ll get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s $200 to bet on everything from the finals MVP to who’s going to hit one out of the park visit fanduel.com lockon and add a big win to your summer bucket list FanDuel America’s number one sports book you know we mentioned the offensive line before and a big big question mark besides the overall unit being better centers on Evan Neil Evan Neil they he did some work earlier in the spring then they backed off of him you know he’s recovering from the ankle I I thought that was kind of weird given that you know these these weren’t full-blown practices what are you hearing about you know the their patience level with Evan Neil do you think that this is a guy that’s gonna have a short leash or are they gonna just you know say okay look they got a new offensive line coach with braillo let him work his magic and and let’s see what happens well the organization has seen Andrew Thomas who’s battled injury and inconsistent play Early in his career flourish into a All Pro Player a second team All Pro Player um but you can you can call him at all like it’s just he is um and they’ve rewarded him as such around this time last year when he got that big contract so um they’ve seen what patience can do you don’t give up on a guy I mean you know Patty let’s go back to Corey Webster and I understand that a lot of the pieces have changed but you know ownership hasn’t and some of the people in the Personnel Department have it uh the way that that looked like a failed second round pick and turned into a Cornerstone of their Super Bowl team uh just a year or so later um so you got to have patience with these guys and you you what was Jerry Reese’s slogan you never quit on Talent uh which I think he borrowed from somebody else if I’m not mistaken um so you know it’s there the talent is there you get the confidence going you know you can get yourself a an important piece of your roster so I I believe the patience overall will be there it’s not like they’re going to look to dump this guy and trade him away like some teams have been quick to do with some draft picks that haven’t panned out I don’t get that sense in any stretch but they’ve got some guys behind him that they feel like can can perform a little bit and if they need to they’ve got more than just the five UPF front they’ve got versatile pieces uh behind them so let’s see let’s see how it goes for Evan Neil get himself healthy and get himself confident Mike before I switch over to the defense I want to ask you about this Prospect of Brian D calling plays now you know D hasn’t come out and announced it but it’s kind of one of the worst Kept Secrets of the spring at least as far as his team is concerned you know I kind of understand the direction or why he might be doing that but what do you anticipate is going to change when dap takes over the play calling and do you think it’s the right move for the Giants at this time well what what game was it was it the Arizona game last year early on where he took it over was that the first time he but he didn’t really admit that he did but he was you was like this for the entire second half um so they’ve kind of been and that was a spark that game they they came back in that game so um yeah I I you know I I I l i l the guys who are play callers and get head coaching jobs and feel like Nick serani did the same thing feel like they can pass it off and feel like they don’t have to do that right we manage an entire game um but if if he feels at this point that he’s got to take it over and he’s got to be the solo guy and they’re not gonna um I I still think that there’s going to be a collaborative approach no matter what and there could be a little back and forth right like it what whatever you decide come week one doesn’t have to be how it’s going to be week two or even in the middle of their week one game you can kind of and maybe that helps keep the opposing team off balance a little bit cuz they don’t know what to expect they don’t know who’s calling what they don’t know what they’re going to see from series to series potentially it’s not like it’s a different offense that you’re running it’s still the same offense but you’re you’re pressing different buttons um I think that’s kind of the way I I would kind of when you call it the worst kept secret I I I still think it might be something that they’re feeling out and something that might wind up being fluid as you get into the season it’s true I that would keep people off balance as you said and and uh you know but I I guess in terms of consistency though does it make more sense to have the same voice in the quarterback’s ear especially knowing that eventually Mike uh kfka may move on after this year get if he gets a head coaching job well yeah but that would help you if he did move on that you had the head coach that can help transition even if he wanted to take the play calling himself while hiring the new offensive coordinator moving forward so I I I think that could help you in that regard cuz the Eagles struggled when they lost Shane Sten when Shane Sten left it was like a big drop off down to to Brian Johnson who’s now departed down there so I I compared it to the serani situation so um yeah I mean you know when you call it a potential make or break year for this regime or this coaching staff I would want as much in my hands as possible if that’s the case and I’m the uh head coach of a team so if Brian D wants to go in and say hey I’m going to be the guy at least again to start the season I I think that it’s an important message that he’s sending that this is an important year for us this is important year for me I want this thing in my hands as much as possible all right Mike let’s switch over now to the defense you know they hired a new defensive coordinator Shane Bowen formerly with the Tennessee Titans after that messy divorce with wink Martell that ugliness that suit and whatnot you know normally when you hire a new defensive coordinator the idea is to try and give him guys that fit his scheme but you can’t do that all inone off season that being said how close do you think the current Personnel that have matches what Bowen typically likes to do yeah that was part of the feeling out process with him was uh breaking down what they had on the roster and what they wanted to do going forward and uh he felt really good from my understanding about what they had uh currently the ability to rush the passer with uh with Kavon Tibido and now adding Brian Burns to the mix which at the time when he was hired Burns wasn’t yet in the mix but surely that was part of the conversation that they had like we’re going to still add a pass rusher potentially even brought up his name specifically so um I know he feels good about Personnel wise particularly up front with what they’ve got going on uh Dexter Lawrence being a guy that certainly is a big piece of what they do um and at the cornerback position Tay Banks uh who year one uh really showed you the makings of a guy that could be a really solid I mean solid maybe an understatement really really good Corner in this league so um I know he felt good about what he saw out there um and that uh this is a this is a team with a roster that fits what he wants to do you know you mentioned quarterback Mike you know sort of like with quarterback you know the Giants were kind of feeling out different veterans you know travius white um Darius Williams stevenh Nelson there was a report Steven Nelson was on there raar they ultimately decided okay you know what we didn’t get any of these guys so we’re going to roll with Cordell flat but how secure do you think that position is you know with the guys that they have there do you think it’s possible that they will look elsewhere since they’ve already tried at least three times that we know of yeah I I just don’t know you know how many I mean they signed Trey he hearen after that mini camp uh Tri out I I I just don’t know you know I know Stefan Gilmore I know there’s names out there um there’s a reason why those guys are are out there uh there’s actually a few few reasons why some of those guys are out there as I think about some of the names that are potentially available um but uh yeah I I think it’s I think you’re leaning on mostly what you’ve got on the roster right now and if hearnden can come in and give you uh a little bit uh of a of a veteran presence back there um that’s certainly going to be help particularly at this point in the game and I I know he was thought of Highly in Jacksonville uh the fact that he’s no longer there maybe a little bit of a surprise uh but I know he was thought of Highly down there um and clearly the Giants like what they saw in the mini cab from what he has left here so um yeah I it’s it’s they’ve got a lot of young guys on this roster like if the Giants are going to do well in 2024 every time you go through all these positions you’re like man it’s the it’s the the second and third year guys that are really going to have to progress to make this happen and when you look at the corner the cornerback position it certainly stands out to you there you know staying on the secondary just for a minute there a a loss you know everybody’s talking about the loss of saquan Barkley I don’t think enough people are talking about the loss of Xavier Kenny and what that potentially means for this defense what’s your take on that and do they have in Tyler nuban and Dane Belton guys that can not necessarily replicate what McKenna did but you know because they’re their own people but can they fill that Gap still surprised that they didn’t transition tag uh Xavier McKenna but um I don’t know it would have changed things right like I I don’t know that they would have in the end matched the offer they had a number on him they had a a price on him that they were willing to go to uh wound up being higher than that um they like the kid it seemed like they liked them a lot you know if you love a guy and you feel like he’s a Cornerstone piece he’s not getting out of the building right he’s franchise tag so the way that they played that told you what they thought about him really good player really good piece for what we’re doing great piece not in their mind so um they’re going to the other thing is how you allocate your money that you’re spending particularly with the salary cap uh at that position I think was a little too rich for their blood so let’s get some of these other pieces that you’re talking about and rely on these guys and see who can can step up and win the job it’s it’s roster building 101 in the NFL it’s like there’s going to be a position where you go yeah we’d like to have either a guy who winds up leaving or a guy that was out there but we just can’t extend ourselves at this point especially when you paid the quarterback big money two years ago which now doesn’t even look like big money anymore the way that these quarterbacks are into the 50s and pretty soon the 60s um so they probably look at that dep chart and go okay yeah the safety is but sometimes you get your surprises your guys to the upside that’s what they’re hoping they’re going to get there like a couple War for you I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about Brian Burns now you know just like we talk about there’s a centerpiece on the offense that they kind of build around on defense they have Dexter Lawrence obviously a great player in all pro they added Brian Burns I mean how does defense now change with that addition as far as the pass rush in particular well I mean it helps that you’ve got another guy on top of Tibido that that can get after the guy and uh now now offenses have to make a choice where they want to slide where they want to protect uh where they want to double I mean that’s going to be something that they can uh uh that’s going to be on their minds and that’s what you want to do when you’re building a roster it’s like you think in terms of how do you defend this or defend it how does an offense attack this or protect against this is what I’m I’m trying to say and you go okay that’s a problem because Dexter Lawrence can also give you a little bit of that I mean I remember back when he was drafted the talk that he wasn’t a three down guy turns out that he is a three down guy he can give you a little bit of that uh um that pass rushing ability not just a run stuffer so um that was that that was the thinking there uh let’s build up up front let’s make sure that uh they’ve got to worry about multiple people up front you know it’s not going to be a wink marale Blitz package type situation it’s going to be a little bit different the way it’s going to look uh which is fine because sometimes when you throw the kitchen sink it it opens you up to some other things um so it’ll be a little bit different in that regard these guys are going to have to win and they have the confidence in them that they will win all right Mike final question for you what does progress have to look like for this team in order to stay on path with this current regime yeah I I mean at some point John Mara likes to vocalize these things uh I don’t know that he has this year but um it’s it’s it’s the playoffs right you got seven teams in each conference now it’s like back when I was covering the team dayto day it was like all right six teams well you can miss the playoffs and be that seventh like at some point if you’re the eighth team that just missed it that’s not good enough right you know and you’ve got to be able to make it as that seventh team so I think it’s that especially because teams are looking at the Cowboys saying they’re not doing enough right they’re just not doing enough and I know that’s the Casual fans approach and down in Dallas they’re saying ah you guys are underestimating what we’re going to get from some of the guys already on the roster and what we’re going to get from this rookie draft class but teams around the league are looking at it like yeah I don’t know that they’ve got especially because they think McCarthy’s basically a lame duck coach but I don’t necessarily agree with but we know who’s lurking out there we know how things work when you coach the Cowboys um it’s going to be a topic of discussion so they’re very uh vincible uh the Eagles as well I mean I know they’ve replaced both coordinators with more proven guys but those proven guys had question marks at their last couple of spots you saw the reaction from the Dolphins players after Vic fangio left basically saying that they didn’t really like the guy at all um and he can be a little Gruff uh at times so you know that’s who knows what’s happening down there Washington they’re resetting I mean I’m not saying the Giants are going to win the division but there certainly should be in the mix and and as we get into December you shouldn’t be saying well it’s a two- team Race that doesn’t involve the Giants they should be in the mix in the division it’s going to be very interesting to see a pivotal year for this regime I don’t think they’re going to get you know dumped after this year regardless I mean unless they do something really really stupid I mean even the previous regime got four years but uh it’s been a long time for the Giants a long frustrating decade Plus for them yeah it has been and uh I thought we all thought year one with this regime it’s like okay now they’ve got things in they’re moving in the right direction and uh certainly after a couple of quick triggers at the coaching position they want to stick with this regime they don’t want it to be a three andone uh type situation they’ve had some two andone situations so uh they want to be able to have a coaching staff around and the regime around for quite some time so I know they’re looking for good results here I I just I as I look around one of the things I like to do this time of year is okay we know who the strong teams are going to be that’s easy who are the who are the week like who could potentially be picking number one in the draft this upcoming season now a lot of times this has to do with a quarterback that goes down in week two that you just can’t see coming uh so outside of that assuming everybody stays healthy I I don’t look at this Giants team say Well they’re in the conversation to be one of the worst teams in the league there’s just it doesn’t make uh any sense to to to put that forward at this point and I know a lot of people are down on them after last year and losing Squan I feel like that’s going to be a huge drop off look Devin single ter has played games in the playoffs for the last four years I believe right like so he’s a guy that you can win with and make the postseason with um so there there’s enough on this roster as you go through it to say this team should be in contention he is Mike gfo NFL Insider for the NFL Network you can see him on the Insiders the program airs Monday through Friday 7 pm on the NFL Network never any rest for you guys you do such a great job Mike I appreciate you coming on with me I can’t wait to to see you this summer hopefully you’ll get it this summer and you know we’ll have to catch up say hello excited to see you and uh thank you for having me here enjoy your summer why don’t you get some downtime how about that buddy sounds good to me all right giant fans that’s going to do it for this edition of black on Giants be sure to keep it here we’ll have plenty more coverage as we get you ready for training camp which will be here before you know it hopefully not too soon but before you know it for Mike arol I’m Patricia Traina have a good one giant fans we’ll see you tomorrow [Music]

NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo joins today’s Locked On Giants podcast as we discuss the state of the New York Giants–how much of a chance Daniel Jones will get, what the contingency is on the offensive line, what success will need to look like for this team and much more.

NFL Network Insider Mike Garafolo on the New York Giants Upcoming Season
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