5 Areas Where John Harbaugh Needs to Improve Giants

John Harbaugh is officially the new man leading the Giants and the work needed to bring them back to prominence will be lofty.

Oct 16, 2022; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh speaks with an official before playing against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

It might have taken a little time, but the New York Giants and their fans can rest easy knowing the franchise has aced the first important step in its offseason plan by agreeing to terms with John Harbaugh to hire him as the team's next head coach this past weekend.

The arrival of the Super Bowl-winning coach has quickly stirred mass excitement around the organization for the potential impact he will have on their turnaround. Harbaugh is an accomplished leader who will come in and raise the standard for winning that has eluded the Giants since their last quest for the Lombardi Trophy. 

Even for a veteran like Harbaugh, the work needed to lead New York back to prominence won’t be easy. He is immediately setting high expectations for himself and the roster, but that will require him to address a few areas where the team struggled this past season. 

The Giants went 4-13 in 2025, leaving a lot of room for improvement for a locker room that we have already outlined as one that could make a punch at the postseason next year. 

If they want to make that a reality in the first season under Harbaugh, the new head coach is going to have to work his magic on these five noticeable issues from this season and get the Giants back to being a well-oiled machine.

Run Defense

Oct 9, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II (97) guestures during the first quarter of the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Giants' defense picked up on a bunch of their glaring issues over the final weeks of the regular season, but being a constant force against the opposing run game just wasn’t at the top of their annual achievements. 

Despite adding numerous players to the defensive front, the Giants had their worst season against the run in recent history. They ranked 31st in the league with 145.3 rushing yards allowed per contest and knocked on the doorstep of setting franchise history with an average carry of 5.3 yards, which was the worst in the NFL. 

The issue didn’t just engulf their ability to win a ton of games in 2025, though. The Giants have been grappling with being a stomping pad in the trenches for most of the last five seasons, during which they’ve finished in the bottom third of major rushing metrics in four of them. 

From a personnel standpoint, it didn’t help the Giants that their best weapon in Dexter Lawrence had what could be considered a down season with 34 pressures and 31 tackles (16 stops).

Still, the All-Pro defensive tackle was the second-most doubled-teamed player receiving extra attention at a 71% clip of his total run defense snaps.

The Giants tried to put some help around Lawrence with the addition of veteran gap stuffer Roy Robertson-Harris and rookie Darius Alexander in the third round of the draft, only to get poor results. Robertson-Harris was the only other interior defender to record double-digit stops and a sub-5.0 missed tackle rate.

Perhaps the new young pieces need further development. Still, Harbaugh and the Giants will need to find the right defensive coordinator who can bring in the right system and help the players clean up their fundamental miscues, such as poor tackling and pressure at the line of scrimmage to prevent yards after contact. 

In his final season with the Ravens, their defense ranked 14th in team run-stop win rate and finished with the 10th-lowest yards allowed per contest. They have had a top-10 unit twice in the last five seasons, which is not an easy standing to get when one can’t be a force against the run. 

It’ll be among the new coach’s top priorities to get the Giants’ run defense numbers back on track with the right blend of personnel additions and scheme to ensure they don’t make it easier for the defense to be chopped up in coverage.

Defensive Secondary 

Sep 21, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Marquise Brown (5) runs against New York Giants cornerback Andru Phillips (22) in the first quarter at MetLife Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Like the rushing element, John Harbaugh and his incoming coaching staff will be inheriting a very young secondary that was often picked apart on the back end of the defense. 

The Giants finished the 2025 season with slightly better production against the pass, ranking 16th in aerial yards allowed and 14th in total touchdowns (25). They saw their biggest progress late in the year, after Shane Bowen was relieved of his duties as defensive coordinator and Charlie Bullen took over in the interim, introducing some schematic changes.

Those changes, which included applying more direct pressure on the quarterback and mixing in more man coverage looks instead of soft zone, helped the Giants keep their opponents under 300 total yards of offense in the final four weeks of the season and force eight turnovers in that span. 

Still, the secondary was among the most battle-tested units on the roster due to injuries and the inexperience of the younger pieces on their depth chart.

Both of the starters, Paulson Adebo and Cor’Dale Flott, missed a combined eight games to differing ailments, and it was hard for the backup pieces like Deonte Banks and Korie Black to replicate their ballhawking talents. 

Banks, the Giants’ former first-round pick in 2023, needed to post an improved season as he lost his starting job to Flott in training camp and is eligible for a fifth-year option on his rookie contract.

He was instead the most targeted player in the secondary and gave up an astounding 81.3% opponent reception rate, which led the team and marked his career worst. 

Those numbers wouldn’t afford a struggling player as many reps as Banks had. Still, it came down to depth, as the Giants didn’t do enough to fortify the position group with capable players. It will likely allow Banks to avenge his awful 2026 season before earning a new contract from the franchise. 

Beyond inexperience, the Giants’ secondary was among the most penalized units on the roster, with 25 total infractions.

The majority of those stemmed from their inability to stick to one-on-one matchups for extended plays, allowing the pass rush time to get home, which led to costly penalties that gave away chunks of yardage to opponents and fueled their multiple late-game comebacks against New York that soiled their overall record. 

Harbaugh’s second challenge will be figuring out which system will work best to fix these issues and putting the young players in the Giants' secondary in positions to make more game-changing plays. 

He’ll also need to work with the front office to unearth some extra depth for the position group, and with the severity of their cap situation, adding a fresh face via the draft may be their best option.

Jaxson Dart the Pocket Passer

New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) grabs the snap, Sunday, January 4, 2026, in East Rutherford. | Kevin R. Wexler-NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

For as much as Jaxson Dart showed a lot of promise in his first year as the Giants’ heir to the helm, one element of the quarterback's rookie resume that drew some criticism was his lack of ability to work as a true pocket passer. 

Dart made it pretty clear coming into his debut with the Giants that he wanted to be a versatile playmaker on the football field, one that could make big plays happen with both his arm and his legs. That was evident as he tallied 2,759 total scrimmage yards and 24 combined touchdowns that led all first-year gunslingers this season.

As the season wore on, it began to raise serious concerns for the young signal caller, as he started drawing big hits in the open field that forced him into the blue medical tent several times, and eventually into the concussion protocol, which sidelined him for two games. 

Compared to previous Giants quarterbacks, Dart’s level of protection was a lot better, thanks to the offensive line stepping up its game in pass blocking. New York’s starting five finished 11th in win rate for that category and allowed just 10 sacks, while four guys finished with under 20 pressures. 

Still, there was something about Dart’s comfort level with playing longer in the pocket and letting the passing plays develop that just wasn’t in his repertoire. He averaged 3.03 seconds in time to throw on his total dropbacks, which was the third-longest time posted among quarterbacks with at least 400 dropbacks on their 2025 resume. 

When Dart chose to scramble to either avoid pressure or extend plays, he averaged 5.43 seconds before the pass, but it didn’t always result in positive results for the offense. In plays where he held onto the ball for over 2.5 seconds, he tied for third with 14 turnover-worthy plays and was sacked 33 times for the majority of the team’s takedowns. 

So long as the Giants can strengthen their offensive front and get back some of their playmakers from injury, Dart will have all the pieces he needs to be more confident playing inside the pocket, and Harbaugh must help him continue growing that confidence to preserve his abilities at the highest level.

Red Zone Offense

Dec 14, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. (29) celebrates a touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Washington Commanders at MetLife Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

With Jaxson Dart taking over as the main signal caller after a brief, unimpactful stint behind Russell Wilson, there is no doubt the Giants' offense was at its most productive level in nearly every phase of that side of the ball. 

Except for their appearances inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, where their unit often stalled from either a lack of solid play calling or a simple lack of execution by the playmakers on the other end, which have both marred the franchise over the past several seasons 

While the Giants finished the 2025 season with top-10 rankings in average starting field position, length, number of plays, and yards per drive, their ability to score seemed to be impacted more when they found the endzone on deeper plays than on little shots at payday. 

Inside the redzone, the Giants held the fifth-lowest scoring percentage at 47.5% while scoring an average of 2.18 points per possession.

That number was partly affected by their success on late downs, where they converted just 40.2% of their third downs and 46.2% on fourth downs, limiting the effectiveness of even their gambles in four-down territory. 

The lack of a potent red-zone offense likely kept the Giants' offense away from having a shot at sneaking into the league’s top 10 teams by the end of the season. It often forced them to fall back on their kicking department, which any observer of the team knew was far from reliable, with four different players attempting boots this season.

Again, some of that came down to pure execution, especially from the receiving corps, which were once again no strangers to the drops, with more than a few coming on gorgeous darts to the back of the endzone by the quarterback. 

That’s where the addition of John Harbaugh, who is looking to bring in his offensive coordinator, Todd Monken, along with him from Baltimore, will hopefully change the tide of the Giants’ woes. The potential duo could come up with more creative ways to get the ball across the goal line and put the Giants over the top when it matters most. 

The Ravens had eight seasons with high-volume offenses under Harbaugh’s leadership, albeit their success took a toll this past season, with the same scoring rate as New York. The new coach is confident he has something brewing with the Giants’ collection of young talent, leading one to believe he can steer them in the right direction.

Receiving Corps Upgrade

Dec 14, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson (17) celebrates scoring a touchdown with wide receiver Darius Slayton (18) during the fourth quarter against the Washington Commanders at MetLife Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Aside from the defensive end, the Giants are also going to need some big help in their wide receiver ranks, which, while they did produce over 3,400 receiving yards and 21 touchdowns to hover just above the basement of the league, felt like a one-tick pony without Malik Nabers. 

Once Nabers went down with the ACL injury in Week 4, it became the responsibility of the remainder of the position group to step up in his place.

Sadly, it appeared that Wan’Dale Robinson (92 catches for 1,014 yards and four touchdowns) was the only receiver who rose to the occasion to assume the No. 1 role and produce a career-high stat line in a contract year for the former second-round pick. 

After him, the Giants saw more production from their duo of tight ends, Theo Johnson and Daniel Bellinger, than the rest of the members of the receiving corps this season. Darius Slayton, who the team extended on a three-year deal worth $46 million, was a shell of his usually reliable self with just 538 yards and one touchdown catch. 

Given he is going into year two of that deal in 2026, Slayton won’t be going anywhere, even though he descended from the player who once caught over 700 yards per season and was the top target in the passing offense. It also can’t be ignored how he led the team in drops as well (6), including a handful of snags that would have resulted in touchdowns. 

In addition, the Giants could be questioned for some of their roster-related decisions when it came to filling out the position’s depth chart over the summer, where they decided to retain players like Gunner Olszewski and Jalin Hyatt instead of more versatile weapons they had during camp, such as Lil’Jordan Humphrey, who went on to make contributions for other organizations. 

The biggest unknown is whether Robinson will return to New York next season, as he is set to test the free agent market and be one of the highly coveted slot options in the league. The Giants and Robinson have expressed a desire to have him back, but it could get tricky if they don’t figure out how to open up some cap space to make a new deal work in the initial year. 

With his return up in the air and Nabers’ in Week 1 not a guarantee, Harbaugh and general manager Joe Schoen will likely have to consider using a piece of the draft capital they have to reel in a quality receiving talent who can mimic Nabers’ talents and eventually pair well with him as a No. 2 guy when healthy. 

One of the goals for the Giants this offseason figures to be surrounding Jaxson Dart with the right arsenal of weapons that both help him put the onus on his legs and compete with the other elite groups in the NFL.

He didn’t have a bad unit in 2025, but more retooling could be needed to elevate the Giants’ aerial attack with a quarterback who has shown he can sling it with confidence.

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