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John Harbaugh getting too aggressive with Giants' early success
New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The New York Giants are on their bye week in Week 8, and it might be better for the organization if head coach John Harbaugh had a team to prepare for right about now.

A report recently came out that Harbaugh tried calling Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk in an attempt to trade for defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons. That call came after Titans GM Mike Borgonzi told Giants GM Joe Schoen that Simmons wasn't available.

Of course, Simmons ended up getting traded to the Chicago Bears for multiple 1st-round picks. But after just trading Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals for the 10th overall pick in last year's draft, it seems reckless for Harbaugh and the Giants to be even thinking about giving up that kind of capital, even with the NFC East right there for the taking in 2026.

Giants HC John Harbaugh needs to be careful about giving up major assets right now

This is a pretty fantastic point by Ted Nguyen here, and something that needs to be considered on both sides of the coin.

From Harbaugh's perspective, the Giants are obviously in the mix right now for their division. Adding impact players like Jeffery Simmons or even Jonathan Taylor could help this team tremendously, and given their contracts, not even just for this year.

Both Simmons and Taylor are star players who are under contract well beyond this season after just recently getting extensions.

The absence of Dexter Lawrence this season has made an obvious (negative) impact on the Giants' defensive front, so going after someone like Jeffery Simmons shouldn't be considered an egregious move, by any means.

But just freely giving away a bunch of picks given the state of the team with Jaxson Dart on IR?

That's where you really have to look at the other side of the coin.

While you can understand Harbaugh's excitement over the team doing well at the start of the season, as well as the rest of the NFC East struggling badly, it doesn't feel like the best use of assets to spend a bunch of this team's future draft capital without seeing the recovery of Jaxson Dart all the way through.

As Ted Nguyen pointed out earlier, it feels like a classic case of a team feeling like it's way ahead of schedule, getting overly aggressive, and possibly regretting it later. The Giants need more proof of concept before they start making all-in, contender level moves.


This article first appeared on NFL Spin Zone and was syndicated with permission.

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