How Daniel Jones jumpstarted Giants’ plan for faster, more explosive offense

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. —The three on-field workouts will pale in comparison to the time on task that awaits at training camp.

How much route precision, target depth and conceptual alignment was actually honed over a handful of hours at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona?

And yet, for a collection of 17-plus New York Giants players who suited up for at least five teams last season, the chance to develop rapport was important. Giants brass had been adamant about injecting speed and explosiveness into their offensive cast this spring. That meant new faces, names and skill sets.

So quarterback Daniel Jones organized his annual group trip to Arizona in April.

What better way to speed up the process of, well, speeding up the offense?

“That’s kind of what settled me in at first,” said offseason acquisition Parris Campbell, who admitted “deep down in my heart, it was kind of scary” to imagine himself with a team other than his four-year home with the Indianapolis Colts. “Once we hit the field, started learning together, it was just like second nature.”

In Arizona, Giants players discussed route perspectives and introduced playbook concepts. They cycled through throwing sessions and lifts. But they also built camaraderie competing on everything from HORSE (wide receiver Collin Johnson went 5-1, he said) to who could finish their food the fastest at the house they all piled into and who could rule the pickleball courts (Jones and receiver Darius Slayton posed the fiercest competition, tight end Daniel Bellinger told Yahoo Sports).

Chemistry brewed on and off the field.

“A lot of fun, man,” said tight end Darren Waller, whom the Giants traded for in March. “An excellent opportunity to get an early head start on what we install here. Getting to learn the system a little bit but also the relationship building, which we feel like is most important.”

Now, they’re tasked with performing.

Giants identified 2022 shortcoming, set out to fix it

When the Giants’ 2022 season wrapped, coaches and personnel convened to ask themselves: How can we get better? In what areas do we need to improve?

One answer was resounding.

“We’re not satisfied on how the season ended, and being explosive is one (reason),” assistant general manager Brandon Brown said. “You don’t have to accumulate long drives when you can have the quick-strike ability.”

The Giants posted the fourth-least explosive offense, according to Pro Football Reference data that charts explosive plays as passes generating at least 16 yards and runs generating at least 12.

Only the Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers had fewer explosive plays than the Giants’ 62. None of those three qualified for the playoffs.

In comparison, each of the five most explosive teams advanced to the playoffs. The ultimate Super Bowl competition pitted the most explosive team (Kansas City Chiefs, 114 explosive plays) against the third-most explosive (Philadelphia Eagles, 95).

Extend the study to plays of 20+ yards, and the Giants drop to dead last (28) compared to the Super Bowl champion Chiefs' league-leading 73.

While explosiveness alone doesn’t guarantee NFL success, the Giants understood its value.

“You definitely want that to be part of your offense,” coordinator Mike Kafka said.

A deep dive ensued. Was protection hampering production, or decision-making? Where could route concepts improve and how did the existing personnel align with schematic goals?

The Giants believed in their quarterback enough to award him a four-year, $160 million extension. But to truly empower him to play more aggressively, they needed to ensure his weaponry was up to the task.

The Giants re-signed two key pieces to what went well in 2022: Wide receiver Darius Slayton led the team with 724 receiving yards and 15.7 yards per reception last season, while midseason pickup Isaiah Hodgins caught four touchdowns in his final five regular-season games and helped power the Giants’ playoff win with eight catches for 105 yards and a score. The Giants also traded a third-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders for Waller, who amassed consecutive 1,100-yard seasons in 2019 and 2020, his last fully healthy years. They signed speedy wideout Parris Campbell, fresh off a career-best 623-yard season in Indianapolis. In the third round, the Giants drafted Tennessee receiver Jalin Hyatt.

They’re taking risks with health, but they’ve raised the talent ceiling.

“This spring, it’s been a conscious effort to push the ball down the field,” Slayton said. “We have all these guys, like having a bunch of Ferraris, keep them in the garage, take them out to the track.”

Could group with Waller, Campbell reduce Saquon’s load?

At the Saguaro High stadium in early April, Jones cycled through dropbacks in a dark sweatsuit and black cap, a towel emblazoned with the logo of his alma mater Duke swinging as he released each pass.

Jones fielded a snap, faked a handoff and found Waller in stride down the left seam at one point. The quarterback found an airborne Hodgins in the right flat, the back of Hodgins’ shirt reading “IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN YOURSELF WHO WILL?” in what would be a fitting mantra for the Giants’ 2023 season.

And Jones lobbed still another pass to running back Saquon Barkley in the back left corner of the high school field’s end zone.

Yes, Barkley was there – even as he had yet to sign his franchise tag and would soon skip organized team offseason practices as contract disputes spilled into May and then June.

Barkley assumed his role among the receivers and tight ends who largely compose the Giants’ pass-catching group, a reminder both that pass-catching has been among his myriad skills in five pro seasons and also that the Giants’ offseason plan, if successful, would hopefully reduce the reliance on Barkley driving the offense.

The Giants hope Waller will be the “force multiplier” they peg him as, “a problem creator” in the red zone and beyond who opens opportunities for his teammates. They hope Campbell will stretch the defense with speed and they hope Slayton continues to create separation. The list goes on.

True to the New England Patriots culture he spent 11 seasons working in, head coach Brian Daboll is less interested in touting the progress covered in spring than he is in emphasizing that “we have a lot of work to do,” Daboll said at the Giants’ final minicamp practice. “A lot ahead of us once training camp starts.”

Thanks to the Arizona trip, they’re a few steps closer.

“Really for the camaraderie piece and getting to know the new guys,” receiver Sterling Shepard said. “The more you get to know your teammates, it’s easier to give everything you’ve got for them.”