‘Hard Knocks’ is here: What will we learn about the Giants?

We’re about to get a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the Giants’ offseason

The New York Giants avoided ‘Hard Knocks’ for years, with co-owner John Mara wanting no part of the intrusion of HBO cameras and the potential for the distraction of unwanted headlines and attention.

That changed this offseason with the Giants beginning the celebration of their 100th season of NFL competition as one of the league’s cornerstone franchises. We see the results of a cooperative effort between the Giants, HBO, and NFL Films beginning Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET (HBO, streaming on Max) with the debut episode of the first-ever offseason version of ‘Hard Knocks.’

“Excited for Giants fans and those who love the NFL to get a behind-the-scenes look at the process of building the 2024 Giants during these past few months, said Nilay Shah, Giants Senior Vice President, Marketing & Brand Strategy. “We look forward to showcasing our rich history on a national scale as we celebrate our 100th season.”

What will we learn about the Giants over the five Tuesday nights in July? That’s unknown, and why we will watch the best behind-the-scenes access to the Giants ever allowed. Here are some thoughts on things we might learn.

The real deal with Saquon

The Giants and Saquon Barkley parted ways this offseason, with Barkley signing a big — for a running back — free agent contract with the hated Philadelphia Eagles.

It is a saga that began in the 2023 offseason when the Giants chose to pay quarterback Daniel Jones and wound up sticking the franchise tag on an unhappy Barkley.

The Giants never made a real offer to Barkley this offseason. How contentious were things between Barkley and the Giants, particularly Barkley and GM Joe Schoen? Did the Giants want Barkley to stay?

The ‘Hard Knocks’ trailer offered some Barkley-Giants intrigue. Did the running back deny the Giants a chance to match the offer from the Eagles?

“Saquon, can you give me your word on that, or are you not going to give a chance,” Schoen says into a cell phone while apparently talking to Barkley.

What’s done is done and Barkley plays for the Eagles now. It will, though, be interesting to learn more about how the Barkley-Giants divorce went down.

The quarterback pursuit

We know that the Giants spent an extraordinary amount of time and effort getting to know the quarterbacks in the 2024 draft class. They particularly spent time in a variety of settings with J.J. McCarthy.

We know the Giants ended up with a ‘Drake Maye or bust’ attitude toward taking a quarterback in the draft.

What led to their conviction on Maye? How serious were they about trading with the New England Patriots to move up to No. 3 for Maye? What was the walk-away point?

Once Maye was off the table, why did they ultimately choose to pass on McCarthy at No. 6 and select wide receiver Malik Nabers?

Daniel Jones’ offseason

Between rehabbing his knee following surgery for a torn ACL, and dealing with all of the speculation about the Giants’ potentially drafting a replacement for him, it has been an interesting offseason for quarterback Daniel Jones.

Jones admitted after the draft that he “wasn’t fired up” about the idea of the Giants drafting a quarterback. He seemed to have an edge this spring that hadn’t been there in previous years. Hopefully, we get a little more of how Jones felt leading up to the draft.

The Giants insisted all offseason that Jones was on or ahead of schedule in his rehab. He worked in 7-on-7 all spring and looked healthy, making those proclamations look accurate.

Athletes always talk about the loneliness and drudgery of rehab from a major injury.

“I’ve gotten hurt, but not like this,” Jones said in the trailer.

Hopefully, we get a closer look at what an athlete at that level goes through in coming back from a big injury.

Major offseason decisions

We get a peek at a discussion between Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll before the decision to trade for edge defender Brian Burns. How much more will we find out?

What about the variety of free-agent decisions beyond Barkley? Why did they move on from Xavier McKinney? What went into the free agents they brought in?

Will we learn anything about what went on throughout the offseason between Darren Waller and the Giants?

Coaching staff shuffle

Wink Martindale’s exit from the Giants at the end of the 2023 season was explosive. We may not get any behind-the-scenes film on that since filming for ‘Hard Knocks’ had not begun at the time.

Still, Martindale wasn’t the only coach to leave. The full list:

• Special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey (fired)
• Offensive line coach Bobby Johnson (fired)
• Outside linebackers coach Drew Wilkins (fired)
• Defensive assistant Kevin Wilkins (fired)
• Strength coach Craig Fitzgerald (left to become Florida’s strength coach)
• Running backs coach Jeff Nixon (left to become Syracuse’s offensive coordinator)

Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka interviewed for a handful of head-coaching jobs. The Giants denied him a chance to interview for the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator job, then added assistant head coach to his title.

Daboll said this spring that the coaches were “doing a great job” and there was “a lot of good give and take.”

Hopefully, we learn more about the process of putting the coaching staff together.

Who is Joe Schoen?

Yes, he is the GM of the Giants. This version of ‘Hard Knocks’ is built around the Giants front office. That means we should get the best look at how Schoen does his job that we have ever had.