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The NFL off-season has officially begun and is off to a questionable start for some Giants fans. To start, the loss of 26-year-old superstar running back Saquon Barkley, who has recorded multiple 1,000-yard rushing seasons, crippled many Giants fans. Not only did they fail to re-sign arguably their best player, but they also lost him to their division rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles. However, it is worth noting that although Barkley is incredibly talented and one of the most spectacular prospects in recent years, he has missed playing time due to injury for most of his time in the league, leaving many to question his availability in the far future.
Although this may come back to hurt them, the Giants did compensate for the loss of the star running back, signing former Bills and Texans running back Devin Singletary. While he is not as much of an explosive playmaker as Barkley, he has been incredibly consistent in his five years in the league, averaging 809.8 yards per season and running for more than 4.2 yards per carry every year, which is incredibly solid. The Giants were ranked as the fourth worst offensive team last year with Barkley, which raises many questions on how exactly this offense is going to function without him.
Daniel Jones, the starting quarterback and former sixth pick in the 2019 draft, played only four full games before suffering a torn ACL in a game against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 5. In that amount of time, he threw for 909 yards with a 2:6 TD::INT ratio and rushed for 206 yards and one touchdown. Although they’re not great numbers, Jones was without his all-pro left tackle in Andrew Thomas, making the offensive line more lackluster than it already was., This also took more time away from Jones to make plays than in years past. It did not help that The Giants’ receiving room was awful. However, The Giants seemed to have found their wide receiver one in rookie Malik Nabers, drafting him in the 2024 NFL draft with the fifth overall pick. Nabers was one of the best in his draft class coming out of LSU with over 3,000 yards in just three years, most of which came from his last year at LSU, totaling 1,569 yards receiving and 14 touchdowns. His deep-threat ability and elite separation on routes could potentially be a major spark in the offense considering The Giants’ coordinators and the fact that Daniel Jones can get him the ball efficiently. Nonetheless, it’s been a bit of an up-and-down roller coaster for Giants fans this off-season, but they should be fairly keen on this new look for The Giants on the offensive side of the field.
On the other side of things, The Giants make up for their lackluster offense with their crushing defense, which has only improved even more during this off-season. In 2023, the defense was second in the NFL in number of possessions blitzed. Their pressure rate and third down defense came out to be ninth in the league, allowing only a 37% completion rate on third downs against opponents. The Giants made a great move during free agency by signing 25-year-old star pass-rushing Linebacker Brian Burns who can further put pressure on the QB. Although The Giants have an extremely talented defensive line with all-pro defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence and linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux, the defense will eventually give up points. So now, the question becomes, “how can The Giants offense keep up with other teams?” Even with the addition of Malik Nabers and Devin Singletary, there are still many question marks on what the offense can achieve this season and whether or not they will be able to improve on their horrible 6-11 record last year. The Giants’ coaching staff is under pressure to come up with a plan that maximizes their current roster’s potential. In the fiercely tough NFC East, the team will have a difficult time winning games if its offensive scheme doesn’t step up. It’s hard to predict what’ll happen this time, but if it is anything like it was last year, The Giants are looking at yet another losing season.