This past season is a new low for the New York Giants, who went 3-14 and watched the Philadelphia Eagles dominate en route to their second Super Bowl in the last decade. It doesn’t help that it was their first season with Saquon Barkley, who joins a growing list of stars whom the Giants have failed to build around.
Odell Beckham Jr. was wasting his career away on a team that found itself at the bottom of the NFC frequently before being traded to the Browns, a deal that helped the Giants land Dexter Lawrence. Most franchises would convert such a successful trade into a prolonged stretch of success, but they’ve won just one playoff game with him, a run that resulted in the Eagles blowing out the Giants in an embarrassing loss.
Malik Nabers was one of the lone sources of optimism on the Giants last season, but Joe Schoen has placed New York in a position to fail another star once more. In order to maximize the young star’s skillset they need to land a reliable QB, but this draft class lacks a clear-cut solution, so why not get a short-term fix with Matthew Stafford?
An established veteran QB who can provide above-average play at the position for the first time since Eli Manning was under center, Matthew Stafford might be the Giants’ best bet this offseason.
Matthew Stafford Could Help Launch a Giant Turnaround for the Giants in 2025
The Los Angeles Rams limped into the postseason as a team with a negative point differential who didn’t have the roster talent of some top contenders in the NFC. Their offensive line finished with a 59% Pass Block Win Rate compared to the Giants who finished with a 56% Pass Block Win Rate, and yet Matthew Stafford was one of the more productive QBs in football this past season.
Among QBs with at least 320 dropbacks, Matthew Stafford was 15th in EPA/Play and 12th in QBR, which isn’t dominant but remains above-average despite a below-average offensive line. There’s also no arguing the role Puka Nacua plays in creating plays for Stafford to execute, but Malik Nabers is a WR1 already and the Giants have more capital to bolster their roster with this offseason.
What makes Matthew Stafford so valuable in an offense is his aggressiveness in the pocket, finishing top 10 in Big-Time Throws and maximizing the talent around him. When the opportunity for an explosive play is there, Stafford is going to try and make that play, which the Giants have lacked in their offense for years. Daniel Jones wasn’t just a bad decision-maker, he was a low-ceiling QB who shrunk Brian Daboll’s playbook and held various players on the roster back.
Daniel Jones has not had double-digit Big-Time Throws per PFF since his sophomore season in the NFL, and it certainly plays a role in how the Giants have had to operate and how their offense has become easy to stop. Modern defenses are used to having to eliminate the top of the field in order to deter QBs from attempting a Big-Time Throw, but the Giants haven’t had a QB either willing to or capable of accurately delivering those throws.
READ MORE: Giants hire coach with connection to dream quarterback target
While the Giants didn’t have a single QB who could reliably attack downfield, Matthew Stafford remained among the most effective in those scenarios. That’s again with an offensive line that ranked 20th in Pass Block Win Rate, meaning he didn’t just have time in the pocket to hang around. What also helps is that while Stafford finished in the top 10 in Big-Time Throws, he had the sixth-lowest Pressure-to-Sack Rate in the NFL (min. 320 dropbacks).
Injuries and QB play were the primary reasons why the Giants lost 14 games last season, and if they get a normal outcome in terms of injuries this upcoming season, Matthew Stafford could lead a relatively competitive squad. If the Giants are going to try and compete, which they almost certainly will with Joe Schoen’s job on the line, a move like this won’t have long-lasting ramifications on New York if it doesn’t pan out.
This also sets the Giants up to go with the best player available with the third overall pick in the draft, as if Cam Ward isn’t there they can add a young uber-talented player to their roster. The Eagles just showed the NFL the power of dominating the trenches, a strategy that’s won football games for decades, and Mason Graham could be the final piece that forms one of the best pass rushes in the NFL.
With Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Mason Graham on the same line, the Giants could finish near the top of the league in pressures, creating a larger margin for error with a secondary that struggled mightily last season.
The Giants don’t have to pick Mason Graham, they can go with whoever they independently believe is the best player left at three, but adding Matthew Stafford takes the pressure off of Joe Schoen to draft Sheduer Sanders at three. There aren’t many talent evaluators who believe that Sanders should go in the top three, and the film isn’t good enough to suggest that this is a slamdunk top-three player in the draft class.
It’s not as if Matthew Stafford will kill the Giants in terms of their salary cap management, as he’d just be a $27 million cap hit if traded to New York. That’s more than manageable for the caliber of QB you’re getting, and Stafford will serve as more than just a good player at the most important position in sports, he’ll also serve as a much-needed leader in this locker room.
Watching the Eagles win the Super Bowl should propel the Giants to try and model their approach after Philadelphia’s; dominate in the trenches and get good enough QB play to win games. Matthew Stafford is still capable of high-level play behind center, this isn’t asking a game manager to just avoid making a serious blunder, it’s asking a Hall of Famer with an excellent arm to lead an offense that hasn’t had a good passer in a decade.
READ MORE: Giants could steal ‘powerful’ playmaker at top of 2nd round in 2025 NFL Draft
It’s time to end the cycle of bad QB decisions and complacency; Giants’ fans deserve and demand a heck of a lot more than what they’ve been subjected to for the last decade. The Commanders, Cowboys, and Eagles all have their franchise QBs, and the Giants have watched Philly claim three NFC crowns and two Super Bowls in the last decade. They’re at the bottom of the totem pole in the NFC East, but Matthew Stafford could tip the scale a bit in their favor.
Even if the Giants end up falling short of contending for the Super Bowl, they’ll have a real chance on any given Sunday to beat any team in front of them, and that would be quite the leap for a roster in the mud. Malik Nabers has made it known that he would want Matthew Stafford on the roster publicly as well, and they could begin dismantling a culture of losing that has formed for far too long without depleting their long-term capital.