Giants' Biggest Reason for Hope and Biggest Reason for Concern Entering 2026

The New York Giants enter the 2026 regular season with a wide range of outcomes. Some analysts still believe that they can make a surprise playoff appearance in their first year under John Harbaugh, while others are already counting them out.

That volatility isn’t an accident. It’s the product of banking the success of the season on the development of a talented, yet often chaotic, quarterback entering his second season. Jaxson Dart has the potential to give Big Blue its ideal season.

Unfortunately, even if he hits his ceiling, a questionable run defense could still hold the Giants back in 2026.

Jaxson Dart's Year-2 Potential Gives Giants a High Ceiling

Dart has everything he needs for a breakout season. His talent speaks for itself. As a rookie, he produced 24 touchdowns in just 12 starts and instantly became one of the most dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks in football, ranking third among QBs with 487 rushing yards.

At times, his processing as a passer lagged behind his physical talent, leading to struggles under pressure. He ranked 28th of 36 qualifying quarterbacks in success rate when pressured. But when he was kept clean, he was accurate and dynamic.

If Dart can speed up some of his processing in a Matt Nagy offense that should give him quick answers, he’ll take a massive step forward in his second season.

A better group of pass catchers will certainly help. Dart hardly shared the field with Malik Nabers last season, as Nabers suffered his season-ending knee injury in the same game that Dart made his first start.

Nabers, Isaiah Likely, and Malachi Fields give Dart a more well-rounded group of targets than he had as a rookie. The high ceiling of this passing attack should give fans hope the Giants can be a true threat in the NFC East this year.

Giants' Defense Might Have the Same Weakness That Derailed the 2025 Season

New York Giants defensive tackle Darius Alexander | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Even if Dart is better, the run defense might be bad enough to counteract his progress. After fielding the league's worst run defense in EPA allowed per play, Big Blue traded its best interior run defender away.

DJ Reader replaced Dexter Lawrence II. Reader is a stout run defender with plenty of experience, but his teams have finished in the bottom half of the league in EPA per rush allowed in each of the last three seasons. Even if he's a capable starter, he's a step down from Lawrence.

Reader will start at nose tackle, with Shelby Harris and Darius Alexander filling in next to him.

The Giants will hope that linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and Arvell Reese can help improve the run defense. They’re certainly upgrades over the linebackers New York relied on in 2025, but Reese is only a rookie. There’s no guarantee that the new duo will make a big enough difference to give the Giants a league-average run defense.

If Big Blue still can’t stop the run, improvements to the rest of the roster might not matter.

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