Giants Land Near Bottom of ESPN’s Way Too Early Power Rankings
The Super Bowl is barely in the books, and yet media outlets have already come out with their new NFL power rankings, even before teams get a chance to adjust their rosters in free agency and the draft.
ESPN is one such outlet that has some very early power rankings, putting the Giants at No. 27, ahead of Tennessee, Arizona, New England, Washington, and Carolina, in that order.
Notes the self-professed "worldwide leader in sports" of its ranking:
The Giants are at a crossroads with impending free agent running back Saquon Barkley. It's either now or never committing to their running back long-term. New York also needs to decide if it will build the team around quarterback Daniel Jones in a year with the No. 6 overall pick and plenty of draft capital. Drafting a quarterback is an option given Jones' injury history now, including two neck injuries and a torn ACL.
ESPN used three words to describe the Giants’ upcoming offseason: “Some big decisions.”
Big decisions, indeed, starting with the quarterback spot. General manager Joe Schoen has said that the expectation is for Daniel Jones to be the starter once he has completed his rehab from a torn ACL. But the Giants can't ignore that Jones has already had two neck injuries in the last three years and missed games in four out of five seasons.
Schoen has not ruled out drafting a quarterback later this spring, saying they will need to do something to address the position where only Jones and Tomy DeVito are under contract.
Another big decision looming is the status of running back Saquon Barkley, who is set to be an unrestricted free agent. Both sides want to make it work, but the Giants don’t want to pay Barkley what he thinks he’s worth. The franchise tag is set around $12 million, another price the Giants could be squeamish about carrying on their cap.
With everything that went down last season and seeing how the Giants still aren’t very competitive against good teams, this is a fair ranking. Injuries, inconsistent quarterback play, and several other factors can be attributed to last season’s downfall, but the Giants need to return in 2024 with another winning product. They cannot fall back into the pit of losing seasons after they crawled themselves out of there in 2022.
The Giants, who have seven picks in the draft this year, currently have about $26 million in cap space for free agency. Schoen will likely look to add more cap space to their total, but it remains to be seen if he can add more draft capital, considering the Giants are not projected to get any comp picks this year.
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