Mark Schlereth tears into NY Giants’ offensive rebuild strategy

The NY Giants’ los to the Washington Football Team brought many questions about New York’s offense to the fore, amid yet another 0-2 start

Thursday night might have been Daniel Jones’ finest performance in the NY Giants quarterback’s two-plus season career, but it still wasn’t enough to pull out a victory over the Washington Football Team.

Now 0-2 for the seventh consecutive season, the NY Giants face far more questions than answers, despite investing $45 million guaranteed in wide receiver Kenny Golladay and choosing wide receiver Kadarius Toney in the first-round of April’s draft.

Against Washington, Golladay was held to three catches for 38 yards, and Toney didn’t even show up on the scoresheet.

Jones, meanwhile led the NY Giants in rushing for the second consecutive week, rushing for 95 yards and a score while passing for 249 yards and a touchdown against Washington.

But, the significant resources the front office invested in significantly bolstering Jones’ supporting cast this offseason has not yielded much improvement. Making matters worse, Saquon Barkley, Devonta Booker, C.J. Board, and Eli Penny added just 63 rushing yards on Thursday night.

A predictable offense that lacks versatility in weapons is going to struggle to compete.

“I don’t care how good Daniel Jones might become one day,” There-time Super Bowl winner Mark Schlereth told FanSided, during an appearance on The Matt Lombardo Show podcast. “If you can’t produce a running game, you can’t produce consistency, you can’t design explosives off that running game, Daniel Jones is going to struggle.”

To Schlereth’s point, Through two games, Jones is averaging 6.11 yards per reception and the NY Giants only 4.6 yards per game. Take Jones’ 122 rushing yards and the Giants have produced just 101 rushing yards through two weeks.

Things won’t get much easier for Jones, or the Giants, with games upcoming vs. the Atlanta Falcons, at the New Orleans Saints, and at the Dallas Cowboys, all while the offensive line will start its third different combination in three games next Sunday.

This season, all that matters is evaluating whether Jones has what it takes to become an elite franchise quarterback. But, the calculation that more weapons would add wins in addition to facilitating Jones’ development seems to be a mistake, at least so far.

The NY Giants could have taken Rashawn Slater, instead of Toney, and bolstered the offensive line in front of Jones and Barkley this spring. Could have invested significant cap space in free agency, to fortify the line tasked with keeping Jones upright long enough to maximize Golladay’s value.

Maybe they should have.

“Dave Gettleman gets a lot of grief for it in New York, he took Andrew Thomas with the No. 4 pick overall,” Schlereth points out. “And it hasn’t necessarily panned out to this point. Then, you look at the rest of that draft, Wirfs playing for Tampa, winning a Super Bowl, and playing really well his rookie year. I think Jedric Wills was phenomenal, just phenomenal last year, with his movement skills.”

The sample size is small, but the production of the offense makes it difficult to envision Jones and the star pass catchers and running backs overcoming the lack of consistent push up front and a scheme that rarely pushes the ball deep downfield.

“Daniel Jones still has to grow,” Schlereth says. “He has to get better. Getting off the front-side, the back-side, know where all five eligibles are, quit holding the ball so long, and essentially protect the ball when he gets hit.

“All those things are true, offensively, you aren’t going to fix it. No matter how many wide receivers you throw at the issue, that’s not going to fix the issues at hand.”

Matt Lombardo is FanSided’s National NFL Insider and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday. Email Matt: Matt.Lombardo@FanSided.com.