PFF Names These Three Giants as Ones to Build a Franchise Around
The New York Giants rebuilding mode began last year with the hiring of head coach Joe Judge and his staff and the vast replacement of numerous players in favor of guys Judge felt were a better fit for the team's culture.
Interestingly enough, Ben Linsey of Pro Football Focus, in naming three players from every NFL team you'd want to build a franchise around, picked two players acquired in the Judge era and one before he was hired.
Those three include cornerback James Bradberry and receiver Kenny Golladay, both free agents who signed in 2020 and 2021, respectively, and defensive lineman Leonard Williams, acquired via trade midway through the 2019 season.
Bradberry and Williams happen to be the Giants' top two highest cap hits on the 2021 roster, and with good reason. Last year, Bradberry proved without a shadow of a doubt that he's a legitimate shutdown cornerback, a player that every team's defense needs.
Continuing his strong showing against some of the NFL's top receivers--last year he allowed a career-low 56.4% of all pass targets against him to be completed and posted a career-low 70.1 NFL Rating in coverage--an argument can be made that Bradberry might very well have been the team's MVP.
Williams had his best NFL season last year, finally breaking out and becoming the pass rusher the Giants always believed he could be. Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham shifted Williams to more of a penetrator role in the defense, and the result was an 11.5-sack season, topping his 7.0-sack campaign in 2016, which was also his lone Pro Bowl appearance.
Golladay didn't fare quite as well as his two defensive teammates last year, mainly because he missed most of the season with a hip injury. But when healthy, Golladay gives the Giants offense something they haven't had in years: a legitimate and tall X-receiver.
"Golladay recently ranked as the league’s third-best deep threat, regularly winning in contested-catch situations downfield," noted Linsey. "Golladay's 53 contested catches overall over the past three seasons are second to only Allen Robinson II at the position, even despite all his missed time in 2020."
With the Giants trying to build a solid franchise capable of being annual contenders, Golladay's addition is significant because it should allow offensive coordinator Jason Garrett to run more of a deep passing game this year, a strength of quarterback Daniel Jones.
Last year, Jones only attempted 43 deep-pass attempts of 20+ yards last season, but he completed 46.5% of those attempts, putting him seventh among quarterbacks who attempted deep passes on at least 20% of their overall pass attempts.
Interestingly, Linsey omitted left tackle Andrew Thomas from his list of players to build a franchise around, citing Thomas's final grade as assigned by PFF's internal team of analysts as a reason.
Noted Linsey, "In an ideal world, Andrew Thomas’ rookie season would have resembled Tristan Wirfs’ year, making him an easy inclusion here. There were promising things to take away from how Thomas closed the year, but his 62.4 grade was underwhelming."
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While it's true that Thomas had a roller-coaster season, he probably should have received higher consideration over Golladay based on 2020 availability--Thomas never missed a game due to injury despite dealing with a year-long ankle ailment. And, as Lisney acknowledged, Thomas improved as the year went on, which is what you want to see from a young player.
That said, it's hard to argue with the inclusion of Golladay on the list given what he's done for the Lions' offense in the past, which the Giants hope he'll do for their offense starting this year.
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