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Giants news, 12/18: Kayvon Thibodeaux, coach search, Jaxson Dart

Good morning, New York Giants fans!

From Big Blue View

Other Giant observations

Just because Daboll flopped doesn’t mean the next hot-shot quarterback whisperer definitely will.

And as we’ve mentioned: When you have a young quarterback, it’s always more convenient to hire an offensive-minded head coach. That’s because a defensive-minded head coach not only needs to land a legit offensive coordinator, but then must hope that guy doesn’t bolt for a head coaching job if the quarterback thrives. Which would create instability. Clearly, the Giants must value leadership in this search. They can’t just hire a successful offensive coordinator for the sake of it.

Seeing qualities of Josh Allen in Jaxson Dart

The interested NFL team would have to navigate his rumored buyout of $40 million to $50 million in order to poach him from Notre Dame, and it would hope that Freeman can hire a good enough staff to help a rebuilding team.

That’s a tricky proposition for teams that will be looking to hire new coaches in January—and probably narrows Freeman’s options, so familiarity might help. There’s one front office that might fit the bill, and that’s the New York Giants. General manager Joe Schoen grew up near South Bend, and director of player personnel Tim McDonnell worked at Notre Dame (albeit before Freeman was hired there). If any NFL team could gather intel on Freeman’s interest and readiness for the job, it’d be this one.

If the season ended now, the Giants (2-12) would finish with the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, and a segment of their fan base would actually prefer they lose their remaining three games in order to secure that position. But don’t tell that to the players, who have absolutely zero interest in tanking.

“We’re never gonna go out and try to lose,” running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. said Tuesday. “We’re not gonna just throw a game away. We’re going out there to win, point blank, period. We don’t care what the outside has to say about draft picks. We don’t care about what they have to say about players in college that we should get or we could get. We worry about the coach that we have right now, the players that we have right now, and the opportunities that we get to have when we go on the field.”

Best Rookie Pass Rusher: Abdul Carter, New York Giants. Carter’s 90.6 PFF pass-rush grade trailed only Jonathan Greenard for the top mark among all players in Week 15. The third overall pick in this year’s draft generated four pressures, including a strip sack on quarterback Marcus Mariota in the first quarter.

Carter has been in a tier of his own this season when it comes to rookie pass rushers, leading the way in PFF pass-rush grade (80.4), pressures (48) and win rate (13.8%).

LPG is a good man

A Giants No. 1 pick would come with options — and complicated history to heed | New York Post

The Giants have done little right this past decade and a half, and so it would surprise nobody if they did something silly like win a game or two down the stretch and surrender

2026 NFL offseason outlook: Ranking all 32 teams by projected cap space and draft capital | NFL.com

6. New York Giants. The Giants are one of the most intriguing teams to keep an eye on in the offseason. We know this organization will be bringing in a new head coach — and will look to build around an exciting young offensive core. Malik Nabers, Cam Skattebo and, of course, Jaxson Dart give the Giants a good starting point. Year 2 is a perfect time to invest around a QB, with plenty of runway remaining on that affordable rookie contract. Consider the strategy followed by the Patriots (signing Stefon Diggs to be Drake Maye’s new WR1), and Bears (investing their top two draft picks in pass-catchers Colston Loveland and Luther Burden III to help Caleb Williams) just last offseason.

Due to the contracts they’ve given out over the past few years, the Giants are currently projected to have just $26.6 million in cap space, with the scheduled hits of Brian Burns ($34.8 million) and Dexter Lawrence ($27 million) looming especially large at the moment— meaning their best opportunity to add is going to be through the draft.

Which teams eliminated from playoff contention have brightest 2026 NFL Draft outlooks? | The Athletic

New York Giants (2-12) Projected picks: 1, 35, 101, 143, 182, 193, 194. At the moment, the Giants seem to be comfortable moving forward with Jaxson Dart at QB, so — depending on how the order ultimately shakes out — they could have a huge opportunity to trade the No. 1 slot to a quarterback-desperate team and add assets.

Right now, New York doesn’t have as much capital as some of the other bad teams. It does have a really young depth chart, though, and will be much healthier come September. Depending on how Dart develops (and if he can stay healthy), this roster actually could be just one draft away from playoff contention. We’ll see if GM Joe Schoen can execute.

This week’s opponent

Head coach Kevin O’Connell said at a Wednesday press conference that Metellus will be placed on injured reserve and have surgery on his shoulder. Metellus signed a three-year extension with the Vikings before the start of the 2025 season. He started all 14 games that Minnesota has played this season and ends the year with 86 tackles, two interceptions and a half-sack.

Analysis: Vikings’ Will Reichard, with possible boost from new K-ball rules, is helping kickers shatter NFL records | Minnesota Star Tribune

In a great year for kickers, Reichard is making a case to be named first-team All-Pro. Among his other feats is a franchise-record 62-yarder against the Bengals on Sept. 21 and a 59-yarder that tied the longest field goal in the history of Soldier Field on Sept. 8.

He also outkicked Dallas’ Brandon Aubrey, the NFL’s All-Pro kicker two years ago, in the Vikings’ 34-26 win Sunday night. Aubrey missed from 51 and 59 yards while Reichard hit from 53.