The last decade has not been kind to the Jets and Giants. Between the quarterback and coaching carousels, public embarrassments, draft misses and losing records, these two football teams haven’t given their fans anything to be happy about. They have one combined playoff win since the Giants’ 2011 season Super Bowl win, and the Jets haven’t even been to the playoffs since the 2010 season.
Despite multiple chances to rebuild and turn the franchises around, both remain at the bottom of the league year in and year out.
The Good
Nothing.
The Bad (Giants)
I cannot for the life of me understand how the New York Football Giants have allowed Daniel Jones to start in this league for five seasons. Anyone except, evidently, the Giants’ front office can see that he is not an NFL quarterback.
Jones was drafted sixth overall in the 2019 draft out of Duke University. There was not one reasonable fan who felt that was a good draft pick by the Giants. They reached for this mediocre quarterback because he attended the Manning Passing Academy. Owner John Mara was so disgusted with Eli Manning being benched for Geno Smith a few years prior, that he allowed Manning to have a significant input on this draft selection.
After a few seasons, it was clear to most people that the Giants got the pick wrong. However, after a few “Danny Dimes” moments and a playoff win, the G-Men extended the quarterback to a 4-year $160 million deal.
This year, it’s become evident that the front office doubled down on what was already a bad mistake. Over Jones’s career, the Giants have done a pretty decent job of figuring out other aspects of the game. They have restructured their offensive line, a position group that was terrible during the last few years of the Manning era, and have built some pretty great defenses over the last couple seasons (although their run defense is at the bottom of the league in 2024). They’ve had some offensive weapons such as Malik Nabers and Saquon Barkley but not much else. However, the quarterback underthrowing and overthrowing constantly has not given anyone a chance to really break out.
After this year, it looks like the Giants once again need to start over.
The Ugly (Jets)
On the other side of town (just kidding, they still share a stadium for some reason), the Jets are in the midst of what was supposed to be a last ditch effort to save the franchise. The team has not been able to figure out the quarterback since their last playoff appearance in 2011. They’ve tried aging veterans such as Michael Vick, they’ve had some draft picks play poorly under terrible coaches then go on to have decent careers, such as Sam Darnold and Geno Smith, and just plain bad draft picks such as Zach Wilson.
Now, the Jets are relying on an aging Aaron Rodgers, who was not great in his last year in Green Bay and is coming off a major injury, to lead this team to the playoffs. After 10 weeks, this is borderline impossible with the Jets sitting at 3-7.
For a team that was supposed to be a quarterback away, they look horrible. This defense, which is the reason General Manager Joe Douglas still has a job, cannot make a tackle. Breece Hall, another gem draft pick from Douglas, has more fumbles than touchdowns. The wide receiver corps, including Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams, has been running wrong routes all season. Rodgers hasn’t looked like his hall-of-fame self this year, but the problems go WAY deeper than that.
The Jets nuked the franchise in an effort to get a developed quarterback, who will still cost the team $49 million against the cap if he retires next season. They’re going to have a ton of work to do to pull the team out of purgatory.
In closing, what happens now with these two teams? Frankly, I believe both are screwed, with the Jets in a slightly worse position.
The Giants will likely have a top five pick in the 2025 draft, and there are some interesting names at quarterback that may be available, such as Shedeur Sanders, Cam Ward, Jalen Milroe and Quinn Ewers. The Jets better hope one of them are available when they pick, because I can’t see Rodgers at 41 years old going through another training camp after a losing season.
Both teams need to start over at the most important position in football, so if they can’t bring anything to their fans, they can at least bring hope.
Tough Money Sports 