Ranking the Strengths of the New York Giants' Position Units

The New York Giants were a surprise playoff team during the 2022 NFL season, and while the expectations might be raised, it’s still clear that this roster has flaws.

What exactly are the biggest strengths of the Giants now? We present our post-draft personnel power rankings by unit.

DEFENSIVE LINE

It was easy to rank the defensive line as the best position group on the Giants' roster, given they currently have one of the best defensive lines on the planet. The defensive line includes interior and EDGE players for this article's purpose. Dexter Lawrence is a top-five defensive tackle and a top-three nose tackle in football.

Leonard Williams and Kayvon Thibodeaux being complementary to Lawrence leave the Giants with an elite defensive front. The newly-signed A’Shawn Robinson missed much of 2022 with injury but formed a wrecking crew with Aaron Donald in Los Angeles in his last healthy season.

TIGHT END

This ranking hinges on Darren Waller staying healthy. If he does, the tight end room has the potential to be one of the best in the NFL. The Giants chose to use 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends) often in 2022. Even with a relatively weak tight end room, 2023 should see a lethal 12-personnel grouping.

Not only did the addition of Waller improve the top of the tight end room, but adding Tommy Sweeney from the Bills made this group comfortably deep. Daniel Bellinger was a solid starter during his rookie season last year, and his continued development makes this room much better.

RUNNING BACK

It’s easy to talk about running back being a top position group on the Giants when they have a talent like Saquon Barkley on the roster. Depth is a concern here with an aging Matt Breida, rookie Eric Gray, and unproven talents in Gary Brightwell and Jashaun Corbin behind him, but the franchise is still an elite player.

This is an entirely different conversation if Barkley chooses to hold out or suffers an injury. However, for the time being, with his expected usage, he still brings up this running back room to the second-best position group on the offense.

QUARTERBACK

I’m still not sold on Daniel Jones being a quarterback that could win a Super Bowl for the Giants or being the franchise guy. But if he maintains his play from 2022, then he’s an above-average quarterback.

Unfortunately for the Giants, above-average still makes this one of the better-position groups on the roster. The depth here is also a reason the quarterback room gets a bump.

Tyrod Taylor has been criminally underrated for most of his career as a starter, and if Jones were to get injured, Taylor stepping in still provides a level of comfort that most teams wouldn’t have if their starting quarterback got hurt.

OFFENSIVE LINE

There’s too much uncertainty along the offensive line for me to feel comfortable ranking this group higher. Andrew Thomas is one of the best offensive tackles in the NFL already, and Evan Neal has the potential to join him in the next year or two, but his rookie campaign wasn’t one that exactly sent confidence through the fanbase.

Ben Bredeson and Mark Glowinski are the projected starters along the line's interior. While they aren’t bad, they also aren’t something to write home about. Rookie John Michael Schmitz is an immediate upgrade at center, but that isn’t saying much compared to what Jon Feliciano brought to the line in 2022.

CORNERBACK

Adoree' Jackson breathed new life into his career with the Giants and has shown continued improvement since showing up in blue. But there isn’t much-proven starter talent behind him, although the depth is promising.

If rookie Deonte Banks can carry over his coverage ability from Maryland to the NFL, cornerback will be solidified as one of the better positions on the roster. Until then, he’s a question mark.

Darnay Holmes, Aaron Robinson, and Cor’Dale Flott are all players that have earned more time to prove themselves but the product on the field so far, when healthy, hasn’t been enough to be comfortable with the position.

Amani Oruwariye joining the Giants is a promising addition given his physical skillset, he could find himself earning significant playing time early on under Wink Martindale.

WIDE RECEIVER

The receiver room is weird for the Giants, and there’s no other way to describe it. There’s an excessive number of quality second and third options, but nobody that’s shown legitimate promise to be a true number-one receiver.

If Isaiah Hodgins can take the next step, he would solidify himself as one of the best secondary options available but still wouldn’t present a top receiver skill set that can take over a game. Depth in the room is some of the best in the NFL, but nothing screams alpha at receiver in East Rutherford.

SAFETY

Xavier McKinney is one of the best young safeties in the NFL and is extremely underrated. The problem here, unlike Saquon Barkley pulling up the running back room so much, is that there are at least two safeties on the field almost every snap.

Behind McKinney, there’s promise in young players like Jason Pinnock, Dane Belton, Trenton Thompson, and Gervarrius Owens, but there isn’t another starter-quality safety on this roster.

Veteran Bobby McCain could be that stabilizing presence on the back end, but even he hasn’t been an above-average starter in the NFL for a few seasons. 2023 could be a rough year for Giants safeties.

LINEBACKER

My feelings on linebacker for the Giants are the same as my feelings for safety. Bobby Okereke is the Xavier McKinney in this situation and is probably even better at his job than McKinney. But behind Okereke is an even worse situation than the safety room.

Plain and simple, Jarrad Davis is no longer a starter quality or even third-best option at linebacker. But he’s likely going to start for the Giants in 2023. The depth is full of players who could be bottom-of-the-roster linebackers and special teams contributors, but they’ll likely see significant defensive snaps in 2023.

The Giants went into this offseason with linebacker being the most glaring weakness on the team. Although they improved the position, it’s still the worst position group on the team as far as I'm concerned.

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