We have reached Week 1 of the 2025 season, and optimism is running high for the New York Giants despite back-to-back awful seasons. So, today I am putting on my blue-colored glasses (I actually do have sunglasses that are blue) and tossing out five bold predictions for the 2025 Giants.
The Giants start the season 3-2
Yeah, yeah. I know the doom and gloom predictions are that the Giants — facing the Washington Commanders and Dallas Cowboys on the road and then the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers at home — will start the season 0-4.
Maybe they will. But, these are blue-colored glasses bold predictions.
The Giants lost two games to the Commanders by a total of eight points last year. Washington is oooooold. Maybe not as old as the Washington Monument, but old by NFL standards. They are, in fact, the league’s oldest team. The Commanders dealt with the Terry McLaurin contract distraction all summer. They have had injuries to their offensive line and receiving corps this summer, leading to inconsistent work. I think they are vulnerable.
The Micah Parsons-less Cowboys are clearly vulnerable, and owner/GM Jerry Jones is clearly confused about whether he is in the entertainment industry or the football business. I think the Giants defeat the Cowboys at least once this season.
I am not 100% sold on the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers travel east for a 1 p.m. game sandwiched between games for them against the Denver Broncos and Commanders.
The Giants face the New Orleans Saints in Week 5. That is a “should win” game for the Giants.
With Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and No. 3 overall pick Abdul Carter maybe that should be the expectation rather than a bold prediction.
The NFL rookie record for sacks is 14.5, set by Jevon Kearse way back in the pre-historic days of 1999. Maybe Carter, a favorite for Defensive Rookie of the Year, threatens that mark. If he meets expectations, he will be in double digits in sacks by season’s end.
I also think, though, that Burns is primed for his best NFL season. In six NFL seasons, Burns had double-digit sacks only one time — 12.5 for the Carolina Panthers in 2022. I think Burns tops that mark this season and the Giants end up with two players having 10 or more sacks.
Jaxson Dart is the starting QB by season’s end
Again, maybe not an incredibly bold prediction. I have said before, though, that I think this becoming a complete redshirt season for the rookie quarterback is not going to happen.
Head coach Brian Daboll won’t say it, but it would not be a shock if Dart is QB2 instead of Jameis Winston on Sunday vs. the Commanders.
There are NFL analysts (I see you Chase Daniel and Mark Schlereth) who think Dart should start this Sunday. I am not one of those people, but I do think the Giants need to have him on the field by season’s end. And, I think Daboll and GM Joe Schoen know it.
If my first bold prediction blows up and the Giants are 0-4 heading into the Week 5 game against New Orleans, Dart might start then. Maybe even if the Giants are 1-3. If they are not good and the playoffs are not a realistic possibility, what good does it do them to play a 37-year-old quarterback with a rookie first-round pick on the bench?
What I am fascinated by is what happens is Daboll’s Giants are in a similar situation to what Tom Coughlin faced with Kurt Warner and Eli Manning in 2004. The Giants were 5-4 and on the periphery of the playoff race when Coughlin pulled the plug on Warner, believing that experience for Manning was more important than chasing a playoff spot the Giants might not get.
In that same spot, what would be more important to Daboll and the Giants?
Theo Johnson emerges as the No. 2 receiver
Johnson was on the verge of a breakout during his rookie season when he was felled by a Lisfranc injury. I think he picks up where he left off and ends up catching the second-most passes on the team after Malik Nabers.
Wan’Dale Robinson is not catching 93 passes again. Not at 5-foot-8, with a 5-10 quarterback who isn’t fond of throwing in the middle of the field where Robinson has generally operated. Darius Slayton is excellent, but his production always tops out around 45 to 50 catches. The Giants showed an affinity for the screen game in the preseason, but how many of those can you throw to Tyrone Tracy or Cam Skattebo?
Daboll, perhaps more than many others, has been bullish on Johnson’s potential since the Giants drafted him in the fourth round in 2024. I think Johnson rewards the coach this year with a 65+ reception season.
Giants trade Tae Banks at the deadline
If Cor’Dale Flott has won the starting cornerback job he and Banks have been competing for, perhaps that signals that Banks’ time as a Giant could be coming to an end.
After being a first-round pick in 2023, Banks played poorly and acted even worse in 2024. That is why he has been in a competition in the first place. It’s also probably why former defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson, a staunch supporter turned critic of Banks, got fired.
The Giants have said all the right things about Banks’ work ethic this summer. He is working hard, asking more questions in meetings, yada, yada, yada.
There hasn’t been any noticeable difference on the field, though. Banks still can’t find the football in the air. He still commits too many penalties. He still seems to give up too many completions.
Schoen hates to give up on draft picks. If Banks, who I do root for to succeed as a fellow Maryland alum, doesn’t show progress, though, maybe moving on would be best for both sides.
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