LI Jets, Giants fans have high hopes for season but many curb their enthusiasm

The Jets and Giants are coming off campaigns where they were among the worst teams in the NFL. But with the preseason kicking off this weekend, both organizations enter 2026 with a fresh slate.

Even so, per DraftKings’ win total lines, the Jets (5.5) and Giants (7.5) are both projected to finish under .500 and again miss the playoffs.

If there’s any time to be optimistic, it's now. That’s how 77-year-old Giants fan Steven Rice of Westbury and 51-year-old Jets fan Rodney O’Neal of Holbrook feel right now.

“I'm very optimistic,” Rice said. “I think they've done some really, really good things.”

While Rice noted the Giants, who fired head coach Brian Daboll after a 4-13 campaign, have a difficult schedule, he said he’d like to see them win eight or nine games. Thus far in training camp, he added he’s happy to see that star wide receiver Malik Nabers, who tore his ACL in Week 4 last season, appears to be recovering well.

Meanwhile, Rice is excited about the impact that new head coach John Harbaugh and his coaching staff will have on second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart. Rice lauded Dart’s talent, but noted the former first-round pick, who took plenty of big hits as a rookie, needs to stay healthy.

“For the last half dozen years, [Harbaugh] has been coaching a quarterback who is a gifted runner,” Rice said. “Lamar Jackson has all the talent in the world, and needed to be taught how to play in the NFL system so that he can stay alive and be productive to his team, and I hope that Harbaugh can teach that to Dart.”

The Jets, who went 3-14 last season, traded for Geno Smith to be their starting quarterback after a failed Justin Fields experiment.

O’Neal said this is the most excited he’s been for a season since the Jets drafted Smith in 2013. Smith was a Jet from 2013-16, most notably finding success as a two-time Pro Bowl quarterback with the Seahawks since.

“Everybody laughs at me at work because I'm all in,” O’Neal said. “I'm thinking 9-8, I'm thinking 10-7. We got a rough schedule, but I still think that if the defense can hold opponents to 20, 21, no more than 24, 25 points, I think Geno can put some points on the board with the targets that we got.”

While Rice and O’Neal are optimistic, Joseph Cardio and Tom Wilson were more measured in their expectations.

Cardio, a 33-year-old Giants fan from Centereach, highlighted that expectations for the Giants are high, but that “we got to pump the brakes a little bit.”

“I think people are calling for the Super Bowl already. I’m not one of those people just yet,” he said.

Cardio predicted the Giants will go 7-10. Depending on how this season goes, he’s hoping there’s at least a playoff run come next year.

With the new coaching staff, numerous players recovering from injuries last season and fresh faces, Cardio wants to see Dart take a step forward this season and for the roster as a whole to click.

While he’s also excited to bring his Odell Beckham Jr. jersey out of retirement, Cardio isn’t expecting the Giants to take the NFL by storm.

The expectation, I mean, you want to have a way better record than you did last year,” he said. “My expectation is for them to be really competitive. Whether that results in wins, I'm not sure.”

Wilson, a 46-year-old Jets fan from Massapequa Park, similarly wants to see the Jets grow. Specifically he is talking about second-year head coach Aaron Glenn.

“If we have another year with no more than four wins, I can't see him staying,” Wilson said of Glenn.

If everything goes right, Wilson can see the Jets going around .500; the last time the Jets finished a season with a winning record was in 2015.

Unlike O’Neal, Wilson isn’t excited to see Smith taking over center, but he did like the Jets’ offseason moves.

“I'm more positive for this season than I was last season,” he said. “I don't see us being a playoff team this season, but I think we're going in the right direction.”

Whether the Jets and Giants move in the right direction remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: both teams are looking to take a step forward, and their fans are hoping they will.