Cowboys 'Most Unstable Franchise'? A Closer Look: Giants Tracker

AUG 31 UNSTABLE COWBOYS? The Dallas Cowboys are being billed as being among the "most unstable franchises'' in the NFL. ... an opinion of some agents (via The Athletic) that deserves a closer look.

According to The Athletic's annual agent survey, owner Jerry Jones is the prime reason to blame for the Cowboys shortcomings. The group voted Dallas as the third-most unstable franchise in the league.

"I don’t think they want to win above all," one agent said an agent. "Jerry wants to turn profits and make headlines. I think the game has passed him by."

But wait. The Panthers got nine votes, the Raiders eight. And then the Jets, Jags, Cardinals and Cowboys all got three votes. So ...

First, isn't it interesting that when we review and release our versions of the story, we all put the Cowboys in the headline?

And second ... The Cowboys - in addition to being a headline-gathering circus - are annual playoff contenders, with back-to-back-to-back 12-5 seasons and playoff berths.

In short, not that the Giants would "want to be the Cowboys,'' God forbid. But if the Cowboys "don't want to win'' but do so anyway and are therefore "unstable'' ... what does that make the Giants? And a couple dozen other teams?

AUG 26 DEFENDING DANIEL Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is under siege. What else is new? And Jones' teammate Darius Slayton seems to be a bit sick of it.

“It’s easy to say negative things once there’s a negative narrative around a person,” Slayton said. But it doesn’t always make it ... true.''

Slayton believes the negative assessments are untrue, and that the abuse his QB takes is far worse that what quarterbacks like Trevor Lawrence and Justin Herbert are subjected to because of the New York media spotlight.

That may be accurate. Of course, playing in New York and winning has the same level of bloated positive rewards. ... and winning is the only real way to fix that "narrative.''

AUG 11 – SCHMITZ BACK – The New York Giants got healthier on Sunday, activating offensive tackle Evan Neal off the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) List.

While that demanded an official roster move, New York’s second instance of good news did not. Center John Michael Schmitz is returning to practice.

Per Art Stapleton , head coach Brian Daboll revealed that Schmtiz would return to practice, though it’s unlikely he sees time in team drills right away. He’ll be doing individual drills to best ramp up while monitoring his shoulder injury that kept him out to this point.

While Schmitz is expected to start at center for New York this year, his spot shouldn’t be seen as iron clad. Like Neal, Schmitz struggled mightily in 2023, and after the signing of interior lineman Greg Van Roten, the Giants can feel more comfortable about their depth up front.

Van Roten will see time at guard, but his versatility could come in handy if Schmitz struggles at camp and into the season.

AUG 10 – RODGERS RAMP UP – The New York Giants played their first preseason game on Thursday, beginning their summer circuit that will end on Aug. 24 against the New York Jets.

While the Jets begin their preseason on Saturday, they’ll do so without quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He’s healthy, nearly a year removed from his Achilles tear, but New York is taking every precaution. However, the Jets generally like to play their starters in the final preseason game.

Recently, head coach Robert Saleh spoke about that possibility.

“We haven’t had final decisions yet at all with regards to the third game,” Saleh said, via SNY. “You guys know me, the third game is usually when we like to play our guys and depending on how today went, how Saturday goes, and next week’s work with the Panthers and the following week with the Giants, I’ll make that decision.”

On whether or not that meant there’s a chance he lets Rodgers play, Saleh was brief, but seemingly open-minded.

“Yeah.”

Last year, Rodgers played well against the Giants, including a moment of trash talk with defensive lineman Jihad Ward. New York will have to wait and see if some exhibition game revenge is in store.

AUG 9 – ROURKE OFF THE BOARD – On Thursday, the New York Giants beat the Detroit Lions 14-3 to win their preseason opener.

In the process, they temporarily lost backup quarterback Drew Lock, who started the exhibition festivities. The quarterback went down with an oblique strain and hip pointer ( per Jordan Raanan ). Missing anything more than a few weeks would be unexpected.

Nevertheless, that left Tommy DeVito and Daniel Jones as the only quarterbacks on the roster, and opened the door for a short-term free agent signing.

Quarterback Nathan Rourke, who was with the Giants earlier in camp, figured to be an option – at least for those of us not up to date on the whereabouts of free agent quarterbacks. As it turns out, Rourke signed with the Atlanta Falcons on Aug. 4.

New York waived Rourke to let him find a better opportunity elsewhere, though the Falcons don’t present as such on paper. With the Giants needing a warm body for practice this week and the upcoming preseason contest, it wouldn’t be too surprising if he made his way back. For now, though, he remains off the board, forcing the Giants to look elsewhere.

AUG 6 – COLOR RUSH CANCELED – The New York Giants are wearing their “Century Red” uniforms for Week 1’s season-opening festivities against the Minnesota Vikings.

It will come at a cost.

Teams are only allowed a certain number of uniforms, and the Giants will be wearing four different jerseys this year.

The beloved white color rush uniforms didn’t make the cut .

It’s unclear whether it’s a one-year hiatus in favor of the 100th anniversary jerseys or a more permanent pivot. But for the 2024 season, New York will go without arguably its best uniform. It was most recently worn in Week 6’s loss against the Buffalo Bills last season.

AUG 4 – ELI’S LATEST PASS – The city-wide discourse between New York Giants fans being split among the New York Mets and Yankees continued on Sunday when the New York Yankees helped the Giants celebrate their 100th anniversary.

Before their game against the Toronto Blue Jays, former Giants quarterback Eli Manning threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

It may have sailed a little high, but Manning kept the velocity his older brother current in the later stages of his career.

You can watch the pitch here .

To commemorate the anniversary, New York also gave away Manning bobbleheads , with the quarterback in a Yankees uniform.