Sports
Giants 2025: A rookie QB needs a stable ecosystem to thrive. Can NY provide one?
This is the fourth entry in a five-part series about the state of the New York Giants. Within “Giants 2025,” we will examine the talent on the roster, the team’s positions of need, their pathways to improvement, the players they could target in the offseason and finally, the people charged with restoring this franchise to its former glory.
As the New York Giants pondered taking a quarterback in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft, the team’s brass reviewed the spotty recent history of top picks at the position in a “Hard Knocks” scene. As coach Brian Daboll rattled through the list of first-round busts over the past 10 years, general manager Joe Schoen asked for the takeaway from the review.
“Take a (C.J.) Stroud,” Daboll replied dryly about the Texans quarterback named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year after being the No. 2 pick in the 2023 draft.
If only it was that simple. As the Giants prepare to dive into the quarterback pool of the 2025 NFL Draft, they’ll do so fully aware there are no assurances whoever they pick will have a Stroud-like effect on their franchise. Recent history shows it’s rare for a rookie quarterback to engineer a turnaround like Stroud in Houston or 2024 No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels this season in Washington.
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The reason for that is obvious: Top picks generally go to bad teams. So, no matter the rookie quarterback’s talent, it’s a tall task to single-handedly transform a doormat into a contender overnight.
That point is further emphasized by the top picks, like Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield, who were dumped by their first team only to find success elsewhere later in their careers. Those cases reinforce the importance of the external factors around a young quarterback.
The Giants are on track to land the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft. That will allow them to choose between Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and
Part I: How many building blocks can one of the league’s worst rosters actually have?
Part II: Salary cap shouldn’t stand in way of improvement; NY has money to spend
Part III: Free-agent targets include bridge QB, help for Dexter Lawrence, true No. 1 CB
Coaching staff
No one formula guarantees success for a rookie quarterback. But some important ingredients typically help a young QB thrive.
The offensive coaching staff might be the most important element. Daniels has excelled under offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who was the Cardinals’ head coach when 2019 No. 1 pick Kyler Murray won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
“It always looks like Jayden has an answer no matter what you do,” NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger told The Athletic. “If you go blitz-zero on him, he knows where he wants to go with the ball. He’s an elite athlete. He can escape, and he can rescue some plays. But I feel like built into the offense, they always have a check-down some place where he can just get the ball out of his hands and get the ball to a receiver — maybe break a tackle, maybe pick up a first down — but at least get a completion where you can build confidence in your player.”
Meanwhile, dysfunctional coaching situations and suspect schemes have derailed elite prospects like 2021 No. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville and 2024 No. 1 pick Caleb Williams in Chicago as rookies.
“(The Bears) fired the offensive coordinator first, then they elevated the quarterbacks coach to be the offensive coordinator, so now he has that,” Baldinger said. “Then they fired the head coach and elevated the offensive coordinator now to head coach. Now he’s splitting his duties between coaching Caleb, which he was doing full time, to now he’s got to coach the whole team. So that’s a disaster.”
It’s tricky to forecast the Giants’ coaching situation. Daboll oversaw the development of Josh Allen from a raw prospect to an MVP-caliber quarterback after getting picked No. 7 by the Bills in 2018.
Daboll’s track record with Allen was a major selling point when he was hired by the Giants in 2022. But the Giants haven’t drafted a quarterback in Daboll’s three years on the job. Some initial success with 2019 first-round pick Daniel Jones deteriorated rapidly. Now, Daboll may not be around to mentor Sanders or Ward because of how catastrophically the Giants have failed in the past two seasons.
“I feel like Brian has concepts that are good that can work,” Baldinger said. “I feel like if you gave him really good pieces, I think he could be a good game planner and build a good offense around (a rookie QB).”
Moving on from Daboll and Schoen would provide a complete reset, allowing the three most important individuals in the organization to be on the same timeline as they are in Washington. That would avoid the current mess in Chicago, where Williams will have a third head coach and a GM on the hot seat to start his second season.
If the Giants fire Daboll, they need to prioritize hiring the best head coach to lead the entire team. But there’s an obvious appeal to landing a coach with an offensive background as they prepare to shepherd in a new quarterback. Because if a defensive-minded coach hires an offensive coordinator, that assistant will become a coveted head-coaching candidate if he has success developing the Giants’ quarterback. Washington could face that problem as Kingsbury rebuilds his profile through Daniels’ success.
“If he’s proven to be good, you’re going to lose him,” Baldinger said. “Now you’re changing coordinators, and you’re changing the offense for that guy. I feel like a young quarterback needs an offensive coordinator head coach.”
Supporting cast
The supporting cast is another key component to helping a young quarterback succeed. Drake Maye has flashed the potential that made him the third pick in this year’s draft, but the results have been lackluster due to the Patriots’ dearth of offensive talent.
A new Giants quarterback will inherit some talent at the skill positions, headlined by Malik Nabers, who looks like a No. 1 wide receiver after an impressive rookie season. Rookie running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. has also shown promise. But the playmakers could use an upgrade to better support a rookie quarterback.
“I like Tyrone Tracy a lot. I think he’s good,” Baldinger said. “It doesn’t look like (Darius) Slayton will come back. I don’t know what they’re doing with Jalin Hyatt. I thought Hyatt had some ability. But you’re basically looking at a decent slot receiver (Wan’Dale Robinson) and then Malik. I think (tight end) Theo Johnson can be OK.”
Perhaps more important to a young quarterback’s success than his weapons is his protection. Armed with the most cap space in the NFL, the Commanders overhauled their offensive line this offseason. They signed center Tyler Biadasz and left guard Nick Allegretti while adding left tackle Brandon Coleman in the third round of the draft.
The Giants’ offensive line progressed from historically bad to functional this season. That’s a step in the right direction, but only left tackle Andrew Thomas, who has an increasingly concerning injury history, is a top-tier lineman.
The Giants figure to run it back with veterans Jon Runyan at left guard and Jermaine Eluemunor at right tackle, with 2023 second-round pick John Michael Schmitz at center. That’s a serviceable core, but there aren’t any Pro Bowlers in that group. Right guard is a weakness that needs to be addressed this offseason.
“I would invest, maybe not a first-round pick, in getting a really good player on the offensive line. Maybe you look in free agency,” Baldinger said. “They’ve had injuries every year. I would make sure I’m at least seven-deep with veteran players.”
There are other factors, like having strong leadership and a quality defense, that are valuable complements to a young quarterback. The Giants’ leadership void has been exposed this season after losing some of their most respected voices in the locker room. Adding a veteran like the Commanders did with future Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner would be beneficial.
The Giants’ defense hasn’t been a disaster this season, but it’s not a formidable unit. More upgrades will be needed on that side of the ball to relieve some pressure from a young quarterback.
Schoen’s sales pitch to ownership undoubtedly will be that the team is a quarterback away from contending. And that if the right quarterback is plugged in, they can take off like the Commanders did with Daniels this season.
But that type of success is rare. A review of first-round quarterbacks picked by teams with four or fewer wins in the past 10 drafts shows it’s uncommon to see immediate team success.
No quick fix
| QB | Year | Pick No. | Team | Previous record | Rookie record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2024 |
2 |
Commanders |
4-13 |
10-5 |
|
|
2024 |
3 |
Patriots |
4-13 |
2-8 (3-12) |
|
|
2023 |
2 |
Texans |
3-13 |
9-6 (10-7) |
|
|
2023 |
4 |
Colts |
4-12 |
2-2 (9-8) |
|
|
2021 |
1 |
Jaguars |
1-15 |
3-14 |
|
|
2021 |
2 |
Jets |
2-14 |
3-10 (4-13) |
|
|
2020 |
1 |
Bengals |
2-14 |
2-7-1 (4-11-1) |
|
|
2019 |
1 |
Cardinals |
3-13 |
5-10-1 |
|
|
2018 |
1 |
Browns |
0-16 |
6-7 (7-8-1) |
|
|
2017 |
2 |
Bears |
3-13 |
4-8 (5-11) |
|
|
2015 |
1 |
Buccaneers |
2-14 |
6-10 |
|
|
2015 |
2 |
Titans |
2-14 |
3-9 (3-13) |
(This table doesn’t include teams that traded up to the top of the draft since they weren’t in the same situation as the Giants in the previous season. The team’s overall season record is in parenthesis when a quarterback didn’t start every game as a rookie.)
The Giants can only dream about drafting a quarterback as good as Joe Burrow. But not even the NFL’s current passing leader was able to turn around the moribund Bengals immediately. Burrow went 2-7-1 in 10 starts before tearing his ACL during his rookie season in 2020. He led the Bengals to a 10-6 record and a trip to the Super Bowl in his second season after the team added All-Pro wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase in the first round of the 2021 draft and star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson in free agency during the 2021 offseason.
Obviously, the goal is to land a quarterback who can perform at the level of Burrow for the next decade. But this exercise is designed to examine how well the Giants are positioned to facilitate an instant turnaround with a rookie quarterback.
It’s impossible to project how NFL-ready Sanders or Ward are at this point, so we can only evaluate the situation they’ll be joining. The Giants have some pieces in place to facilitate a rookie quarterback’s success, but there are some big questions — most notably with the coaching staff — that need to be addressed.
(Photo illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; photos of Andrew Thomas, Tyrone Tracy Jr., Malik Nabers and Joe Schoen: Cooper Neill, Luke Hales, Todd Kirkland and Bryan Bennett / Getty Images)
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Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar’s feud will come to a head at SummerSlam in August, and the showdown has the potential to be WWE’s match of the year.
Femi beat Lesnar at WrestleMania 42 and led to “The Beast Incarnate” deciding to retire – at least for a moment – at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Lesnar made a dramatic return a few weeks later, challenging and beating Femi at Clash in Italy.
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Oba Femi looks on during Monday Night RAW at Allstate Arena on July 6, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois. (Melina Pizano/WWE via Getty Images)
At SummerSlam, Femi and Lesnar will do battle inside a Hell in a Cell.
WWE Hall of Famer John Bradshaw Layfield called the next meeting between Femi and Lesnar a “generational matchup.”
“I’ve never seen anything like Oba – well, I have. I’ve seen Brock,” he told Fox News Digital. “It’s very much the carbon copy of Brock coming in. Brock coming in was like, oh my God, who is this guy? The guy can even talk, and he’s gonna be one of the biggest stars in wrestling. Not only could he talk, he’s a really smart guy. Brock became one of the biggest draws in professional wrestling. He came one of the biggest draws in UFC. It’s an unbelievable story, and now you got somebody who can rival that character.
Brock Lesnar in action against Oba Femi during “Monday Night Raw” at TD Garden on March 23, 2026, in Boston, Massachusetts. (Michael Owens/WWE via Getty Images)
“This Oba Femi comes out with the silly little walk he does. Everyone kinda does it, it’s like The Bushwackers. But the whole arena does it. I was in Vegas and I didn’t want to go to the matches and deal with the traffic and deal with the backstage area, and so I kinda just watched it in a sports bar. I stood in the back where nobody could recognize me, and as soon as Oba came out, the entire sports bar was sitting there doing that Oba Femi dance. The guy is just unbelievably over.
“I really think that somewhere in the NFL this year, you’re going to see an entire NFL arena doing this dance. You’re gonna have somebody like Saquon Barkley or ‘King’ (Derrick Henry) or some of these guys do this dance, and it’s infectious. Once one of them does, one of these great running backs or wide receivers, or somebody scores a touchdown, that’s when I think you’re gonna see entire arenas doing it. I just think Oba Femi is lightning in a bottle and Brock has always been that way. This is, to me, a generational matchup.”
Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi face off during WrestleMania 42: Night 2 at Allegiant Stadium on April 19, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE via Getty Images)
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SummerSlam will take place on Aug. 1 and 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
Sports
Commentary: ‘I don’t want any handouts.’ Amid the Angels’ drought, a starry homecoming for Mike Trout
Mike Trout last played in an All-Star Game seven years ago. It’s crazy, really. The best player of the previous decade, the link that ties Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols to Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, has not taken an All-Star at-bat this decade.
Injuries, mostly. And he turns 35 next month.
Next week’s All-Star Game takes place in Philadelphia, about 40 miles north of Trout’s hometown of Millville, N.J. Major League Baseball reserves a potential All-Star roster spot or two each summer for distinguished players: Bryce Harper and Justin Verlander this year, Clayton Kershaw last year, Pujols and Miguel Cabrera in past years.
That could have been Trout’s spot this summer: a worthy honor for a three-time most valuable player, a local hero feted on the national stage the Angels have failed to provide him.
“I wouldn’t have done it,” Trout said.
Not even at home?
“It’s an honor to get voted in and represent the American League,” he said. “For me, I don’t want any handouts.”
Trout is an All-Star for the 12th time, the old-fashioned way: He earned it.
Fans voted him into the starting lineup, with the most final-round votes of any AL outfielder. His peers voted him as one of the top three outfielders in the AL.
“It means a lot,” he said. “I’ve been through a lot of hurdles, a lot of adversity. I put some hard work in, and I did not let up. I could have easily got down on myself and not pushed through it and not come back.
“I know what I am capable of. I know I have the confidence to get back to the player I used to be.”
His .874 OPS entering play Thursday ranks second among AL outfielders, a career season for many players. In 11 of his 14 full seasons — all but the previous three — he has posted a higher OPS.
In April, in a four-game series against the New York Yankees, Trout hit five home runs and drove in nine runs.
“Everything was clicking,” he said. “When I first came up, that’s how I felt the whole season.
“Just to be able to get that feeling back, that little spark, to know it’s still in there, it makes you feel pretty good.”
For him, so does playing in Philadelphia. The first time he played there with the Angels, Millville basically closed down for the night, and just about everyone in town boarded a bus to the game. Then Trout had an exceptionally rare experience, a visiting player cheered at the home of the boo.
Mark Gubicza can testify to that. Gubicza, the two-time All-Star pitcher and now the Angels’ television analyst, grew up in Philadelphia.
“I don’t care if you were God himself, if you were wearing a different color uniform, I was still booing you,” Gubicza said. “But he was cheered.”
Still is. Trout is a diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan, with his season tickets not in some climate-controlled luxury suite but along the sideline.
“The players all walk by him and say ‘Trouty!’ ” Gubicza said. “Before they all go out to get their heads beat in, they’re all saying hi.
“He’s not one of those guys that comes there to be seen. He’s going there to root. That’s why they love him: He’s one of us.”
Said Trout: “I know how passionate I am about the Eagles. From my experience as an Eagles fan, it’s just different.
“It’s like win or die.”
It’s not like that in Southern California, where almost no one listens to sports-talk radio, and where a nice day is always a day away.
No one would begrudge Trout for living year-round along the Orange County coast. (OK, maybe Philadelphia fans would.)
Roy Hallenbeck, Trout’s high school coach, remembered visiting years ago on what he called “a perfect day” and asking Trout how he could ever get tired of all that sunshine.
“Yeah, coach, I couldn’t live here,” Trout told him. “‘I need my seasons.”
Trout built a family home near his boyhood home. He built his Trout National golf resort, with a course designed by Tiger Woods, in Millville.
He is as loyal to the Angels as he is to Millville. He appreciates the team that “took a chance on a kid from a little town in southern New Jersey” and signed him to two nine-figure contract extensions.
Trout was the last Angels player to take a postseason at-bat, in 2014. Even amid baseball’s longest playoff drought, he still considers Anaheim a special place, and always will.
“It’s where it all began,” Trout said. “I think the fuel of people doubting us kind of makes it more of a fire for me to try to get back to the playoffs. I think that’s the biggest key for me.
“Could I take the easy way out and just leave? Yeah. But I think — I said this last year around this time, but it’s the same feeling I’ve been having — I really haven’t sat down and talked to anybody about it specifically, but I know there’s a time where, if things change, who knows? I don’t know. But, for me, right now, my focus is on trying to get this club back in the playoffs.”
At the All-Star Game, Trout might well hear Phillies fans beseech him to come play for the home team. However, Hallenbeck said, the hometown folks no longer are as strident in that long-held wish.
“I think the overriding sentiment of most people I talk with, even Phillies fans, is we would all — as people that know him, love him and care for him — love to watch him play relevant baseball in August and September,” Hallenbeck said. “It doesn’t matter where. It doesn’t matter who. Just being relevant late in the season would be something we would all love to see.
“Hopefully, it’s with the Angels. They’ve been so good to him. We’d love to see it there.”
So would we. In the meantime, in the absence of a World Series, Trout deserves to enjoy his homecoming game.
Sports
London descends into disorder as Morocco fans flood streets after World Cup elimination by France
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Public unrest began in parts of London late Thursday night, and it appears Morocco’s exit from the 2026 FIFA World Cup at the hands of France is the reason.
France took down Morocco 2-0, eliminating the African country for the second consecutive tournament, this time in a quarterfinal match.
As a result, many feared Paris would erupt into riots, especially after the chaos that followed Paris Saint-Germain’s UEFA Champions League victory over Arsenal in May.
Instead, images and videos from Edgware Road in northwest London showed police clashing with large crowds as smoke billowed through the streets and debris littered the roadway.
A police vehicle is parked in a road as people from pro-Palestinian activist groups gather near the Edgware United Synagogue during a demonstration against the “Great Israeli Real Estate Event” organized by real-estate agency My Home in Israel, which markets property in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, in London, Britain, June 14, 2026. (Toby Shepheard)
Riot police, equipped with shields and body armor, tried to contain the crowds as they clashed with people launching fireworks and throwing debris. One video also appeared to show an officer down.
KYLIAN MBAPPÉ, OUSMANE DEMBÉLÉ FIRE FRANCE INTO WORLD CUP SEMIFINALS WITH WIN OVER MOROCCO
It’s unknown what happened to the officer who was down on the asphalt or how he was injured.
Fans waved Moroccan flags in the middle of the streets, which held up traffic. Some even jumped on top of vehicles trying to get through the area.
Moroccan fans in the stands before a FIFA World Cup 2026 quarterfinal match between France and Morocco at Boston Stadium July 9, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. (Richard Sellers/SportsphotoAllstar)
Similar scenes unfolded after Egypt’s World Cup exit, when Argentina rallied for a controversial 3-2 victory that featured several disputed officiating decisions.
Paris, on the other hand, looked more like a city celebrating than one on the brink of a riot. Supporters of both France and Morocco flooded the streets, slowing traffic in several parts of the city.
One video showed horns blasting from cars with French and Moroccan flags out the windows on the L’avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Supporters on the side of the road, waving their own flags, joined in on the celebration.
France’s Kylian Mbappé scored his eighth goal of this World Cup, which ties him for the most with Argentina’s Lionel Messi. Ousmane Dembélé also scored in the second half for France in the 2-0 win over Morocco.
It’s the third straight semifinal appearance for France, while Morocco still made World Cup history despite the loss. After becoming the first African country to reach the quarterfinals and semifinals in World Cup history in 2022, Morocco added to that by becoming the first-ever African nation to reach more than one quarterfinal.
Moroccan fans react while attending a watch party for the World Cup round of 8 match between France and Morocco in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 9, 2026. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP)
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Morocco’s exit means there are no more African nations alive in the World Cup. France will be taking on the winner of Spain and Belgium, while England and Norway and Argentina and Switzerland face off in the quarterfinals.
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