Giants Country

Ranking Top Non QB/WR Needs Giants Must Address in Draft

The New York Giants have some other needs to address in this year's draft. Let's rank them.

Stephen Lebitsch

New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen
New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
In this story:

With the 2024 NFL Draft drawing closer in Detroit, all eyes will be on the New York Giants' decision to address the quarterback or wide receiver positions at No. 6 overall or earlier if they elect to seek a trade on Day 1.

However, those two needs will not tell the whole story of the Giants’ incoming class. General manager Joe Schoen still needs to add prospects at a few other important positions that have voids left from the 2023 season, including depth, to ensure they are built for the long run of the 2024 campaign. 

Certainly, the quest for the next potential successor to quarterback Daniel Jones is high on New York’s radar, but the Giants have been through this story before. The team has had seasons with a hopeful quarterback situation with Jones, yet due to injury or busts in talent, it hasn’t been able to surround him with the right weapons to succeed simultaneously.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Giants must add big men to fortify the front lines and lengthen the offense’s time on the field. For defense, moves must be made at each level of the group that has been ravaged by changes in the offseason and is entering a new regime under defensive coordinator Shane Bowen. 

Should there be a hierarchy to the draft selections made by the Giants outside of their dilemma in the first round? One would think yes, and there are four positions in particular that the team needs to address in the draft to have an answer.

No. 2 Cornerback 

Last season, the Giants found themselves a diamond in the rough with first-round selection Deonte Banks. Banks showed flashes of potential long-term greatness as the team’s No. 1 cornerback facing the league’s premier pass-catching threats. 

Behind him, the Giants lack solid cornerback resources, and truthfully, they need a second-starting caliber guy to accompany Banks on the perimeter. They drafted Tre Hawkins III last spring to be the other half of a young outside duo. Still, the fellow rookie was heavily targeted given his weaker pass coverage metrics and, at times, was a liability. 

In addition to Hawkins, New York has not resigned veteran Adoree Jackson to a new deal despite the free agent corner not receiving any serious interest on the open market. If he doesn’t return, the Giants will have a handful of players battling to compete for the slot corner positions. All are inexperienced and missed time due to injuries in 2023.

Any expectation for a cornerback to be selected will not pass until at least day two of the festivities. That said, some high-end prospects on the big board could still be around by the time the Giants pick at 47 rolls around and are worth consideration. 

Iowa’s Cooper DeJean and Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell are the biggest names at the top of the position, but most big boards project them to be first-round selections. Per PFF’s big board, the Giants could explore guys like Alabama’s Terrion Arnold, Clemson’s Nate Wiggins, and Iowa State’s T.J. Tampa for one of their mid-round selections, all players with good intangibles for the professional level. 

No matter who gets selected, they need to be a substantial boost to the secondary, which has only one player over 26 years of age, two who played all 17 games last season, and that was lacking in production beyond the work of Banks and Jackson.

Offensive Tackle

The offensive tackle position has been one of the most fluctuating spots on the Giants' offensive line, and arguably, it’s been one of the main reasons their pass protection has been so lackluster for many seasons. 

In all fairness, the onus seems to fall more on the right side of the position than the opposite side, which All-Pro Andrew Thomas has bolstered. While he has been able to fortify the left side as long as he stays healthy, the Giants have had problems with right tackle Evan Neal and his progression into an elite pass blocker.

Outside of his own injury troubles, which forced him to miss 10 games in 2023, Neal saw some of his worst grades protecting the quarterback’s blindside. Per PFF, he was responsible for two sacks, five quarterback hits, and 30 total pressures, all of which came in less than half of the snaps he received the year before as a rookie. 

Neal is also one of the most penalized players on the Giants' offensive line, posting 12 infractions in the last two seasons, which has affected his overall efficiency. When he was out, the Giants' replacements weren’t much better, leading to a front unit that was ranked 29th in pass block win rate. 

To make matters worse, those aforementioned replacements have departed in free agency, and the Giants find themselves very thin in the offensive tackle position. Along with Neal and Thomas, the team has only three more tackles listed on the roster before any additional signings or draft selections are made, making it an important need to address on draft night. 

Notre Dame’s Joe Alt is the lead prospect in the position going into round one, and the Giants don’t seem likely to select an offensive lineman with their selection, given their pressing needs. That said, there is an abundance of offensive tackles to snag later on in rounds two and three, a few of note being Alabama’s JC Latham, Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton, and Washington’s Roger Rosengarten. 

The only thing for certain is the Giants can’t afford to have a carousel at the offensive tackle position if they want to improve offensively next season. It’s time to venture out of the in-house solutions.

Defensive Tackle

The Giants still feel the absence left on the defensive line by Leonard Williams, who was traded to Seattle last season. They were able to make it through with All-Pro run stuffer Dexter Lawrence, Rakeem Nunez-Roches, and some help from rookie Jordan Riley, but those are the only players they can rely on in an equally thin defensive tackle room. 

As a result, the Giants need to approach the draft pool to land their best successor to Williams. The player they select will have big shoes to fill in the interior alongside Lawrence in 2024, especially after Williams consistently competed in the trenches, forcing 22 sacks and seven total turnovers in his five seasons in blue. 

One prospect on the radar for most teams is Texas defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat. Ranked as the seventh-best interior defender in the class, Sweat earned one of the overall grades for any player in his position for his unique ability to be a bal disrupter. Last fall, he played in 503 snaps—309 of which came in the pass rush—and tallied two sacks, three hits, 26 hurries, and six batted passes.

Sweat can play primarily out of the B-gap but is suitable for the A-gap and over tackle spot as well. That shows the same versatility the Giants had with Williams up front. When paired with Lawrence, they can form an exchangeable duo to disrupt the backfield in a number of ways and at an efficient rate. 

Sweat and teammate Byron Murphy II could go early, given their profiles. However, the Giants are considering other proficient bull rushers on the draft board. The goal is to have Lawrence remain the centerpiece, but he can’t be expected to hold the interior alone. 

The Giants need solid young depth around him, something they’ve already started with Jordan Riley in 2023. If they can do it, the first level of the defense will be where the unit’s money is made next season.

Tight End 

Last on the order of important positions for the Giants to address in the draft outside of quarterback and wide receiver is the tight end position. 

Four months after the 2023 season ended, the Giants still have a serious question mark about the health of their tight ends. Starter Darren Waller is continuing his period of contemplation about returning to play in 2024, and his uncertainty has led to a potential gaping hole in New York’s offense. 

The Giants brought Waller to East Rutherford via trade last season, hoping to provide Daniel Jones with a tall, lengthy, and talented pass-catching tight end amid a young receiving corps. Despite having consecutive 1,000+ yard seasons on his prior resume, the experiment failed due to hamstring nuisances forcing the 31-year-old to the sidelines for five games and limiting him to 552 yards and one touchdown for production. 

Even if Waller returns for the upcoming season, the Giants can’t feel overly confident in his ability to stay on the field, especially with his apparent lack of confidence in his health. The team resigned Lawrence Cager in free agency and recruited three others in Tyree Jackson, Jack Stoll, and Chris Manhertz, but each of them have more history as an inline-blocking player than a ballhawk. 

Thus, Joe Schoen should look to the draft for receiving a tight end and one that can add reliable production when targeted. It’s important to have good receivers, but some of the best offenses in the NFL have a solid tight end in their mix that can open the playbook further, and that’s an element the Giants can introduce in 2024 with the right draft choice. 

Among the candidates, one of the notable options to watch for is Penn State’s Theo Johnson. The sixth-ranked tight end prospect could fall into the draft's middle rounds and is coming off a record season in college where he had 341 receiving yards, seven touchdowns, and averaged double-digit yardage per catch. He also thrived in the ball protection and contrasted catch categories, both areas that the Giants looked for out of Waller. 

Don't expect the Giants to address the tight end position until late Day or early Day 3 unless they acquire further picks to tackle their needs. That said, the answer might not be Waller next year, and that means a replacement or potential back is highly needed to assist the receiving production during that time.

 

Published
Stephen Lebitsch

STEPHEN LEBITSCH