Giants again address tanking talk amid miserable season

Members of the 2-8 New York Giants have again insisted they're doing whatever possible to ignore chatter about the organization "tanking" the rest of what's become a miserable season for everyone involved. 

"I think it's natural for fans and people to say [tank] because the draft and everything has so much hype these days," Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton said ahead of this Sunday's matchup at the 4-6 Washington Commanders, per Jordan Raanan of ESPN. "For fans and people that are casual watchers, it's easy to say this season is not going the way we want, just tank; Jesus [is] coming in the draft next year, we'll get him and he'll change our hopes and dreams. That is kind of just the fun thing to do I guess for fans."

It's understandable some inside the Giants locker room may feel that general manager Joe Schoen, head coach Brian Daboll and even team co-owner John Mara have already at least somewhat moved on to 2024 in their minds. Starting quarterback Daniel Jones suffered a season-ending torn ACL on Nov. 5 months before the club could use a high draft pick to select his eventual replacement. Running back Saquon Barkley sounds ready to put up a fight if his rights are again reserved via the franchise tag this coming March. Undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito is starting at quarterback for Big Blue until further notice. 

As of late Friday morning, oddschecker listed the Giants as nine-point underdogs against the Commanders. Fans and sportsbooks have seemingly given up on the 2023 Giants, but players aren't quitting regardless of what outsiders have to say. 

"I know [tanking is] not the right thing to do, and I don't know if that's a real thing," Barkley explained. "I can't speak for every other place. Here I don't get that feel at all, especially with [Daboll]. You can see how fiery and how competitive he is. That is not the type of team or the type of people we have in this locker room."

There's currently no guarantee Daboll and Schoen are safe in their jobs past this season, as Mara could blow things up if he feels thoroughly embarrassed by the team's efforts through Week 18. Mara should like what he heard from players this week, but the situation could change by the time Jan. 7 rolls around.