Giants owner John Mara on Saquon Barkley, Daniel Jones and 2024 expectations

The 2024 season will be the Giants’ 100th in franchise history, so owner John Mara wants it to be a successful one.

In fact, Mara expects the Giants to be better than their disappointing 6-11 campaign a year ago, but it won’t be easy. General manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll will be without Saquon Barkley for the first time and quarterback Daniel Jones will be returning from an ACL tear.

However, there are plenty of new faces on this Giants team from new wideout Malik Nabers to Brian Burns and a retooled offensive line.

Mara spoke about his team at the Giants’ 100th season event on Thursday and shed some light on his thoughts on Jones, Barkley’s departure and the expectations for this upcoming season.

Thoughts on offensive line

The Giants’ offensive line was in flux last season thanks to injuries and poor play. Pro Football Focus ranked them 30th (only ahead of the Titans and Jets) in their end-of-season rankings, but Schoen and Daboll made it a point to fix the line to give Jones a chance.

So far in training camp, the line has been up-and-down. Former first-round pick Evan Neal has seemingly fallen out of favor with the Giants as evidenced by the signing of Greg Van Roten. The new signing has changed the initial positions around and it’s seen mixed results.

“The offense is always behind the defense at this stage of the game,” Mara said when asked if he’s worried about the O-line. “I think the pieces that we added to the offensive line will help us eventually. I know it looks a little shaky right now. I have a lot of confidence in this coach and I think we’ll be just fine.”

As SNY’s Connor Hughes pointed out from Tuesday’s practice, Jermaine Eluemunor was playing right tackle after slotting in as left guard all offseason. Jon Runyan was playing left guard as Van Roten is almost exclusively a right guard.

New names and new line configurations have put a big question mark on the effectiveness of the line, but Mara is not concerned.

“Not going to know that until we start playing games,” he said. “[Offensive line has] been an area of concern for us and it has been for a few years. That’s why we added a few pieces this year. I expect us to be better there. Until we start playing games and showing that, it’s just talk.”

Confidence in Daniel Jones

A poor offensive line has been a common variable the Giants have used to explain Jones’ ineffectiveness in recent seasons.

After a terrific 2022 season where Jones had his best year as a professional, helping lead the Giants to a 9-7-1 record and a playoff victory, he was signed to a massive contract that many believe has not aged well, especially considering his injury history.

It was no surprise that the Giants tried to trade up in the 2024 NFL Draft to get a quarterback, which was shown on this season of Hard Knocks. Despite that, Mara still believes in his quarterback.

“I’m still happy we gave him that contract, he played very well for us in ‘22. Last year he got hurt and, let’s be honest, when he was playing we weren’t blocking anybody,” Mara said. “Let’s give him a chance with a better offensive line and some weapons around him to see what he can do.

“I was nervous about giving up too much to get a quarterback, but I was prepared to let [Schoen/Daboll] do that. We made a decision to stay with Daniel and add a weapon for him and I think that’s going to work out for us.”

That weapon is first-round pick, Nabers. The gifted wide receiver immediately became the Giants’ No. 1 passing threat and Mara is ready to see him in game action.

But, how did Jones take the fact that the Giants were looking to pick up another quarterback?

“He’s a professional. He understands this business,” Mara said. “If anything it motives him. There’s no harder worker in that building than Daniel. He handled it like the professional that he is, and I expect him to have a great season for us.”

Saquon's departure

It's no secret that Mara really loved Barkley being on the Giants, and as we saw on Hard Knocks, Daboll and Schoen were ready to move on, which took the owner some time to process.

"Every year there’s going to be a personnel decision that I’m not 100 percent in favor of," Mara said of Barkley. "At the end of the day, you let the general manager and coach, especially when they have a unified conviction, make a decision and bitch about it later.

"I didn’t want to lose him, but I understood where their philosophy was and you got to let them do their jobs."

Barkley wound up signing with the Philadelphia Eagles to a three-year, $37.5 million deal.

Expectations for this season

Last year was a down season for the Giants after making the postseason. In Schoen and Daboll’s third year with the team, which of the past two seasons is more indicative of where the Giants are at heading into the 2024 season?

Mara himself said it’s “hard to quantify” his expectations, but he wants to see improvement.

“It’s hard to articulate my expectations. Obviously, I want to show significant improvement over last year but I’m not going to make any specific guarantees or demands but they know what I want to see,” he explained. “I have a lot of confidence in this particular team. Their communication is great and I think we added some good pieces now it’s time to show everyone.

He continued, “I want to walk off the field at the end of the season and feel like we’re moving in the right direction. We have a great foundation here and there’s every reason to be optimistic going forward.

“Joe’s process is so thorough. The amount of work that they do evaluating players, it’s a hardworking group. They both have been with successful organizations, they know what it looks like, and I expect us to take a big step forward this year.”