With the NFL season weeks away, I think I’ll try to give every team a preview, or as many teams as I can before opening night. I will be ignoring preseason, as we all should. Instead, let us ask 7 big questions heading into every team’s 2026 NFL season.
Let’s start with the New York Giants led by new head coach John Harbaugh…
Is John Harbaugh Tom Coughlin or Pete Carroll?
In 2004, the New York Giants collected the Jaguars waste. Tom Coughlin would win 2 Super Bowls for the club despite his career appearing cooked post-Jacksonville.
In 2025, Las Vegas anointed Pete Carroll total control—he hired his friends and family—Las Vegas earned the No. 1 pick. Pete Carroll no longer works there.
John Harbaugh’s handed the keys—GM Joe Schoen signed an extension, agreeing to become Harbaugh’s butler, it pays well—the two drafted together, they reeled big fish—so far, so good.
John Harbaugh seems to be on his Mike Brown wave, like the championship Knicks coach, surrounding himself with voices he trusts and making decisions in groups—relieving himself of the pressures assigned to the ol ball coach.
Now you just have to ask yourself if you trust the voices in his ear.
Will Matt Nagy strengthen or stifle Jaxson Dart?
Newly hired Jim Harbaugh spent all his goodwill adding Matt Nagy as his offensive coordinator. When Todd Monken—the OC calling Lamar Jackson MVP plays—took the HC position in Cleveland, god bless him, Harbaugh landed on Nagy—fresh off running the 21st-ranked scoring offense in Kansas City last season. The Giants finished 17th in scoring with Mike Kafka coaching and Malik Nabers in a wheelchair.
Matt Nagy responsible for Patrick Mahomes’s worst season last year as well as the failed Mitchell Trubisky experiments in Chicago.
If the Giants want Jaxson Dart to become one of the top quarterbacks in the league, he must overcome his biggest hurdle yet: Matt Nagy.
Can they replace Dexter Lawrence?
Dexter Lawrence, one of the best D-linemen in the sport, ‘22 and ‘23 All-Pro—but begged for a raise after spending most of 2025 playing on his phone, pretending to type real loud when the boss walked in.
In 2024, 9 sacks in 12 games. Last season, 0.5 sacks, half a sack in 17 games. New York couldn’t reward that with a $28m extension. A Bengals organization wasting Joe Burrow held dice to roll. Lawrence becoming the third-highest DT. Again. Zero point five sacks.
DJ Reader and 35-year-old Shelby Harris—what’s left at the bottom of the DT bin.
2025 third-round pick Darius Alexander, 3 sacks, 3 tackles for loss in his rookie campaign, star potential, fingers so crossed the knuckles break.
The Giants don’t need Dexter Lawrence. Pass rush covered over here. They need run stoppers—Giants ranked 31st in rushing yards allowed last year. Enter LB Tremaine Edwards, 113, 110 and 112 tackles in his last 3 seasons—run-stopping his love language
Is Isaiah Likely a star?
Jaxson Dart doubled Theo Johnson’s targets from 43 his rookie season to 74 last season. Dart likes the tight ends, especially in the red zones
Last season, Likely iced a broken foot, dragging it—21.9 receiving yards a game and just 1 touchdown. Below replacement-level numbers.
Likely, guaranteed money deposited, Harbaugh teasing, promising Isaiah a prominent role in the offense—away from Lamar’s Marc Andrews bond, foot healed, a threat.
Any lack of consistency backed up by Theo Johnson minutes. Giants have at least one and a half game-changing tight ends.
READ MORE: By Signing Isaiah Likely, The New York Giants Build a Fortress Around Jaxson Dart
Will Odell Beckham Jr work here?
Last time ODB made headlines, a harmonica crooned, Odell hounding like a dog, telling tales of the good ol days, before he blew millions of dollars, which isn’t a lot of money when you consider agents and managers and stuff, ya know?
Odell is balling for a paycheck. Makes sense. One time he got his entire pay sent to him via crypto, so he basically worked for free—Harriet Tubman’s eyes rolling out of her head
2023, 565 yards, then injuries and here we are in 2026—Odell fighting with JuJu Smith-Schuster for like 7-8 snaps a game—maybe—if his hamstring or back doesn’t tighten up Saturday morning.
But he’s not just fighting JuJu. Calvin Austin signed a 1-year deal. Darnell Mooney signed a 1-year. Braxton Berrios signed a 1-year.
To me? Mooney with his feet on the couch chillin, AC blasting. Mooney and Matt Nagy put together a 1,000-yard receiving season together in 2021. Honestly, Mooney’s taking Darius Slayton down the dc, not a single employee here from Slayton draft, no emotional attachment to the worst sometimes wide receiver 2 in the NFL.
Berrios provides special teams help, returning kicks and such. So can Odell beat out Juju Smith-Schuster? Prob not.
Is Arvell Reese HIM?
The seas parted, the stars aligned, the draft led to the New York Giants selecting LB hybrid Arvell Reese. At Ohio State, Reese played more off-ball than EDGE but measures out to be a game-wrecking pass rusher, given an opportunity to utilize those skills—similar origin story to Micah Parsons.
At 20 years old, one of the youngest players in the NFL, surrounded by Kayvon Thibodeaux, Abdul Carter and Brian Burns, Reese may not even be tasked with pass rushing at all his rookie season. All sacks from Reese a luxury. The Giants need his speed and athleticism to hit gaps and prevent running backs from reaching the third level. He’s overqualified for that job. He and Tremaine Edwards have the middle of the field on lockdown.
READ MORE: 19 Biggest Winners and Losers of the 2026 NFL Draft
Will Jaxson Dart go down with the MAGA ship?
As voters separate themselves from the president responsible for armed, masked alcoholics terrorizing local communities as well as armed, masked alcoholics terrorizing the Middle East—everything in life more expensive because of it—Jaxson Dart rushed to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the sundowning king— laundering his reputation as Giants QB1 to introduce Trump at a rally in Upstate, NY.
Jaxson Dart plays in the loudest city and champions the president folks are the loudest hating. Dart struggles this season, he won’t be embraced by a fanbase that can’t afford to go watch Giants games because they had a cough and now they’re in untractable medical debt.
(Dart plays Pro Bowl, yes, even with how flimsy the modern Pro Bowl selections are, no one will care. Except me. But I’ve been cursed with principles. Damn you, mom and dad.)
READ MORE: Jaxson Dart Introducing Donald Trump At a Rally Is Good News For Giants Fans
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