PFF's Best and Worst Graded Giants from Week 9 Loss vs 49ers

The New York Giants lost another game in ugly fashion and the team's grades surely reflected their efforts.

New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) receives a snap from New York Giants center Austin Schlottmann (65) during a week 9 game between New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. | Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

For a third straight week, the New York Giants didn’t give their fans or the graders at Pro Football Focus very much to feel good about after their latest 34-24 routing loss to the San Francisco 49ers. 

The analytics outlet has followed up the sad showing with its weekly round of grades for the Giants' players on both sides of the ball. It’s time to browse through the grades and see if we can clean up any positives as the 2025 season is fully into the second half.

Best Graded Giants Players

New York Giants linebacker Brian Burns (0) celebrates after breaking up a pass during a week 9 game between New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. | Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

OLB Brian Burns (89.9), RG Greg Van Roten (87.1), LT Andrew Thomas (85.6), QB Jaxson Dart (75.0), RB Devin Singletary (71.8), CB Korie Black (66.7) 

As was the case in their last game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Giants' roster barely earned any positive grades in their loss to the San Francisco 49ers. However, a few names were mentioned for their contributions in keeping the team in the contest. 

Leading off was Brian Burns, who has been building a case to be nominated as the best Giants player this season. He continues to hold tight to his league lead in sacks with 11 and added to that total by notching two pressures and getting to 49ers gunslinger Mac Jones once to go along with his four total tackles and one forced fumble that was recorded in the second quarter. 

It was another forced turnover in vain, though, as the Giants couldn’t capitalize on the play that happened in 49ers territory. They marched downfield and tried to attempt a 45-yard field goal with Graham Gano, only to see the ball fly just to the left of the crossbar to send New York into the halftime break down 17-7. 

Most folks who see those types of failed opportunities by the Giants’ offense would think that it came from the poor play of their protection up front. The Giants' offensive line has been suspect for the last several years, but that was not the case for a couple of key starters in Greg Van Roten and Andrew Thomas. 

Both linemen gave the Giants 39 snaps in pass protection and held down their individual gaps with success. They each kept quarterback Jaxson Dart, who was sacked just once all afternoon, upright and his pocket clean with only one combined pressure out of the team’s five total pressures.

Give credit where it’s due to Dart as well. The rookie signal caller displayed his grit and lack of quit once again on Sunday as he worked to try to pull the Giants out of the gutter and stay in the game with San Francisco, which was dominating the affair on the ground. 

Dart had to deal with inconsistent playmaking from his arsenal of weapons, and his defense was giving up an average of 5.8 yards per play the whole game. In the end, he managed to lead the Giants to two redzone scores in their three trips while completing 24-of-33 throws for 191 yards and three combined touchdowns.

The Giants' run game came in with bold ambitions behind their trio of running backs, which quickly came to be led by rookie Cam Skattebo. After Skattebo’s season-ending ankle injury in Week 8, the team needed Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary to step up their efforts, and the latter modestly answered the call.

Singletary led the Giants with eight carries and produced 43 yards and an average of 7.0 yards per rush. The Giants' running game hasn’t seen that amount of success on a play-by-play basis this season, but the total numbers from three players weren’t enough to help New York control the clock. 

Lastly, it was a surprise to see cornerback Korie Black earn one of the top grades in this group. The seventh-round pick recently came back to the Giants after a brief stint on the Jets’ practice squad and struggled against the Eagles as he was thrown into his first big load of reps as an NFL defender. 

Black was seemingly able to shake off his jitters in his second game against the 49ers, where he performed much better in the run response. The 23-year-old recorded six total tackles, with four being stops at the line of scrimmage, and none ending up as whiffs that we have seen too often from the secondary this season.

The only area he still saw some issues was in coverage, where he allowed four catches on five targets against him for 75 yards. A heaping 52 of those yards came after the catch and led the Giants' defense in that category.

Worst Graded Giants Players

New York Giants cornerback Deonte Banks (2) gestures before a play begins during a week 9 game between New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. | Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

SAF Dane Belton (43.1), DE Roy Robertson-Harris (45.4), ILB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (48.0), CB Deonte Banks (49.7), OC John Michael Schmitz (53.6), WR Darius Slayton (60.7)

As mentioned, there was no shortage of Giants players that PFF found a need to clean things up in the second half of the season if they want to take some positives away from another lost year for the franchise. 

Not every member of the secondary played as serviceably as Black, whose feats were noted in the previous section. One of the disappointing outings came from safety Dane Belton, who filled in for the veteran Jevon Holland, who missed his second straight game with a knee injury. 

Belton played in a team-high 66 defensive snaps on Sunday, where he was inefficient in just about every phase of the defense. He recorded six total tackles but whiffed on two of them for a 16.7% missed tackle rate and gave up a catch of nine yards on half of his coverage targets. 

Not too far behind Belton were two more names who left something to be desired in the trenches in Roy Robertson-Harris and Demetrius Flannigan Fowles. The veterans posted sub-43.2 grades in run defense, but the latter was still more impressive in reserve work, making six tackles, three of them at the line of scrimmage. 

When talking about poor performers, the one member of the Giants who definitely deserved the most criticism was undoubtedly Deonte Banks, whose future with the organization is coming into serious question in his third season as a pro. 

Like Belton, Banks was given the starting nod at the left perimeter cornerback spot with both Paulson Adebo and Cor’Dale Flott absent for another week. One would think he would use the moment as a chance to prove he can still make the same plays that attracted the Giants towards drafting him as a first-round pick in 2023 and hang around for the future. 

That was far from the case with Banks giving the second-worst coverage day. He gave up 58 yards of aerial offense on four targets, which averaged nearly 15 yards per reception, and that poor fear was only blinded by the horrific effort that he gave in the tackling department. 

The most blatant example came in the fourth quarter, when San Francisco looked to put its opponent to bed with one last strong scoring drive. Having a 20-10 advantage in the final frame, the 49ers pounded the Giants some more on the ground, and the last play of the nine-play possession came right in Banks’ direction on a Brian Robinson Jr. rushing rep.

With good blocking from his linemen, Robinson broke outside to the deep level of the Giants' defense, where Banks resided and was the only guy who could feasibly prevent a touchdown scamper. 

To most fans’ dismay, he might as well have not been there as Robinson barreled the corner over like a piece of paper in the wind and finished his 18-yard handoff in the endzone to extend the 49ers' road lead to 27-10 with 11:35 remaining. 

It’s hard to get harsh on a defensive player when the game sometimes comes down to finding the right angles to make the tackle. Those don’t always open themselves up, but Banks showed a clear lack of effort on the play, and that is not something the Giants should accept from a critical member of their locker room at this stage of the season.

John Michael Schmitz is another player whose development hasn’t come along at the rate the Giants’ brass must have envisioned for the former top-two position prospect in the 2023 draft class. The Giants center didn’t allow any pressures to his name, but was penalized once and only saw 30 snaps before he was pulled from the game for a shin injury that ended his afternoon. 

The Giants might have to consider whether the middle of their offensive line will be a need this offseason, as Schmitz has had to leave two games in the last three weeks. He has also had some problems holding up consistently against bigger pass rushers, which only creates direct paths to the quarterback and leads to offensive disasters that have marred the team. 

If it weren’t for Banks taking the throne of the worst individual showing for the Giants, Darius Slayton could have walked his way into that designation. The Giants paid their longest-tenured receiver a significant $36 million this offseason, which he is scheduled to collect for the next three seasons, and that was deserved for his consistent production in his first six years in the Big Apple.

Ever since the two parties made their new commitment to each other, Slayton has not played anywhere near his usual self. He holds just 19 catches for 254 yards and hasn’t recorded a single touchdown after having at least two in each of his first half dozen campaigns. 

In addition, Slayton has missed a couple of games with a nagging hamstring injury. Perhaps that ailment has slowed down his game a bit, but he has still had plenty of chances to make big plays and fall short, as we saw in the loss to San Francisco. 

Slayton finished with five receptions on seven targets for 62 yards and an average of 12.4 yards per reception that led the passing attack. He also notched a long ball of 24 yards that marked his second-largest haul of the season. 

Still, the biggest moment he could have had on Sunday ended with the pigskin in the MetLife Stadium turf. Dart targeted the receiver on a 34-yard shot to the back corner of the endzone, and Slayton initially had the ball fall into his gloves, only to let it slip out at the last second to nix what would have been a nice first touchdown for the veteran captain. 

Slayton has owned a few irritating drops in recent weeks, and that was just the latest. If he had secured it, he could have at least made the Giants' offensive outlook appear a bit more competent. Again, he could get some benefit of a doubt from his injury status that has plagued his seventh year, but the Giants need his steady hands with their best playmaker, Nabers, out for the rest of the year.

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