What are the biggest problems on the New York Giants roster to overcome in 2024?
The New York Giants roster is ranked 27th in the league, according to NFL.com’s power rankings for 2024. And as such, they have some glaring weaknesses entering into the season. The Giants secured the No. 6 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft with a record of 6-11 in 2023, so let’s just say this isn’t a huge shocker. New York has a lot to prove in 2024, and the Giants will have to overcome some of their biggest weaknesses to compete for the upcoming season.
Let’s dive in.
Biggest Weaknesses on New York Giants Roster
Offensive Line
The Giants offensive line is currently ranked 29th out of the 32 NFL teams. They allowed 85 sacks last year, by far the most sacks allowed by a team in 2024. The second-worst team had 20 less sacks than the Giants last season. It was historically bad for the G-Men, as it was the second-most allowed sacks ever – at least since they became a recorded stat. They ended the 2023 season ranked dead last according to PFF. However, it wasn’t just last year where the group had struggles.
The Giants OL has been consistently bad in the last decade, even with the team pouring resources and claiming it’s a top priority. This is a unit that needs to improve just to be league average. It is the Giants biggest weakness on the roster by far, given that the game is won in the trenches. If you can’t protect the QB, you cannot win.
Offensive tackle Evan Neal was selected seventh overall in 2022, and so far has been a disappointment. Between missing assignments and not showing clear fundamentals of the game, it’s been a rough start to his career. Neal’s earned a PFF grade of 44.1 in 2022, and 39.8 last season. And to be honest, if he wasn’t selected seventh overall, he’d already have been benched by now. Neal will need to step it up this season if the unit is to improve, especially playing at right tackle.
Meanwhile, center John Michael Schmitz also needs to step up his game. JMS was drafted in the third round in 2023, and has underperformed as their current center. Schmitz earned a 41.4 PFF grade last year.
Offensive tackle Andrew Thomas has been the Giants’ only solid player over the last couple seasons, but has been battling injuries and needs to remain healthy if he’s to help stabilize the unit overall.
However, there is reason for hope for the upcoming season.
The most impactful move from the Giants this offseason was firing offensive line coach Bobby Johnson and replacing him with Carmen Bricillo. Bricillo comes from the Raiders, where his unit consistently performed above the level that the roster talent would imply. They consistently performed well, placing in the top 10 in 2022 and 2023 by season’s end.
The Giants also signed Jon Runyan Jr. from the Packers. Runyan has played well throughout his tenure and hasn’t missed a game in his four-year career. They also signed Jermaine Eluemunor from the Raiders, who is familiar with the new offensive line coach. His versatility could be huge for a unit that has a lot of uncertainty in how it’ll perform. Let’s see if Coach Bricillo and the new additions can help overcome their deficiencies to date.
Quarterbacks
Failing to draft a QB in 2024, the current QB room is Daniel Jones, Drew Lock, and Tommy Devito, which gives fans a lot of uncertainty.
Jones only started six games last year, and had the worst QBR among all starting QBs in the NFL last season. He only threw for two TDs over those six games while adding six interceptions during that span.
Drew Lock doesn’t inspire much confidence either, only showing flashes of good games here and there over his four-year career across two different NFL franchises. His offseason for Big Blue hasn’t been so great either according, to beat reporters.
Tommy “Cutlets” Devito was fun for a few games last year as the third string QB. Devito even gave an ounce of hope that he could become a starting caliber player, only to be exposed as the season progressed and relegated back to third string status.
Jones can’t be blamed entirely for his abysmal 2023 showing, given that the O-Line ranked dead last and allowed a historic amount of sacks. It’s hard for a QB to succeed when they are given no time in the pocket or to go through their reads.
In 2022, Jones led the team to the playoffs and secured their first playoff win in a decade. If Jones can return to that level of play, and the OL takes a step forward, the team may get better play out of the QB position in 2024 and have more success.
Tight End
With the retirement of rapper Darren Waller, the only tight end on the roster that’s played for the team before is Daniel Bellinger.
Bellinger, drafted in 2022, performed well in his rookie year. However, he took a step back in 2023, with PFF giving him a 49.1 rating after a 61.3 rating back in 2022. However, there’s hope he can turn things around in 2024. Bellinger is incredibly athletic given that his RAS score is a 9.63, so there’s at least some solid fundamental talent there
Theo Johnson is a fourth-round pick from the 2024 NFL draft. And, while he flashed at times during spring activities, he still has a lot to prove coming into the NFL. Doing good things in the spring isn’t bad, but it doesn’t mean anything until it’s put on the field during an actual game. Johnson was named to the 2024 All-Breakout Team by Jarrett Bailey, so he could carve out a significant role for himself. However, until they prove themselves, this unit is a clear weakness for the team.
Lawrence Cager, Chris Manhertz, and Jack Stoll are the other tight ends on the 90-man roster, and not all are guaranteed to make the 53-man team come September.
Running Back
With the departure of Saquon Barkley from New York, there’s uncertainty to how the running back room will shape out on the Giants roster. The Giants signed Devin Singletary to a three-year deal to fill the void left by Saquon, but he’s yet to post a single 1,000-yard season in the five years he’s been in the league.
Singletary’s profile makes him more in line to be a committee back. And, the fact that he’s never broken 1,000 yards makes that seem fitting. To his credit though, he did beat out starter Dameon Pierce on the Houston Texans last year, and finished with solid metrics running as well as a 4.2 YPC rate.
The Giants also have Eric Gray, who was drafted in the fifth round in 2023 out of Oklahoma. In his rookie year he had a small role in the offense, only handling kickoff and punt return duties when called upon. He carried the ball 17 times for a measly 48 yards (2.8 YPC), and added another six catches for 22 yards. We’ll see if he can become a part of the rotation in a committee, but his rookie production doesn’t imply he’ll have much impact on the team.
There’s also Tyrone Tracy Jr., a fifth-round rookie out of Purdue. Fifth round rookies have a tough time making a stamp in the NFL, but Tracy does have some good metrics.
For starters, he’s a good sized back at 5 feet 11 inches and 210 pounds. In the 2024 draft class he ranked first in yards after contact, third in broken tackles per touch, and sixth in yards per attempt. He could easily take over Gray’s current role as the RB2 on the depth chart and have some value in a committee backfield.
Rushing Defense
The Giants run defense was bottom of the league in a number of categories in 2023. Last season, New York allowed 132.4 rushing yards per game and 24 rushing TDs, ranking 29th. The Giants are going to need to stop the run if they have any chance of succeeding this season. However, there is reason to believe that their run defense could be much better this year.
The Giants hired Shane Bowen from the Tennessee Titans as their defensive coordinator. Bowen was a successful DC through his three-year stint with the Titans from 2021 to 2023. In 2023, the Titans had the best red zone scoring defense, goal-to-go defense, and third down conversion rate in the red zone. They also ranked second in TD efficiency inside the 30 and in opponent third-and-short conversions.
From 2021-2023, the Titans surrendered the fewest rushing yards per game and allowed just 3.7 yards per carry. They allowed the third-fewest TDs over that three year period with just 33 rushing TDs total. In Bowen’s first year as DC in 2021, the Titans had the second-best rushing defense in the NFL, only allowing 84.6 yards per game.
On top of a good coach, the Giants also traded for and extended Brian Burns, a top 10 edge rusher to pair with Kayvon Thibodeaux on the outside. On top of that, they still have Dexter Lawrence, Bobby Okereke, and Micah McFadden on the defensive line. New York has talent on the roster and a coach that should make the Giants defense play better. Let’s see them put it all together.
Other Notes
Wide Receivers
The wide receiver group was originally considered to be on this list, due to how inept the passing attack was last season. However, because they drafted Malik Nabers sixth overall, a starting lineup of Nabers, Wan’Dale Robinson, Jalin Hyatt, and Darius Slayton, doesn’t look too bad on paper. However, they are still worth being mentioned.
Nabers will likely be a star in the league, as he’s looked the part so far in the offseason and in college. However, he still needs to prove it on the NFL field.
Meanwhile, Robinson comes with high praise from PFF who mentioned him as a triple-threat alongside stars like Puka Nacua and Amon-Ra St. Brown, so he could very well end up being a top-end WR2 this offense needs. This year, the wide receivers on the Giants roster don’t project to be a weakness for New York, but the jury is still out on how much it’s progressed from last year.
Passing Defense
The Giants passing defense ranked 19th last season, so they weren’t included as a weakness here. With the way the rules are set up, it’s always easier to make up for a weak passing defense with a strong rushing offense. And since it was the other way around, it’s safe to say their passing defense wasn’t the problem last year.
However, the team did lose Xavier McKinney in free agency, who was a top contributor to their secondary. And as of right now, the impact of his departure remains unknown. It’s possible that without him, and a Deonte Banks regression, their passing defense could end up being a weakness for the team.
Evan Solomon
Evan is originally from Queens, NY and grew up on Long Island, and grew to love The New York Giants being surrounded by Giants fans. He's a social media marketer and content creator by day, which is what led him to joining The League Winners creating content about something he loves - football. Keep an eye out for his fantasy content and NFL team breakdowns.