Giants’ lack of moves at the NFL trade deadline speaks volumes about the current state of the team

The New York Giants left the NFL Trade Deadline without making any moves

Joe DeLeone NFL News Writer
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Jul 23, 2025; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen, left, talks with New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll during training camp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The NFL trade deadline has now passed, and the New York Giants made no trades as they prepare for their final stretch of the 2025 season.

Teams across the NFL took massive swings to add star talent, like the Indianapolis Colts acquiring Sauce Gardner and the Dallas Cowboys trading for Quinnen Williams. Or there are the New York Jets, who looked in the mirror and decided they wanted to completely tear down the roster with an Oklahoma City Thunder-type approach to rebuilding.

But why didn’t the Giants do anything while others were extremely active?

Giants make no trades at the deadline

Shockingly, the Giants were one of the quietest teams today. After they beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 6, many speculated they’d fight to add a star receiver to aid Jaxson Dart’s development.

The receiver room was incredibly depleted because of a season-ending injury to star receiver Malik Nabers. A trade for someone like Jaylen Waddle or Chris Olave was rumored to be on the table. They could have traded for Jakobi Meyers or Rashid Shaheed, who were moved by their respective teams today. Instead, the Giants did not add any receiver help.

Even with the loss of rookie running back Cam Skattebo, they didn’t aim to help at the running back position, given the unit’s incredible depletion. It’s unclear at the moment whether the Giants chose to avoid making trades because of the state of their season, but it doesn’t seem they were as aggressive as once assumed when the franchise had hopes of a turnaround.

Additionally, now that the season has completely collapsed, the Giants didn’t attempt to move backups Evan Neal or Jalin Hyatt. The two former high draft picks have significantly underperformed, and seemingly no team in the league valued their services.

Ultimately, the inaction seems to signal one thing: the organization wants to stay where they’re at and see how the season finishes.

Had ownership greenlit a massive trade for a big-name receiver, it could have depleted a future coach and general manager’s resources for the 2026 or 2027 NFL Drafts. The Giants would have been negotiating from a state of desperation that any opposing franchise could have smelled from a mile away. If GM Joe Schoen pulled off a deal, it potentially could have been lopsided with him trying to save his job.

As much as fans may have wanted a trade to happen today, it was better off for the franchises’ future that they did not sell any future assets. Once Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll are fired at the end of the year, a new GM and coach can be well-equipped to rebuild the team. With so many talented young players, their future draft picks would do more than the desperate moves of the previous regime.