Despite improvements, ESPN still has no love for New York Giants’ roster

The offseason is at an end for the New York Giants and the NFL as a whole.

The 32 teams are about to open training camp and start the push toward the regular season. Over the next month they’ll be paring their 90-man rosters down and we’ll start to get a much better idea of what the teams will look like in September.

ESPN analysts Mike Clay, Aaron Schatz, and Seth Walder collaborated to evaluate and rank all 32 rosters as a final offseason exercise.

We combined their rankings to form the ultimate preseason roster ranking, considering factors such as talent, age and production.

We didn’t stop there. Along with projecting every starting lineup, Clay detailed the strongest and weakest position groups for each team, Walder identified X factors and Schatz picked nonstarters who could have an outsized role this season.

The bottom line: They rank the Giants 27th in the NFL.

But let’s go over each section and why they made the decisions they did.

Biggest strengths

ESPN says: Defensive front. The Giants still have many major roster concerns, but they might have the league’s best defensive front. It starts at edge rusher with arguably the league’s most intimidating trio. Brian Burns is seventh in the NFL with 54.5 sacks since entering the league in 2019, Kayvon Thibodeaux ranks 21st with 17.0 over the past two seasons, and, as if that’s not enough, New York spent the third pick of April’s draft on Abdul Carter. The Giants’ D-Line also features one of the league’s top defensive tackles in Dexter Lawrence II (second-team All-Pro in 2022 and 2023). — Mike Clay

I don’t know how you could go anywhere else. Tacking Dexter Lawrence on as almost an afterthought at the end is a decision, but edge defenders do tend to garner most of the attention. Lawrence may not be able to replicate a season that had him on pace to finish with 12.5 or 13 sacks as a nose tackle, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be a (hugely) disruptive force.

The trio of Burns, Thibodeaux, and Carter should be absolutely terrifying to opposing offensive lines and will (hopefully) give opposing coordinators fits trying to scheme for them. Each of them are explosive, athletic, and versatile players, giving the Giants a huge number of options for creating pressure and havoc.

The biggest question about the unit here is who’ll be lining up next to Lawrence and when. The Giants added Darius Alexander (who had one of the highest pass rush win rates among the rookie defensive tackles), as well as depth pieces in Chauncey Golsten, Roy Robertson-Harris, and Jeremiah Ledbetter. I’m also curious to see how the experience of being forced into starting roles has impacted the development of Elijah Chatman and Jordon Riley.

Biggest weakness

ESPN says: Offensive line. The Giants are set to return all five starters from 2024, but that might not be a good thing. LT Andrew Thomas is very good, but he has missed substantial game action in recent seasons and doesn’t have a ton of help. LG Jon Runyan, C John Michael Schmitz Jr., RG Greg Van Roten and RT Jermaine Eluemunor all posted below-average-to-poor PFF grades and run block win rates last season, with all three interior linemen ranking bottom 20 in the latter stat among 92 qualified players. The draft provided minimal help, as fifth-round guard Marcus Mbow was the only OL investment. — Mike Clay

I’m just going to say it: If the Giants get a similar level of play from their offensive line in 2025 as they did prior to Andrew Thomas’ injury in 2024, and that is their greatest weakness, their roster is much better than 27th in the NFL.

The Giants’ offensive line simply was not the problem with the team to start the year. They were league-average in pass protection, and their run blocking improved as their chemistry developed over the course of the year. And frankly, I am expecting level of play as their baseline, with a realistic case for improvement.

Jermaine Eluemunor will have all offseason and camp to settle in at right tackle. He was initially signed with the intention of playing left guard, but was forced to right tackle after Evan Neal’s setback, and then over to left tackle following Thomas’ injury.

John Michael Schmitz is a young player who showed growth and improvement in his second year. Another offseason of work, as well as consistency in coaching, should lead to continued improvement. Development isn’t linear, and Schmitz has the tools to be successful.

Finally, Evan Neal could supplant Greg Van Roten at one of the guard positions. If so, he’s likely at least as good as Van Roten with the potential to be a significant upgrade. His transition inside is no sure thing, but the upside is significant if it works.

Of course, there are obvious concerns for the unit:

• We haven’t seen Andrew Thomas, how is he moving after surgery?
• What happens if Van Roten declines and Neal still can’t unseat him?
• What happens if John Michael Schmitz can’t continue to develop?

But just because those are realistic concerns, we shouldn’t take them as given.

2025 X-Factor

ESPN says: Safety Tyler Nubin. Despite being a rookie, Nubin led all defensive backs in run stop win rate last season among those with at least 50 qualifying plays. Now, he’ll be paired with Jevon Holland, an experienced safety who had success in Miami. If Nubin takes another step, Holland meets expectations and cornerback Paulson Adebo succeeds in his first season in New York, you can start to see how the back end of this defense could come together. — Seth Walder

This is a fair choice on Walder’s part.

One of the most interesting, and potentially exciting, aspects of the Giants in 2025 is the number of young players who could step up and be difference makers this year.

Nubin was obviously great last year, and played up to his billing as one of the best safeties in his draft class. Likewise, Dru Phillips was one of the most disruptive slot corners in the NFL, despite also being a rookie. If either takes the next step in their development, they could be legitimately special players.

On the offensive side, Tyrone Tracy averaged the same yards per touch as Saquon Barkley did as a Giant… Despite 2024 only being Tracy’s second year ever as a running back. He has fantastic quickness, vision, and contact balance and could be even better this year with better play around him on the offensive line, quarterback position, and at wide receiver. The combination of Tracy and Cam Skattebo could make for a very fun and dynamic rushing attack.

Theo Johnson is a rare athlete at the tight end position, but was unpolished coming out of Penn State. Brian Daboll has said that he believes Johnson has “Gronk” like potential as a TE 1. If he can realize that potential, the combination of he and Malik Nabers could make the Giants very tough to defend through the air.

And, apologies to Ed (who doesn’t want to hear anything about Jalin Hyatt), more consistent and aggressive quarterback play could allow him to be the explosive weapon he was drafted to be. Hyatt has been a frustrating player on tape, because while he has gotten open downfield, the Giants’ quarterbacks seldom looked his way.

The Giants have featured one of the least-explosive passing attacks in the NFL over the last several years, but a duo of Hyatt and Slayton would give them scary speed on the outside to stretch the field.

Nonstarter to know

ESPN says: Cornerback Cor’Dale Flott. Flott started 10 games last season but has been pushed to the bench because of the addition of Adebo. Flott’s coverage DVOA ranked 60th among qualifying cornerbacks, but he got better as the season went along. Flott is looking for the opportunity to play more this season and earn a second contract somewhere, as his rookie deal is about to end. — Aaron Schatz

Calling out Flott is an interesting choice, and potentially a very good one by Schatz.

Flott and Tae Banks have split starting duties in OTAs and mini-camp. And while that might not mean that there’s a full-blown camp battle for the starting job, Flott could at least be pushing the 2023 first rounder. He did absolutely improve over the course of 2024, and while I still expect Banks to be the starter, Flott has the potential to make things very interesting across from Paulson Adebo.

I mentioned Cam Skattebo as a potential X-factor for 2025, and he could fit in this category as well. Skattebo brings a very physical running style and despite being a relatively limited athlete, he has exceptional vision and contact balance. It wasn’t a coincidence that he was 2nd in rushing yardage (1,711) and 6th in rushing touchdowns (21) last year.

Adding Skattebo’s punishing running style to contrast a much more explosive passing offense is definitely an exciting thought. Unless, of course, he becomes the starter — in that case he goes back into the “X-Factor” category.

Final thoughts

I can’t fault anyone who is skeptical of the Giants in 2025. They need to prove that they’re capable of being consistently competitive before anyone should put their faith in them.

So I won’t argue with anyone who dismisses them after a decade of irrelevance.

That said, after watching a considerable amount of tape on them this off-season, I can’t help but come to the conclusion that this team has a lot of potential on the roster. Part of that is due to the inherently optimistic philosophy taught by the Scouting Academy (“Tell me what he can do!” as director Dan Hatman likes to say). But also, the Giants have a very young roster, many of whom have undeniable upside. Just because they haven’t reached their upside in year 1 or 2 doesn’t mean they won’t in years 3 or 4 — that’s all part of player development.

If you watched our Training Camp Preview livestream, I reiterated the feeling I’ve had regarding the Giants all year: By the end of 2025, this will be a team that NOBODY wants to face.

That may be due to the defense to start the year, but if Russell Wilson can provide a stable foundation, the offense could be scary as well.

So I won’t fault ESPN for placing the Giants in the bottom quarter of the NFL. The team hasn’t really earned the right to be reckoned higher yet. However, I won’t be at all surprised if they shock the NFL world are a “team to watch” by the end of the year.