Big Blue View mailbag: How good will the offense be?

Norm Weiss asks: Ed, last year when Nabers went down and Skattebo went down, based on past history, I thought the offense would collapse. Instead, they were consistently better than they had been in years. I believe that the growth of the offensive line into a quality unit and intangibles from Jaxon Dart’s leadership were at the heart of the improved offense. With the drafting of Mauigoa, Dart’s further development, new coaching  staff and the return of Nabers and Skattebo, do you think the Giants will have a top offense or am I just dreaming?

Ed says: Norm, offense was not the problem for the Giants in 2025. Despite losing Malik Nabers and Cam Skattebo, the Giants scored 22.4 points per game, 16th in the league. That is six more than in 2024 (16.1), and more than the Philadelphia Eagles (22.1). A team at the midpoint of the league in scoring should be competitive in most of its games.

Whatever their shortcomings, ex-coaches Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka get some credit for that.

Development is never linear, though. Simply because the offense improved a year ago does not mean it is going to take a similar leap this year. There are a lot of questions:

• Beyond being physical, which has constantly been promised, what will the scheme look like?
• Will Jaxson Dart, with a new scheme and new coaches, take a step forward? Will he regress?
• When will Nabers be available? How close will he be to the player he was in 2024?
• Who else steps up at wide receiver?
• Will tight end Isaiah Likely be the impact player the Giants are paying him to be?
• How will Sisi Mauigoa play as a rookie?
• Will Andrew Thomas stay healthy?

The most important of those questions is, of course, the development of Dart. I have no concerns about the working relationships of the Giants offensive coaches, many of whom have previously been head coaches or play callers. I have talked to most of them about the situation. They each know the jobs they signed up for, the chain of command, the expectations of the head coach, and that team success is the best thing for each of their careers.

I believe the offense has a chance to be better this season, but I’m not predicting a massive leap.

Christopher Scanlon asks: For good reason, there’s been an awful lot of talk about our hopes for the D line’s ability to stop the run this season. I’d like to pivot to the D line’s impact on the pass rush, though. Specifically, Dexter Lawrence‘s impact on the edge’s productivity. Brian Burns had a career year last year. From non-Giants fans, though, there was murmuring about him being overrated and that a good number of his sacks were a result of double teams on and pressure of the middle by Lawrence. I’m not a film guy so I don’t know how much credence to give that perspective. When considering Burns‘ productivity, how much of it do you attribute to the Lawrence effect? Without his presence, do you think that it is likely that Burns falls back to earth? We have a lot riding on the strength of our pass rush and I wonder if it’s likely to be as as effective as we hope without a real presence of the middle. In a broader sense, don’t edges always kind of rely on the pocket being collapsed to flush the quarterback out for maximum effectiveness?

Ed says: Chris, there is no doubt that the attention paid to Lawrence helps everyone around him. That is what a great nose tackle can do. D.J. Reader isn’t the pass rush Lawrence is. Few nose tackles have ever been. The nine sacks in 12 games Lawrence had a couple of seasons back is unheard of at that position.

Now, do I know how Lawrence impacted Burns’ sacks? No, I don’t. I don’t have data on how often Lawrence was on the field or double-teamed when Burns got a sack.

I do understand how some people can call Burns overrated. He was second in the NFL in sacks last season, but his advanced pass rush numbers don’t back that up. His pass rush pressure rate of 7.7% was only 30th among 62 qualifiers. His pass rush win percentage of 7.0% was 60th. Those are from Pro Football Focus. ESPN ranked Burns 11th in pass rush win rate among edge defenders.

Those numbers might indicate that on a down-to-down basis there are plenty of guys who created more pressure. They also indicate that when he did get pressure, Burns finished the job.

Could Burns “fall back to earth?” He is entering his eighth season, and the 16.5 sacks he had last year were a career-high and just the second time he reached double figures. He’s not Myles Garrett. He’s not going to reach those numbers every year. I thought Burns was fantastic in 2024, but his sack total was 8.5 and he didn’t get the attention I thought he deserved for how well he played.

This will be a different defense, with a coordinator in Dennard Wilson who will use players a little differently and create pressure in ways Shane Bowen did not.

You make a good point that edge players need interior rushers to collapse the pocket. That denies quarterbacks a place to step up and avoid edge pressure.

Wayne Mirsky asks: I am a little confused about the roles of the Giants coaching staff.

Do you think that having Nagy, Callahan and Roman involved in  the offense is too many cooks in the kitchen? Have you ever seen anything like this arrangement?  What is Willie Taggart’s role as the running backs coach?

As to defense Donald D’Alesio is the Passing Game Coordinator and  Secondary Coach and Addison Lynch is the defensive back field coach. Confusing. What are their roles? Finally what is Megan Rosburg’s role with the team and coaching?

Ed says: Wayne, this question keeps coming up. I am confused by why people are confused, or why they somehow think John Harbaugh should not have hired the most talented coaches he could get.

Before I get into how it works, let me point you to the New England Patriots. Mike Vrabel has Josh McDaniels, a two-time NFL head coach as his offensive coordinator. He has two-time NFL head coach and former Syracuse coach Doug Marrone coaching his offensive line. Vrabel has former Chicago Bears interim head coach Thomas Brown as his pass game coordinator. That worked well enough last year to get New England to the Super Bowl.

With the LA Chargers, Jim Harbaugh has Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator and Adam Gase as passing game specialst. Both are former head coaches. In Washington, former Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn handles the running backs.

Why do the Giants have too many cooks in the kitchen? Every team has position coaches. Many teams have former head coaches or long-time coordinators on staff as senior assistants or consultants. Once a person loses a head-coaching job, he often has to work his way back up the ladder. Honestly, every assistant coach in the league would like to advance, which also means they would like to be heard in their current job.

Matt Nagy is the coordinator. He will call plays and is ultimately responsible for what is, and is not, in the play book and the weekly game plan. He will, as any coordinator should, take input and ideas from all of his position coaches. When I asked him about the “too many cooks” idea, he wasn’t buying.

“It’s really been invigorating for me,” Nagy said. “To your question, you have all these guys that have all this experience and backgrounds of coordinators, head coaches. There’s a lot. I mean, there’s a lot of guys.

“Going into this, you can look at it different ways. I think if you look at it one way you could say, well, my title is offensive coordinator, and it’s my job to do everything. That’s not true. You know, we have so many – Coach Harbs did such a great job at bringing in guys with a ton of experience, and I’d be foolish to not use that. They’ve been amazing.

“It’s been so much fun putting this offense together, our offense here. I know a lot of different coaches with a lot of different backgrounds from different teams, a lot of different coaches with OC experience, head coaching experience.

“For me it’s so important for all of us – and we talked about it – put the egos aside. Let’s make this ours. Let’s not worry about whose idea it is. Let’s make it our idea, and let’s run with it. Let’s make it make sense to the guys, and let’s go out there and figure out as we go through OTAs and into training camp what we’re going to look like.”

Brian Callahan is the quarterbacks coach, and will work directly with Dart. I talked at length with Callahan this spring. His choice this offseason was to take the job with the Giants, or not work at all. Yes, he wants to be a coordinator or head coach again. He gets there by helping Dart and the offense succeed. He gets there by doing the job he was hired to do, and doing it well, not by undermining Nagy. Greg Roman will have a clearly defined role.

Harbaugh is a strong, veteran head coach. Every coach he hired knows he has a clear, narrow role. Willie Taggart, a former college head coach, will coach running backs. That’s it. Mike Bloomgren, a former college head coach, will coach the offensive line. That’s it. Tim Kelly, a two-time offensive coordinator, will coach tight ends. That’s it.

Every coach will contribute ideas. That’s what happens on good staffs. Nagy — and Harbaugh — will make the decisions. The rest of the coaches know that.

On defense, the titles are confusing. The roles are not. Addison Lynch coaches the cornerbacks. Donald D’Alesio is in charge of the safeties, and is really the boss in the secondary as pass game coordinator. As D’Alesio explained in the spring, much of the work is collaborative.

Megan Rosburg is basically in the role that Laura Young occupied on Daboll’s staff. Here is what her bio says about the work she did for Harbaugh with the Baltimore Ravens:

Rosburg assisted Harbaugh in all areas, including football operations, scheduling, communications and staff management, since she joined the Ravens in 2022. Additionally, she has worked with the defensive line and outside linebackers for the past four seasons, officially adding defensive assistant to her title in 2024.

Rosburg is listed as a defensive assistant. What group or groups she will work with I am not certain. She has been around the game most of her life. Her father, Jerry Rosburg, was formerly Ravens special teams coordinator/associate head coach Jerry Rosburg. He served under Harbaugh from 2008-2018.

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