We might not ever get something like this again, mainly because it makes the front office look incredibly stupid
Let me get this out of the way first: the production and behind-closed-doors look that the offseason Hard Knocks with the New York Giants has given us has been beyond compare. The look into their process and how they went about the Brian Burns trade as well as the QB scouting in the 2024 NFL Draft is something that we may never see in the NFL mediascape again.
The reason it may not be returning is simple: this offseason content has made the Giants look like idiots at almost every step. Giants GM Joe Schoen came into New York with a lot of high hopes after spending a lot of time in Buffalo, but now the questions are going to get a lot louder.
The biggest thing that has come out of the Giants’ offseason Hard Knocks is the entire process of trying to re-sign running back Saquon Barkley, who ended up going to the rival Philadelphia Eagles. The entire process seemed to reflect what Barkley said about his negotiations with the Giants, where he said that there was a lot of stuff that went down behind the scenes that frustrated him to the point of leaving, per the Philadelphia Inquirer’s EJ Smith:
Given the new ep of Hard Knocks, this quote from my piece on Saquon Barkley from earlier this week is especially relevant.
“He could have said what was really going on behind the scenes, what was in the deals, and what wasn’t in the deals. … He could have easily burned those… https://t.co/d3aAx0Jkap
— EJ Smith (@EJSmith94) July 17, 2024
During the first few episodes, the Giants talked about Barkley’s contract, and it all has been very interesting to say the least.
In addition, Joe Schoen is really, REALLY stuck on the idea of Daniel Jones. In the first episode, he defends the $40 million contract he gave QB Daniel Jones in response to what Barkley was asking for. “You’re paying the guy (Jones) $40 million,” Giants general manager Joe Schoen said. “It’s not to hand the ball off to a $12 million back.”
I get the premise of the statement, but guess which team paid Jones $40 million after a simply above average 2022 with the Giants that was buoyed by Barkley returning to form post-injury? That’s right, Schoen and the New York Football Giants. They tied themselves to this faulty wagon, and decided to pay Jones $40 million despite handing the ball off to the $12 million guy to earn said contract.
Yikes.
Then, as we get into the later episodes of the Giants dealing with Saquon’s contract, owner John Mara parachutes in and gives the funniest comment given ever on Hard Knocks, knowing what we know now:
“I’ll have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia, He’s the most popular player we have by far.”
Every clip that comes out from this Giants hard knocks is funnier than the last I swear pic.twitter.com/tL4MaOeJsK
— Jeff McDevitt (@JeffMcDev) July 17, 2024
I wonder if we’ll see this type of content from HBO and the NFL in future years. While fans love the behind the scenes look at the offseasons in the NFL, the teams themselves may not like how they’re presented. Doing offseason content through the team could give them more of an ability to doctor what does and doesn’t get seen by fans. We could see that over what HBO is doing.
Or maybe the Giants just look dumb and that’ll be the new idea.
