The New York Giants made one of the biggest splashes right away in the 2026 offseason by hiring John Harbaugh as their new head coach. When Harbaugh surprisingly hit head coach free agency, he immediately became one of the top prizes, and the Giants were able to reel in the big fish.
The arrival of Harbaugh undoubtedly sent a major jolt of excitement through the Giants' fan base, and rightfully so. The Giants clearly needed a veteran head coach like Harbaugh to come in and be the CEO of a very young roster, but it's becoming clear that the task at hand is more difficult than Harbaugh may have even realized.
Yes, the Giants have a promising roster on paper. Yes, the Giants have a possible franchise quarterback in Jaxson Dart. But there have been a lot of things adding up over the course of the offseason that really put a damper on the excitement.
Maybe even spoil it entirely.
New York Giants' rough offseason after hiring John Harbaugh continue to pile up
The most recent bit of drama with the Giants took place after quarterback Jaxson Dart introduced President Donald Trump at a speech in New York over the weekend. Abdul Carter made a post on his Twitter/X page stating that he thought what he was seeing was "AI". Even though Carter was later dismissive of his post and said he talked things through with Dart personally, it was just another bit of drama from the offseason that felt unnecessary.
During the 2026 NFL Draft, the Giants made a shocking decision to take linebacker Arvell Reese with the 5th overall selection. That pick surprised pretty much everyone, because if the Giants had anything going into the NFL Draft this year, it was a strong group of pass rushers. Wide receiver Malik Nabers was highly critical of the strategy when he was part of Bleacher Report's livestream coverage.
"Don't get me wrong, I love the player. But just like he said, like, where do you play? You want to be on the outside and rush, but we just drafted somebody last year to do that same position."
- Malik Nabers (during 2026 NFL Draft)
Speaking of Nabers, there was also just a recent report that the star receiver's timeline for recovery from injury is perhaps going to extend into the 2026 regular season. The latest updates indicate that Nabers's recovery timeline might be longer than the team initially expected.
On top of all these things, we had Giants running back Cam Skattebo -- who is recovering from injury himself -- making what he referred to later as "tasteless" comments about CTE.
Add in the fact that the Giants traded Dexter Lawrence to the Bengals, removing one of the best interior pass rushers in the NFL from their defensive front.
It just feels like a lot of cold water has been officially dumped on the initial excitement of the John Harbaugh hire. And until the news starts becoming more and more positive, it's going to feel like that excitement is almost entirely spoiled before we see this team producing results on the field.
Add us as a preferred source on Google