Giants co-owner addresses expectations, status of Bill Belichick

Multiple New York Giants players recently clapped back at preseason forecasts predicting the club will finish the 2024 campaign with a losing record.

On Thursday, Giants co-owner John Mara spoke with reporters about his expectations for the upcoming season.

"I obviously want to show significant improvement over last year," Mara explained, as the New York Post's Ryan Dunleavy shared. "But I’m not going to make any specific guarantees or demands or anything like that. [General manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll] know what I want to see. I have a lot of confidence in this particular team. I think we’ve added some good pieces. Now it’s time to show everybody."

While the Giants lost star running back Saquon Barkley to free agency and, ultimately, to the division-rival Philadelphia Eagles, they took steps to bolster their offensive line. They acquired pass-rusher Brian Burns from the Carolina Panthers before they made talented wide receiver Malik Nabers the sixth overall pick of this year's draft. Mara said Thursday he doesn't "know how to quantify" what he would consider a successful 2024 season, but he indicated he'd view a second-straight six-win campaign as unacceptable.

"I want to walk off the field at the end of the season feeling like we are moving in the right direction, [like] we’ve got a great foundation here and there’s every reason to be optimistic moving forward," Mara added.

The Giants have routinely been linked in stories since this past winter with former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. Belichick earned his first two career Super Bowl rings serving as an assistant and as defensive coordinator with the Giants from 1979 through the 1990 season and reportedly "intends to coach in 2025" with the hope of eventually setting an NFL record for career wins earned by a head coach (regular season and postseason combined). 

"I was very surprised, very surprised by that," Mara responded Thursday with a laugh when asked about Belichick not landing a different head-coaching job this past winter, per Ryan Novozinsky of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. "You’re surprised every year by things that happen in the National Football League."

As of Friday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Giants at +115 betting odds to win over 6.5 games this season. Mara could consider calling Belichick if Big Blue enters Week 18 on Jan. 5 of next year at 6-10 or worse.