Big Blue View mailbag: Draft trades, Jaxson Dart, flying machines, more questions

Steve asks: If [Evan] Neal plays well at RG, do you think he returns to New York next season? I have my doubts he wants to come back to the Giants. But if he does, and has turned into a quality guard, that can be real progress for the iOL.

Ed says: Steve, right now it is not a guarantee that Evan Neal will be playing guard. Indications are that will be the case, but we won’t know for certain until media gets to watch an OTA toward the end of the month and we see for ourselves.

That said, I think it is hard to predict what might happen. Neal isn’t the only consideration. How does Marcus Mbow look this season? Do the Giants think Mbow is a tackle or a guard? Do they choose to keep Jermaine Eluemunor? Jon Runyan Jr.? Does Jake Kubas develop into a starting-caliber player?

Maybe Neal plays well and becomes a starting guard for the Giants for the next few seasons. Maybe, like Mekhi Becton did for the Philadelphia Eagles, he played well and cashes in on the free agent market.

It would be a good thing for both sides if Neal plays well for the Giants this year.

Mike George asks: After watching the video “Giants Life: How the Jaxson Dart trade went down” I wondered how the NFL handles the actual draft pick trades between teams. After speaking to Houston Texan GM Nick Caserio we hear Joe Schoen say ”25, Houston gets 34, 99 and next year’s third”. But obviously there’s more than just word of mouth between two GMs. How is the trade tracked, verified and locked into place by the NFL?

Ed says: Mike, here is exactly how it works, via NFL Operations:

When teams agree to a trade during the draft, both clubs call the head table, where NFL vice president of player personnel Ken Fiore and staff monitor the league’s phones. Each team must relay the same trade information to the league to have a trade approved.

Once a trade is approved, a Player Personnel representative gives the details to the league’s broadcast partners and to all 32 clubs. A league official announces the trade in the draft venue for media and fans.

All of this, of course, has to happen before a team’s time to pick runs out.

Andy Winfeld asks: It’s quite obvious from all of their recent free agent and UDFA wide receiver signings (not to mention all the Gabe Davis rumors) that the Giants are specifically seeking a “big” pass catcher to add to their stable. My question is this…why do they insist on continuing with this annual quest when they already have a guy on their roster? You’ll recall that when they signed Bryce Ford-Wheaton as a UDFA three years ago, they paid a hefty premium to do so, as virtually every other club in the NFL wanted to sign him as well…due to his rare combination of size and speed. And he has certainly rewarded the Giants in one respect, as he’s consistently proven to be one of their most valuable assets on special teams. However, for whatever reason, when it comes to helping the team from scrimmage he’s never seen the light of day! What gives?

Ed says: Andy, the Giants watched and worked with Ford-Wheaton all of last season, and the training camp prior to that. If they believed he was the answer, he would have been getting playing time with the offense last season. He was given two (2) offensive snaps all year. That tells you that based on what they saw every day they don’t believe he is an NFL wide receiver.

Yes, he has size and speed. That doesn’t mean anything. He is a former undrafted free agent receiver who was used exclusively on special teams.

Maybe Ford-Wheaton beats back all the competition and keeps his roster spot. If the Giants did not believe they could do better, though, all those big-bodied wide receivers wouldn’t be on the roster.

Eric Chavis asks: I just saw this video of Jaxson Dart from the rookie minicamp. Looks like he spins the ball in his hand after the pump fake and before the throw. Do you know if this is something he typically does, and if so, is that okay in the NFL? Not sure I’ve ever noticed this before so for all I know a bunch of QBs do it.

Ed says: Eric, I don’t recall seeing it before, either. It is unusual. From what I can see it does not impact his timing or delay him from getting the ball out. If the Giants see it as a problem they will work to correct it. Certainly it did not prevent them from drafting him.

It is, though, something I might have to ask Dart and Brian Daboll about.

Mike Pirrotta asks: With his build and pass catching ability, do you think there’s a chance the Giants run some plays with Cam Skattebo and [Tyrone] Tracy in the backfield together? I doubt he’s good enough to block like a true FB, but it could create some interesting matchups running both of them on routes out of the backfield.

Ed says: Mike, I would not rule it out. For anyone thinking about Skattebo as a true fullback, though, I would not count on that. He’s 5-foot-10, 220 pounds. A fullback is probably at least 20 pounds heavier than that, and I don’t know how Skattebo would add that weight.

Scott Merrick asks: With the Giants needing to create cap room, my question is more specifically about restructuring versus cuts. Obviously both will have to happen, I’m just curious as to your opinion on what factors might go into the decision of restructuring contracts of certain players. Besides the importance of how much money they can save, is there consideration of the effects on how a specific player will react to being asked to essentially take a pay cut? And who amongst the obvious group of big contracts do you believe makes the most sense to restructure given all these factors? — Brian Burns, Andrew Thomas, Dexter Lawrence, Bobby Okereke?

Ed says: Scott, a contract restructure is not the same as a pay cut. Restructures do not take money away from players. All they do is reallocate the dollars in the contract to lower the cap hit, generally by converting base salary (called P5 salary) into a signing bonus that can be prorated over the life of the contract. The bonus is paid upfront, but for accounting purposes spread over the remaining life of the contract.

A team can ask a player to take a direct pay cut. The Giants asked defensive back Nick McCloud to take a pay cut during the middle of the 2024 season. He refused. He got cut.

Derick Gross asks: I recently watched the Schoen and Daboll interview after Round 1 of the NFL draft. You asked a great question about their years-long process to select a young quarterback. Daboll mentioned appreciating Dart’s competitive fire, accuracy, and willingness to throw downfield, which Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston seem to exemplify better than Daniel Jones. The Giants were interested in Daniels and Maye last year, but passed on the next tier of QBs who may have had more similar grades to Dart’s. Given how closely you’ve followed all this for years, how much of passing on QBs last year yet drafting Dart had to do with having the right veterans in the room to help the young player develop, versus other factors like draft capital price and opportunity cost?

Ed says: Derick, I do think part of not drafting J.J. McCarthy a year ago was a decision to support Daniel Jones and give him the best chance to succeed. Plus, I believe the Giants simply were more certain Malik Nabers would be a star than they were convinced McCarthy, Michael Penix, or Bo Nix could be the quarterback they needed.

I do not think that the Giants signed Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston to help a young quarterback develop. They signed both players to improve the quarterback room for 2025. The added benefit of that is that both are consummate pros and their experience and how they handle themselves will help Dart’s development.

The Giants drafted Dart because they needed to finally put a potential quarterback of the future in place, and from all indication Dart is the guy Daboll wanted to work with.

Jim Pauloski asks: What type of airplane does the team fly on? Football players are HUGE. There’s no way they will fit into the small coach seats that most of us fly in.

Ed says: Jim, I was honestly fascinated by this question. I did not know the answer. Now, I do. There are layers to it.

The Giants do not own their own plane. The New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals are the only teams I can find that do.

The Giants do have use of a private jet, a Gulfstream G500, per the website Simply Flying. That jet is technically registered to an LLC, but Simply Flying shows the Giants as the sole operator.

That jet, though, is not for transporting the full team. It is a 19-passenger business jet the Giants use “to help facilitate the many inner workings that happen during the NFL offseason and even during the NFL season itself.”

As for how the team flies to and from cities for games, the Giants tell me that they use charter flights through United Airlines. The type of aircraft will vary.

The website Aero Time says this is the common practice for the teams that do not own their own planes. Teams can be flying as many as 200 people and 20,000 pounds of equipment, per Areo Time, and will charter widebody planes usually used for international travel. Aero Time says that United Airlines, Delta, and American Airlines are the airlines commonly used by NFL teams. There is also a specialized charter company called Atlas Air that flies NFL teams.

Steven Hulse asks: Given that the Giants selected [Jaxson] Dart in the first round, I enjoyed your article on the historical success rate for QBs taken in the first and second rounds of the draft, but it also sparked another question. What is the historical success rate for 1st and 2nd round QBs who sat for a year (or most of the year) to learn behind a veteran?

While I have done zero analysis, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Phillip Rivers, Jalen Hurts, and Jordan Love all come to mind. I’m curious if the success rate is higher for first- and second-round quarterbacks on teams that have the luxury of having their rookie sit and learn for a year.

Ed says: Steven, the whole “sit for a year” thing happens so rarely in the modern game that there really isn’t enough data to draw a conclusion.

The chart below from Tony DelGenio in a post regarding when Dart should start shows how quickly teams have been getting their rookie quarterbacks on the field:

Larry Jameison asks: When the Giants drafted Jaxson Dart late in the first round, there seemed to be general consensus that he’d “red shirt” his rookie season with Wilson starting and Winston backing him up. If anything happened to Wilson, then Winston would take over and Dart wouldn’t be rushed to start.

But, with Dart looking good in rookie camp, there seemed to be some rumblings about him starting earlier than first thought, sometime in his rookie season.

What do BBVers think would be a prudent schedule for Dart to start?

Ed says: Larry, it seems like you are asking the community at large for opinions. So, I’m just going to allow the community to weigh in. I will just say this much before turning over the floor. Unless the Giants are battling right down to Week 18 for a playoff spot, I think Dart starts at least one game at some point.

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