It’s not like we haven’t been asking them for weeks, but with the Jets’ and Giants’ seasons officially over after Sunday’s parting victories — the Jets ended their Patriots curse with a win in Bill Belichick’s likely New England finale, and the Giants stunningly crushed the spiraling Eagles — their biggest offseason questions can come firmly to the forefront.
There are plenty, and how they’re answered will define the futures of both regimes in charge.
How do they handle the quarterback situation?
Daniel Jones lasted just six games this season in Year 1 of a four-year, $160 million contract. He perfectly timed a career-best, fully healthy season with his free agency then quickly regressed to the inconsistent quarterback Giants fans have gotten accustomed to.
Injuries to his neck and knee derailed his season, which was filled with concerning performances anyway.
Jones will be on the team. Period. The Giants can get out of his contract easier after next year and even easier the year after that, but for 2024, Jones and his $47 million-plus cap hit will be on the roster.
Do the Giants use their top pick in the draft, now set as the No. 6 overall selection, on a quarterback? If they do, will he start right away, or sit behind Jones?
As long as Jones’ recovery following ACL repair surgery goes to plan, it’s difficult to see Jones not being the starter to begin the season. But there certainly could be an intriguing new face in the quarterback room.
Will they bring back Saquon Barkley?
Barkley has been the Giants’ biggest star and attraction since he was drafted with the No. 2 overall pick in 2018.
Like Jones, he turned in a career season in 2022 and was pivotal in the Giants winning a playoff game, but unlike Jones could not come to a long-term agreement after a contract negotiation saga. The Giants used the franchise tag on Barkley for 2023.
Barkley rejected a deal that would have guaranteed him between $22 million and $23 million, The Post’s Paul Schwartz previously reported. It’s difficult to see Barkley getting a similar offer now.
His numbers were down this season (962 rushing yards, which ranked 16th in the NFL, on a 3.9-yard-per-carry average in 14 games) and his injury concerns resurfaced. The Giants could tag him again, but it would cost $12 million, an annual salary the Giants did not want to pay last year. Why would they want to now, when Barkley is another year older?
Maybe they find common ground, or maybe Barkley takes a discount to stay. But it increasingly seems the two sides are destined to separate.
Xavier McKinney, the fourth-year safety who tallied two interceptions Sunday, is another important Giants free agent.
How to fix the offensive line
Stud left tackle Andrew Thomas and center John Michael Schmitz, who completed his rookie season, are the only two Giants offensive linemen you can pencil in as starters next year.
Ben Bredeson and Justin Pugh are set to be free agents, and Evan Neal struggled mightily before his season was cut short due to an ankle injury.
Where are the upgrades coming from?
Who’s staying and going on the coaching staff?
Offensive line coach Bobby Johnson is squarely on the hot seat after that unit’s showing.
And there is a strong chance at least one — if not more — of the three coordinators is replaced.
There is reportedly some friction between head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, and Mike Kafka’s offense plummeted back to Earth after he received head coaching interviews last offseason. Thomas McGaughey’s special teams struggled as well.
How to handle backup QB
The Jets’ season was derailed by Aaron Rodgers’ torn Achilles and the team’s lack of a competent backup. The Jets ended up wasting largely stellar defensive performances with laughable quarterback production.
Zach Wilson’ days with the franchise are done, and Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian were awful as fill-ins.
Do the Jets sign one of the better backup options to play behind the 40-year-old Rodgers? Tyrod Taylor, Gardner Minshew, Jake Browning and Jacoby Brissett will be free agents.
Or do the Jets draft an heir apparent and have him apprentice behind Rodgers for a year or two?
Can the Jets bring back Bryce Huff?
Huff broke out as one of the NFL’s best pass rushers and finished with 10 sacks, which will now make him coveted on the open market.
Pass rusher is one of the Jets’ deepest positions, and first-round pick Will McDonald barely could crack the rotation this season. Do they see McDonald as a cheaper replacement for Huff?
Do they ask John Franklin-Myers to take a pay cut to help make room for Huff?
How to fix the offensive line
Like the Giants, the Jets’ offensive line was a mess, and they have little certainty going into next year.
Joe Tippmann (who exited Sunday’s game due to an ankle injury) and Alijah Vera-Tucker (who tore his Achilles in Week 5) are likely the only two you can pencil in as 2024 starters.
Joe Douglas made it his mission when he was hired to fix this team’s offensive line, and it remains a glaring weakness.
If they want to get the most out of Rodgers, it starts with protecting him.
Can the Jets bring in a new weapon on offense?
Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall are studs, but the offense is void of dynamic playmakers after them.
Could Douglas swing a trade for the Raiders’ Davante Adams, venture into the free-agent wide receiver market, or use one of the Jets’ top picks (their first pick is No. 10 overall) on a pass catcher?
How do they balance the need for playmakers with the need for new offensive lineman?
Tom Thibodeau should be an example to follow, not an outlier that is scrutinized.
Though he already receives some, the Knicks’ head coach deserves even more praise.
The Knicks, up to 21-15 and fifth place in the Eastern Conference, perfectly embody the city they represent — they’re tough, relentless and don’t much care what anyone else thinks about them.
It all stems from Thibodeau, who exudes those qualities.
For years, Thibodeau has drawn criticism from the so-called “minutes police” for supposedly wearing out his stars with heavy workloads. Entering Sunday, Jalen Brunson has played the second-most minutes in the league and Julius Randle ranks third. Only one other team, the Bulls (coincidentally the team with which Thibodeau developed that reputation), had two players in the top 10.
That work rate is what so many New York fans love about these Knicks. In an era of load management, the Knicks are old-school.
Across town, the Nets were fined $100,000 last week for pretty much waving a white flag in a Dec. 27 loss to the Bucks — in front of their own fans — resting Nic Claxton, Spencer Dinwiddie, Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith and then not playing Mikal Bridges, Cam Thomas and Royce O’Neale after the first quarter.
It was a terrible look for a skidding team, and head coach Jacque Vaughn, whose affable personality has made him popular, took a hit to his reputation.
You’ll never see Thibodeau’s Knicks do that. Quite the opposite.
Randle played through an ankle injury to start the season, and his performances suffered as a result. He came under criticism, but he trudged through it and is now playing his best basketball of the season.
While Brunson’s scoring exploits garner most of the attention, he’s as tough as any player in the league, willing to put his body on the line to help his team — his 22 charges drawn leads the league.
How many other teams can say that about their leading scorer and star?
There’s a reason nearly every opposing coach and a plethora of opposing players point to a need to combat the Knicks’ physicality and relentlessness.
Those have only increased since the Knicks acquired OG Anunoby, an old-fashioned, defense-oriented player who fits Thibodeau’s ideology to a tee (one Thibodeau favorite with those traits in spades, veteran big man Taj Gibson, was waived Sunday before his salary became guaranteed).
The Knicks are 4-0 with Anunoby.
This team takes no nights — heck, no minutes — off. We should be celebrating that.
It was obvious in the Knicks’ 121-105 shellacking of the Wizards on Saturday night. After winning their third in a row Friday night with a scintillating upset of the 76ers, a trip to Washington to face one of the league’s bottom-feeders made for a classic letdown game where many would overlook the Wizards.
Not these Knicks. Not under Thibodeau.
They came out firing from the opening tip and blew out their opponents. These Knicks don’t overlook anybody.
These Knicks exemplify everything Thibodeau is about. They’re surging as a result.
The Mets’ rotation will look a lot different in 2024 than it did in 2023.
To start last season, it was a star-studded and expensive unit, led by Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.
This time around, under David Stearns, it’s full of less acclaimed pitchers on low-risk contracts whom the Mets are banking on to provide high reward.
On Sunday, per The Post’s Jon Heyman, the Mets signed left-hander Sean Manaea to a two-year, $28 million contract, which represents their biggest contract doled out this offseason (it has an opt-out following the 2024 season).
Manaea joins a rotation with Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana, Luis Severino, Adrian Houser and a lot of question marks.
Senga impressed in his rookie season and was a rare bright spot for the Mets, but it would be premature to call him an ace.
Severino is coming off by far the worst year of his career with the Yankees, at times frustrated to the point of tears with how poorly he was pitching (6.65 ERA in 89.1 innings). But he was also hampered by injuries, and the Mets are hoping for a resurgence of his Bronx glory days with improved health.
Stearns knows Houser from his days with the Brewers, and the Mets had to give up very little to acquire him from Milwaukee.
Manaea, who turns 32 next month, brings another lefty option behind the incumbent Quintana to an otherwise righty-heavy rotation.
He’s had an up-and-down career, most recently pitching to a 4.44 ERA and career-high 9.8 strikeouts per innings with the Giants in 2023 thanks to an uptick in fastball velocity and the addition of an effective sweeper. He previously had stints with the A’s and Padres.
But no, there won’t be any stars in this rotation. Instead, there’s a lot of hoping for best-case scenarios, which rarely actually seems to happen for this franchise.
The NFL playoff field was finalized in Week 18.
In the AFC, the Bills rallied to leapfrog the Dolphins for the division title and No. 2 seed. The Texans came out on top of the AFC South, and the Steelers reached the postseason at the Jaguars’ expense. Get those Peacock logins ready.
In the NFC, the Cowboys prevailed in the East to set up a Mike McCarthy Bowl against the Packers, who qualified with a win. There’s a Matthew Stafford Bowl, too. And Baker Mayfield’s Bucs won the South — no losing-record playoff team, after all.
???? Monday appears to be Decision Day for Bill Belichick in New England. The Post’s Steve Serby covered how the Jets relished sending the Patriots legend off to unemployment, or, um, another grumpy job with a loss.
???? Check out The Post’s first NFL mock draft of the offseason: There’s quarterbacks at 1-2-3, offensive-line help for the Giants and a new receiver for the Jets.
???? The college football national championship game is Monday night. Here’s how to watch Michigan-Washington with the eyes of an NFL Draft scout.
???? The Nets lost for the 11th time in 14 games — this one at home, in overtime, to the terrible Trail Blazers, despite 42 points from Mikal Bridges. Next stop: Paris.
???? Knicks over Sixers, St. John’s over Villanova, Giants over Eagles. That’s the measure of Philly revenge that New York sports fans deserve, writes The Post’s Mike Vaccaro.
⚾ The Dodgers added slugger Teoscar Hernandez to their offseason haul.
???? The Devils broke Connor Bedard’s jaw, and according to The Post’s Larry Brooks, the game turned into an electric, fight-filled throwback.
???? The PWHL keeps setting women’s hockey attendance records.
???? Rafael Nadal isn’t ready for the Australian Open. Coco Gauff couldn’t look more ready.
⚽ Torn ACLs are the scourge of women’s soccer. Sam Kerr is the latest superstar casualty.