From Cellar to Contender? Why the Giants Are Primed for a Shocking 2026 NFC East Run

The New York Giants have been one of the most talked-about teams in the NFL this offseason as they’ve entered a new era under John Harbaugh and are looking to finally put a cap on the dysfunctional, losing run the franchise has been on for most of the last decade plus.

Part of achieving that goal involved nailing their 2026 draft class, where they had to plug in a few high-value positions and bolster others with more depth to ensure another season is not derailed by the injury bug that always rears its ugly head.

With the draft behind them, the roster is starting to round itself out for Harbaugh and the coaching staff, who are preparing for the next steps of the offseason program with OTAs around the corner, but the early opinions about the Giants’ possible ascension have been mixed.

Matt Verderame of SI.com is seeing a lot more potential in New York’s new roster than the rest of the outside crowd, going as far as to name the Giants among five NFL organizations that are primed to go from the worst to the best team in their division after the draft.

He has the Giants with the second-highest likelihood of that outcome for the 2026 season, given what they’ve been able to achieve with the roster in free agency and their latest draft class.

The draft class alone has been the cherry on the cake for the Giants’ offseason. They landed the "positionless" linebacker Arvell Reese and the big-bodied, nasty-tempered guard/tackle Francis Mauigoa for their offensive line.

On Day 2, the Giants plucked corner Colton Hood out of Tennessee, a player Harbaugh expects to compete for a starting job, and they traded up to add size in Notre Dame receiver Malachi Fields, a physical route runner whose 6-foot-4 size allows him to box out defenders and win the contested catches.

This draft class is, in Verderame’s opinion, a big reason why the Giants can go from the bottom of the barrel to the penthouse in the NFC East.

Do the Giants Truly Have Enough to Contend for the NFC East Crown in 2026?

New York Giants against the Philadelphia Eagles — Oct 26, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux (5) and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) after the game at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Ever since they hired Harbaugh as the franchise’s next head coach, the Giants have started regaining believers in their ability to win more games than the seven they tallied since the start of the 2024 season.

Only a few coaches in the NFL are capable of completely rewiring an organization toward success like Harbaugh, who spent 18 years and won a Super Bowl title with the Baltimore Ravens in 2012, their first championship in over a decade.

Replicating that type of stretch is very hard in the modern game, but the Ravens were nowhere short of having the proper pieces in place. They didn’t have a lot of stars, but they had players who bought into the culture their coach built and exemplified in every play on the field.

Some of that toughness was already in the Giants' building, with key figures like quarterback Jaxson Dart, left tackle Andrew Thomas, and linebacker and defensive captain Brian Burns.

The rest of the roster, both in spirit and talent, needed more work to fill in the empty spaces that were present, such as the receiving corps, which had too many drops last season, the offensive line, whose depth was weak in the middle, and all three levels of the defense, which were outmanned on the ground and in coverage by most opponents they faced.

Throughout free agency and the draft, it appears the Giants have done a solid job of setting up the right 53-man roster for Harbaugh and the coaching staff to ascend in 2026.

Just winning more games and making the postseason for the first time since 2022 is the bare minimum, though. Is there enough in this new group to push New York further into winning their division?

This time of the offseason is always about a barrage of optimistic takes on a once-downtrodden franchise’s chances of turning things around with the new talent at their disposal, but what matters most is the results on the field, and the Giants are showing they can play better ball where it counts.

The bigger onus in that regard will have to come from the defensive side of the ball, where the defensive line and secondary are still carrying big questions heading into OTAs and training camp later this summer.

The former area needs a new identity without Dexter Lawrence and his size that can take up multiple rushing lanes and create pressures up the gut with unique power off the snap, while the latter needs to clean up their untimely mistakes and hold their assignments long enough to let the pass rush, which will soon include Arvell Reese, to get home.

While the Giants have a case to be made with the elements they’ve got on offense that include the return of a healthy Malik Nabers, running back Cam Skattebo, and a couple of new skyscraper targets in Malachi Fields and tight end Isaiah Likely, it’ll be Dennard Wilson’s unit that must step up and perform in order for the Giants to make a run for the division.

One where the Eagles, Cowboys, and Commanders all have some of the very same elements they struggled against in 2025: a talented dual-threat quarterback, shifty and powerful ball carriers, and elite receivers that can do damage in one-on-one matchups and in crunch time.

Until then, the pure enthusiasm that many fans and analysts have for the Giants will just be a fun exercise in dreaming about what could be a bright future. That’s the reality of the modern NFL: a lot of teams get better with free agents and top draft selections, but the key is those signings panning out in the system that are ushered into.

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