New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen was not biting on Wednesday on the idea of putting expectations on the 2025 Giants, or comparing the current roster to the previous three he constructed as the team’s GM.
He was, though, happy to talk about the veteran leadership dotted across the team’s “evolving” 53-man landscape.
“One of the things that Dabs [Brian Daboll] and I tried to do early on and it’s just hard, it takes time, is we talk about leadership in every room,” Schoen said. “We’ve finally been able to add leadership in every room, and we feel good about the team leadership.
“I think that’s showed throughout the spring in training camp, the leadership, some of the veterans that we have, some of our own that have grown into leaders.
“I would say that’s one of the bigger differences that I’ve felt throughout this offseason.”
Schoen name-dropped a number of players, some new to the roster and others who have been with the team for a while, as adding to the leadership.
“Even a guy like Brian Burns, from last year to this year, the jump he’s made, and he’s been a tremendous leader this offseason,” Schoen said. “some of the off-season acquisitions that we brought in, Russ [Wilson] and Jameis [Winston] and Roy Robertson-Harris and [Jevon] Holland and Paulson [Adebo], true pros, true pros that have the DNA that we look for and covet. Again, the camaraderie, guys that love ball, guys that hold each other accountable, staying after, doing the extra.
I really like where they are right now, the way they’re approaching the season, and just the true aspect of the team feel that we have.“
Schoen also mentioned players like Bobby Okereke, Greg Van Roten, Jon Runyan and Devin Singletary as veteran leaders.
“The more of those guys you can have that are going to do things the right way and are unselfish and true pros, that can be contagious for some of the young players, and it can elevate everybody,” he said.
But, about those expectations
Schoen said only “we’ll see” in terms of what type of team the Giants would be.
“We like the roster. We like the chemistry. We like the leadership,” Schoen said. “Now we’ve got to go out and do it on Sundays.
“We had a good training camp. We had a good spring. Now we’re two weeks away. We have to go out and do it. Do I like the team? Yes. I like the chemistry. I feel like we’ve been executing. We’ve had good practice. The guys have done a good job through camp. It’s been really good competition, and now it’s time to go out and do it.”
Tommy DeVito landing in New England
The hope from the Giants fan base that quarterback Tommy DeVito would land on the team’s practice squad after losing his 53-man roster spot was dashed on Wednesday when he was claimed off waivers by the New England Patriots.
“We would have loved to have him back,” Schoen said. “He was claimed, and we wish him nothing but the best.”
The Giants will not have a practice squad quarterback at the beginning of the season.
“We’re just going to go with three for right now,” Schoen said.
The newbies
The Giants were awarded safety Beau Brade [full story] and cornerback Rico Payton [full story] off waivers on Wednesday. Both Brade, formerly with the Baltimore Ravens, and Payton, formerly with the New Orleans Saints, are undrafted second-year players who played primarily on special teams in 2024.
Schoen said that Payton, said by scouting reports to be primarily a box safety, is a player the Giants were hoping the Saints would put on waivers last season.
“Last year during this time we were hoping, you hope some of these guys get cut and they end up making teams and playing,” Schoen said. “He’s a really good special teams player and we also think he has defensive value.”
Payton, 6-foot, 182 pounds, played 257 special teams snaps last season compared to only 21 on defense. He played collegiately at Division II Pittsburgh State.
Here is Schoen’s take on Brade:
“He’s a player that we spent some time with coming out of the draft and we liked,” Schoen said. “He played on special teams for them last year, also can be a depth safety for us.
“High character kid. Smart, tough, dependable. Checked all those boxes.”
Brade played just 11 defensive snaps for the Ravens, but played 207 snaps on special teams.
“We were just looking for good football players that could help us,” Schoen said. “Just to upgrade the depth of both of those positions. We were happy to get those guys.”
Tough days
Some on the outside would look at the process of cutting the Giants’ roster from 90 players to 53 as more difficult than it has been in recent years due to the belief that the roster possesses more talent.
Daboll pushed back Wednesday on that idea.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever been in the league where it has [not] been a tough cut,” Daboll said. “Every player puts so much into it to try to be on a roster, and roughly 1,200 guys are out of a job come cut-down day. You bring 580, 600 back, whatever that may be. That means over 650 guys are out of the league right now.
“So every year is tough relative to releasing players … These last couple days are always kind of tough days.”
