The New York Giants are a bad football team. Poor roster construction, questionable personnel decisions, and terrible coaching have taken their toll on this once proud organization.
And it all starts at the top.
General manager Joe Schoen has a reputation for letting his best players go, with no short- or long-term plan in place to offset the losses. And it’s not just the stars. For every Leonard Williams, Julian Love, Saquon Barkley, and Xavier McKinney, there are the Daniel Joneses, Sterling Shepards, and Ben Bredesons of the world.
They're not the flashiest names, but the narrative that everyone who leaves East Rutherford goes on to become a better player elsewhere is becoming an ugly trend the Giants can't ignore anymore, and one that Pats head coach Mike Vrabel called out publicly in his postgame press conference.
Related: 1 winner (and 3 losers) from Giants' primetime embarrassment vs Patriots
Take Monday night’s primetime matchup against the New England Patriots. NY castoff Cory Durden dominated his former team in Foxborough, and Vrabel didn’t shy away from making it clear just how glad he is to have the 26-year-old on his side:
Mike Vrabel on Cory Durden:
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) December 2, 2025
"We brought him over from the Giants, they let him go. That game meant a lot to him. They told him he wasn't good enough to play for the Giants and we thought he was good enough to play for the Patriots" pic.twitter.com/w5kxujMhZS
Now, that's how you crush an opponent's will on and off the field.
Cory Durden's MNF performance is latest indictment of Giants' organizational ineptitude
The G-Men released the 6-foot-4, 305-pounder in August as part of their final roster cuts -- a decision that looks worse by the week, but what else is new?
Vrabes' comments hit hard for a lot of reasons, but it's the fact that the G-Men released Durden -- suggesting they were better off without him -- while the Patriots are the best team in the league, and the Giants are second to last says everything you need to know.
It makes you wonder just how awful the talent evaluation and development is in North Jersey.
The 26-year-old's box score won't jump off the page. The defensive lineman finished the game with only two tackles. However, it was his relentless motor that popped off the screen. Not exactly known as a run defender, Durden posted his second-best Pro Football Focus rush grade this season (71.8) against Big Blue.
Fittingly, NY has the worst run defense in the league. It's almost like this is more proof that the Giants are incapable of evaluating and developing players rather than anything else.
Don't let Schoen and Co. fool you. They can fire all the head coaches and coordinators they want, but as long as this front office is around, roster mismanagement will be the norm. I'm not suggesting Durden is the one that got away, but he's proving that with the right staff and players around him, he can be an impact player, which can't be said of the Giants.