Former NFL Receiver Steve Smith, Sr. on Challenges of Giants’ Offense

Former NFL receiver Steve Smith Sr., whose 16-year NFL career saw him play most of those seasons wt the Carolina Panthers before spending the last three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, had a chance last year to come in at the invitation of head coach Brian Daboll to help the team’s young receivers, Malik Nabers and Jalin Hyatt, with advice on how to optimize their skill sets within the Giants’ system. 

During his time with the Giants, Smith got an up-close look at the intricacies of the Team's offense, and he came away with the impression that the system implemented by head coach Brian Daboll was one of the most complex systems he’s ever seen.

“I had the opportunity to go in there and just kind of sit in the meetings, understand the complexity of the offense,” Smith told James Palmer during a recent episode of his 89 podcast.  

“I believe that offense is a little bit too complex. They have a lot of one-word (plays) that tell everybody what to do. 

“But I was really confused when I was sitting in there because they had a word, and then something else, and then when they used something else that flipped it. But then that flipped the responsibilities, and everybody's supposed to know it. And it was complicated in my opinion.”

“Then, after practice, we were sitting in the meetings, and they showed a diagram. I said, ‘Oh, that's such and such and such and such.’ They said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Man, y'all should have just said that!’”

Smith isn't the first to describe the Giants’ offense as being complex, but this is worth noting because there is growing excitement surrounding rookie Jaxson Dart and how quickly he might receive the offense’s reins from projected starter Russell Wilson. 

The Giants are thought to be planning a full redshirt year for Dart, during which he’ll work behind the scenes on his mechanics and fully grasp the concepts Daboll and his staff have implemented.

But as Giants fans have seen in recent years, sometimes circumstances cause the best-laid plans to go astray. For example, Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor ended up on injured reserve two years ago, forcing the coaches to turn to undrafted rookie free agent Tommy DeVito to lead the offense. 

DeVito held his own when called upon, but it is very likely that, having seen the field as a rookie, he was not in the initial plans.  

Dart, for his part, will be afforded as much as he needs as he learns the complexities of the playbook. He will need to demonstrate to the coaching staff via classroom sessions and practice reps that he has it all down before he’s put out there on the field.

In the interim, veterans Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston will handle the heavy lifting for the Giants’ offense while Dart redshirts.

Although Smith considers the Giants’ offense complex, he also praises the concepts for being more in tune with what colleges are doing today.

“The complexity of offenses now and the verbiage and how it's communicated, what it's done, they've adapted to what guys are doing in the college system,” Smith said, noting how Daboll has almost three decades of experience as an offensive-minded coach. 

“So that's really cool. That's unique.”

Smith added that, thanks to the familiarity of the concepts, that approach could help young players hit the ground running much faster.

“These teams are adapting and getting accustomed to how their players are being coached in college. And so they're trying to transition that into the NFL a bit, so there's not as huge a transitional gap,” he said.

“Why is that important? If a guy can play fast because he's confident in knowing what he has to run, now that's one less thing he has to concern himself with. And now he can just focus on running around, what's the defense, and get my depth.”