Jeff Gray asks: Greg Dulcich entered UCLA as a tall, skinny wide receiver and was very much a work in progress at tight end. After two years of playing special teams (and paying his own tuition), he led UCLA in receiving and scouts really started paying attention. Seen as a TE/WR hybrid, the joke was that the head coach of whoever drafted him would need to deal with the headache of his WR coach and his TE coach bickering over who got to play with the new toy.
Do you suppose WR Coach Groh is noticing the play of Dulcich in camp so far and is wondering, “What if?”
Ed says: Jeff, I doubt it. Dulcich is 6-foot-4, 245 pounds. He is built like a tight end, albeit a lighter one. He also moves like a tight end. I seriously doubt that he would have success consistently trying to get open against cornerbacks.
Laurence Roth asks: I am so sorry for Bryce Ford-Wheaton. Injuries happen all the time but I continue to think that the Jets and Giants use of Astro turf during games increases the probability of leg and ankle injuries. What kind of turf is used in training camp? And outdoor practice during the season?
Ed says: Laurence, the Giants three practice fields are grass. Their indoor practice bubble is FieldTurf.
James Pauloski asks: On some of the videos that are posted we see officials signaling touchdowns, etc. Who are they? Are they regular NFL officials under contract, or are they retired from the NFL? I hope they’re getting paid! 🙂
Ed says: Those are actual NFL officials. They attends (OTAs), minicamps and training camps, where they officiate practices to prepare for the season.
Evan Neal questions
Mario Guglielmi asks: I would like an update on the status/progress with Evan Neal as a guard.
Julian Roberts asks: After a solid week of practice I was wondering how Evan Neal is doing at the guard position.
Ed says: Guys, we have been writing about Neal. In fact, in almost all of our daily practice reports we have updated Neal’s progress.
Brian Daboll has said good things about Neal. Teammates like offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor and Tyrone Tracy have had positive reviews of his play. Those types of comments, though, are to be expected.
The best indication of how Neal is doing is that he has continued to at least some first-team reps at right guard every day. That tells you that the Giants actually do like what they are seeing, and he has a chance to earn a starting job.
Kölnerbigblue asks: Ed, when the Giants signed Pugh to a 1 day contract, did they have to release somebody to get down to 89 players or can the league give special consideration for the retiring player?
Ed says: Kölner, I need to clarify this. Justin Pugh did not sign a one-day contract. He just came in and chose to do his retirement announcement in the Giants’ facility, as a Giant. But, yes, my understanding is that there has to be a space on the roster — even for that one day — for a player to sign a one-day contract. I can’t see a team cutting anyone to make that happen, although I suppose it could happen if there is an understanding the player will be back in a day. More likely, something like that would happen when there is already a roster opening.
Matt Smith asks: Do you see GVR and Neal as the best option for O line? (With GVR at center)
Or, Neal and John Michael Schmitz? Second question is, what do you “feel” will end up happening?
JMS is shaky, in my opinion, and feels like the weak link in O line. Seeing him get tossed around by a rookie doesn’t help, but the feeling was there before that. (Granted, Carter is not your average rookie).
Ed says: Matt, no, I do not see Greg Van Roten at center and Evan Neal at right guard as the best option for the Giants.
The best-case scenario for the Giants is that Neal wins the right guard spot and joins Schmitz in the starting lineup. Schmitz is 26 and Neal doesn’t turn 25 until September. That would give the Giants two relatively young players still on rookie contracts who might be able to become anchors in the middle of the line for a few years.
I don’t get the Schmitz hate. Yes, he was a bottom-tier starting center based on Pro Football Focus grades in each of his first two seasons. He did, though, show a 20-point improvement in his PFF grade last year. His pass protection went from awful to adequate, and his run-blocking from below average to middle of the pack.
Schmitz gets overwhelmed by power on occasion, at least to my eyes, but he is really good in space. His play trended in the right direction last season, which is what you want. Let’s see if that can continue.
Patrick Morris asks: So, Tommy DeVito is most likely the odd man out in the Giants QB room. That being said, any guesses on what happens next to him? Can the Giants get him on the practice squad? Or will another team snap him up? Any guesses on that team? Perhaps the Jets?
Ed says: Patrick, if the Giants cut DeVito — which they will unless all of this Jameis Winston trade chatter ends up turning into an actual deal — I’m sure they would like to get him to the practice squad.
I don’t know who would claim DeVito, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few teams out there who might try. He is still just 26 and he’s had eight career starts. At the rate quarterbacks get injured in the NFL, that has value.
John Armbruster asks: I pretty much only get to see training camp plays via Big Blue Views videos. Many of the rave pass completions seem on tape to be “soft” throws. Is anyone throwing with “zip” on the ball?
Ed says: John, don’t be fooled by what some of these throws look like on video. Russell Wilson, Jaxson Dart and Jameis Winston have all thrown with plenty of zip on the ball. It’s the only way some passes get completed. Others do require “touch” to be completed.
Doug Mollin asks: It was brought to my attention by a fellow BBVer that there has never been an NFL coach that won 6 or fewer games three seasons in a row that came back for a fourth season.
I’m hoping the Giants win 7+ but do you think Daboll could be the first to break that trend if the Giants do win 6 games?
I think it’s possible if the team plays competitive games, if we see development of the many young players we have and if we get some positive glimpse of Dart’s potential for 2026.
Ed says: Doug, your “fellow BBVer” isn’t correct. John McKay went 7-37 in his first three seasons with the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, went 10-6 his fourth year, and kept his job for nine years. Tom Fears got a fourth season with the New Orleans Saints despite winning just 12 games from 1967-69. Joe Bugel got four years with the Phoenix Cardinals despite winning no more than five games from 1990-92.
Still, the question of what criteria Giants ownership will use to determine whether or not Daboll gets to stay beyond this year is a good one.
Because of the Giants’ experience with Daniel Jones, I think they will look for reasons to give Daboll a second year with Dart. If Dart shows promise, that could get Daboll another year — provided the Giants are not completely embarrassed on the field this season.
Russell Wilson questions
Robert Colot asks: What do the Giants do at QB next year if Wilson plays well this season and Dart is not ready? Re-sign Wilson? Give Winston a shot? Draft a QB in what should be a quarterback rich draft?
Todd Kuehn asks: I have a question about Russell Wilson. It’s been well documented that he is in decline and not the same quarterback that won the Super Bowl years back. We also know that this is probably the last year for Coach Daboll and even Schoen unless they show a good deal of progress. We all know that Dart is the quarterback of the future. But what if Wilson throws for over 4000 yards with a 65+ % completion rate with 25 – 30 TDs and only 8 – 10 INT’s and their record ends up being right around .500 or better. Do you think that the Giants might sign Wilson for one more year perhaps around $30 million which will force Dart to wait one more year. I believe Green Bay in the past made Aaron Rodgers wait two years behind Brett Favre and Jordan Love two years behind Aaron Rodgers and it worked out pretty good for them. What say you?
Ed says: Guys, short of Wilson leading the Giants on a deep playoff run I don’t see a scenario where — if Daboll is coaching the team — Dart is not the starting quarterback next season.
In Wilson’s last season in Seattle, he threw for 3,100 yards with 25 touchdowns and six interceptions. The Seahawks went 6-8 and moved on. In his last season in Denver, he threw for 3,000 yards with 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions. The Broncos went 7-8 and moved on.
The futures of Daboll and Joe Schoen are tied to Dart, not Wilson. They are not going to wait forever to get him on the field. I think there is a far greater likelihood that Dart is starting by the end of 2025 than Wilson is the starting quarterback for the Giants in 2026.
Roger Mazone asks: After Jaxson Dart was drafted in the first round by the NY Giants. I went on the internet to find out as much information about him as I could, to understand the selection and his skills. For example, on the NFL.com website focused on the 2025 Draft Jaxson was ranked as the third college QB after Shedeur Sanders. Even two of your Big Blue colleagues indicated their preference for Sanders in their articles.
I then came across two videos on YouTube that provided me with some insights.
The first was Charlie Weis on a Bob Papa podcast indicating the Jaxson Dart had good (I did not realize the Weis’s son was the Offensive Coordinator for Old Miss) leadership skills. He said that any NFL coach that wanted to find out about Jaxson by going to the NFL combine and asking the Old Miss defensive players what they thought about Dart.
The next video I found was Jon Gruden as one of his QB class series (I know you are not a big Gruden fan because of his behaviors, but there is no denying he has a significant NFL coaching experience). Here Gruden made two salient points to Jaxson.
Learn how to slide / get out to bounds to avoid contact. Later confirmed by GM Joe Schoen in his post draft day press conference, “We have to teach Jaxson to slide.” Comment.
Focus on learning how to set up or correct protections at the line of scrimmage (I always thought that this was primarily the Center’s responsibility to set the offensive line protections).
Then Gruden gave Jaxson six or eight offensive plays to learn and execute in a practice setting. As a casual fan it was remarkably interesting to see how much new terminology and play variations came on a small set of plays. Jaxson was giving yes sir and no sir answers and appeared to have a thirst to learn these new elements.
This made me think about the qualities that a player needs to be a good NFL player Quarterback, beyond physical skills. I thought of intelligence, work ethic and leadership, etc.
Obviously, NFL coaches, scouts and GM’s get significantly more access to potential NFL draftees than mainstream media members and analysts. College games, College bowl games, NFL combine, Pro Days, the Senior Bowl, and in person visits are all accessible to them.
So how much do these intangible characteristics factor in as to which players should be drafted?
In the recent past we saw Kadarius Toney a gifted athlete, who did not have the work ethic or desire to succeed in the NFL. So how important are these intangibles in the draft process, especially for the quarterbacks?
Ed says: Roger, that is a loooong question which really only needs a short answer. The intangibles are critical.
Talent evaluators will tell you that they don’t often miss on a player’s physical skills. Most draft misses come from mis-evaluating the person. Does he love the game? Does he care more about what the game can do for him? How hard does he work? What kind of people does he hang around with? Does his personality suit your culture and your city?
The Giants missed on Toney and DeAndre Baker because Dave Gettleman got seduced by the talent and ignored all the red flags about them as people.
It’s why the Giants worked soooo hard the last few years to get to know players they drafted — like Kayvon Thibodeaux and Malik Nabers, and ones they did not, like Shedeur Sanders. They are leaving no stone unturned to make sure they know exactly what they are getting when they draft a player.
Bob Donnelly asks: At the Joe Schoen/Brian Daboll press conference held at the start of training camp Dabs stated:
“Each person on our team has things to improve, coaches, players, we all do.”
Reflecting on 2024’s in game management/coaching decisions are there any things you would like to see our HC improve or alter his approach on?
Ed says: Bob, I can quibble about a lot of things. I am happy that it looks like Daboll will be giving up play-calling. He has been much more active this spring and summer in bring a head coach, touching base with all the players and looking in on all the position groups. I loved seeing him spend some time coaching up Kayvon Thibodeaux, Brian Burns and Abdul Carter. I think Wink Martindale would have blown a gasket if Daboll did that while Martindale was defensive coordinator.
I do hope Daboll relents on his disdain for getting reps for first-team players in preseason. The Giants have been outscored 68-6 in their last two openers. In three seasons with Daboll as head coach, the Giants have scored a total of 3 points in the first halves of their season-opening games.
That has to change.
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