The New York Giants were one of the surprise teams in the NFL this season. Not many expected them to be competitive week in and week out, let alone make the postseason. They also won a game in the playoffs, defeating the Minnesota Vikings, before bowing out to the Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round.
The Giants organization will now get a jump on their offseason with a brighter outlook than they might have anticipated at this time last year.
We’ll take a look at three areas they’ll need to focus on.
Stopping The Run
Even though New York had a successful season by most measures, their final game against the Eagles will leave a bad taste in many fans’ mouths heading into the offseason. With their playoff loss included, the Giants fell to Philadelphia three times throughout the 2022 season, and it’s clear that they’re going to need to compete more efficiently against the NFC East division winners in the near future.
In that contest, Philadelphia did whatever they wanted on the ground, as quarterback Jalen Hurts scampered for first downs, while running backs Miles Sanders, Boston Scott and Kenneth Gainwell gashed the Giants as well. New York didn’t provide much resistance, and that’s going to have to change.
Look for New York to bring in some stout run defenders via free agency or during April’s NFL Draft, with an eye towards contain the rushing attack of their division rivals.
Questions Under Center And In The Backfield
It’s a little unusual for a starting quarterback and a starting running back to hit free agency at the same time, but that’s exactly what’s taking place with Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley’s respective contract situations. It seems unlikely that New York would decide to move on from both players, but their lack of urgency to get a deal done with each makes this an intriguing situation.
Jones had arguably the best year of his career not by putting up gaudy statistics, but by taking care of the football. He turned the ball over fewer times in 2022 than at any point in his career prior, which kept the Giants in good position on offense. Barkley bounced back from an uninspiring season in 2021 to look more like the player many thought he would become when he was drafted into the league.
It’ll be fascinating to watch how New York handles each player in the coming months, as they both proved to be integral to the team’s surprise run to the postseason.
Taking A Good Look At Golladay
In an effort to bolster the amount of talent around Daniel Jones, the Giants brought former Detroit Lions wide receiver Kenny Golladay into the fold before the 2021 campaign. To say that the partnership hasn’t worked out has been an understatement.
Golladay’s salary cap figure for the next two seasons is over $21 million, which is incredibly steep considering the fact that the Giants decided not to utilize him in a wide receiver room that was devoid of much talent.
It seemed like he started to re-ingratiate himself back into the team’s good graces down the stretch, but his cap figure is much too high for a player who hasn’t been consistently productive. It’s possible the Giants will look to trade or release Golladay, or restructure his contract.
