Reacts survey results: Giants fans want to build in the trenches

The Giants need to build up their lines

The defensive line was considered the unquestioned strength of the New York Giants prior to the start of the 2024 season.

After all, the Giants had Dexter Lawrence, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Brian Burns starting. Likewise, they had Rakeem Nunez-Roches and Azeez Ojulari in their primary rotation. While that might not be the best defensive front in the NFL, it should certainly among the best. And to be fair, the Giants opened the season by leading the NFL in sacks and saw a marked improvement in their run defense over the first six weeks. The Giants gave up just 83.7 rushing yards per game in the three weeks prior to losing Kayvon Thibodeaux to wrist injury.

Unfortunately, the Giants’ lack of depth along the defensive line has led to starters getting fatigued and banged up. That’s only gotten worse as Thibodeaux, Ojulari, and then Dexter Lawrence were lost to injury.

This week we asked the Big Blue View community what, other than quarterback, is the team’s biggest need.

It isn’t much of a surprise that defensive line has won out, considering how it’s wilted over the course of the year.

It also isn’t much of a surprise that offensive line is a close second behind the defensive line.

Like the defensive line, the offensive line played well at the start of the season. However, the play of the line degraded as injuries forced them to dig into their depth chart. At the very least, they need to continue to build out their offensive line depth, but the team could also try to find long term answers to replace Jermaine Eluemunor and Greg Van Roten in the starting lineup.

All told, 76 percent of fans want the Giants to build up their defensive and offensive lines. This would be a good year for the Giants to do so, as this draft class has a potentially great group of defensive linemen, and could have a strong offensive line class as well.

Interestingly, while Giants fans are very down on their team right now, they maintain a modicum of hope for the future.

Fan confidence has rebounded some following their loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week, jumping from 21% to 34%.

That makes sense from a couple perspectives. First and foremost, the Giants and Buccaneers aren’t bitter rivals. Fans can accept losing to Tampa Bay without the negative feelings that come from losing to the Cooper Rush led Dallas Cowboys. Also, the Giants’ effort against the Cowboys was just poor, and they played a much better game against the Buccaneers.

There’s also the somewhat cynical view that in losing Dexter Lawrence, the Giants are that much more likely to get the first overall pick. Hopefully that would make it more likely that they can find their next Franchise Quarterback.

That loss, however, helps to explain why only 16% of respondents believe the Giants will cover the 4.5-point spread, per FanDuel Sportsbook.

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