About a month ago, I wrote a post for Big Blue View that was somewhat critical of the New York Giants’ free agency efforts up to that point. My conclusion about the state of the Giants’ roster at that time was:
The Giants have made several nice free agent signings, and to their credit, they have not spent a ton of money to do so. In particular, they apparently have not yet had to resort to void years to fit the new contracts within the 2026 salary cap. To their credit, they were able to bring back
Eluemunor, a key piece on the offensive line, and McFadden.
There’s no getting around the fact that they’ve suffered some non-negligible losses, though, not only Robinson and Flott but also tight end Daniel Bellinger and Schlottman as a key reserve offensive lineman. They have signed potential replacements for several of those, but they’ll be crossing their fingers on several of the new signings rather than being confident that they will fill the holes created by those who left. Most importantly, the Giants have failed to build the trenches in free agency thus far. There’s still time to do that, and of course they will have chances to fill a couple of holes during the draft. At the moment, though, I would not conclude that their roster is improved over 2025.
You can follow the link above to read the details if you wish, but my summary by position group (including only those with notable changes from 2025) was as follows:
- Interior defensive line: No change
- Interior offensive line: Worse
- Cornerback: Worse
- Receivers: Deeper, yes. Better? TBD
- Linebacker: Better but not complete
With the 2026 NFL Draft now complete, it’s appropriate to revisit this question. The roster is not yet complete, because free agents can still be signed – and this year more than ever, the arcana of such signings have become common knowledge: Specifically, the fact that after 4 p.m. on Monday, subsequently signed free agents do not count toward the compensatory pick formula. Thus, we expect a final little burst of activity by the Giants to fill remaining holes. Where are those holes? Let’s go once again by the five position groups mentioned above and see where things stand.
Interior defensive line
I didn’t know how good I had it back in March when I said that there had been no change in an interior defensive line that was one of the league’s worst against the run in 2025. The Giants did make a minor addition in Sam Roberts. Then earthquake #1 struck when Dexter Lawrence was traded to Cincinnati.
No problem, the draft was coming up and surely the Giants would prioritize defensive tackle, no later than Day 2. The first bad sign was Caleb Banks coming off the board in Round 1. No problem. I got excited as pick No. 37 approached and man-mountain Kayden McDonald was still on the board. Then earthquake No. 2 struck: Houston jumped over the Giants and took him. No problem, they can just take Christen Miller. Wrong. The Giants did not take an IDL until Round 5, when they drafted 328-pound nose tackle Bobby Jamison-Travis in Round 6. I know nothing about him, but PFF ranked him as their seventh-best IDL in run defense this past season:
Color me surprised. Unfortunately, though, he gives the Giants nothing in the pass rush, with only eight pressures all season. That’s why he was on the board in Round 6. So not a replacement for Dexter Lawrence, but at least there’s hope that, combined with the addition of Tremaine Edmunds at linebacker, opponents will not be able to run up the middle as easily in 2026.
John Harbaugh indicated that the Giants aren’t finished, though:
One of those is widely expected to be D.J. Reader. Reader isn’t the player he was early in his career, but he’s still at least solid against the run and gives at least a little juice in the pass rush:
BBV readers may remember that my offseason man crush is Calais Campbell. Adding him and Reader, with Jamison-Travis and second year defensive tackle Darius Alexander providing depth, would almost be enough to make me conclude that the 2026 Giants IDL will be as good as or better than the 2025 IDL. Unfortunately, Campbell doesn’t sound like a likely addition at this point:
There’s also the possibility of adding Shelby Harris, who also met with the Giants and whose career arc is similar to Reader’s. Add Reader and Harris and I’d be willing to say that the 2026 IDL will be the equal of the 2025 IDL – less pass rush but better run defense. Until that happens, though:
EDGE: 2025 interior defensive line
Interior offensive line
The other positions on the Giants are presumably mostly set at this point except for some additions/subtractions at the back end, so let’s assume that WYSIWYG given the current roster. I originally said the offensive line was worse than last year because Greg Van Roten had not been re-signed, leaving Joshua Ezeudu and Evan Neal as the incumbents at right guard, and Austin Schlottman had left for Tennessee.
Then the Giants used the No. 10 pick on Sisi Mauigoa. Mauigoa has played almost exclusively at right tackle, though he did take 10 snaps at right guard last season. Mauigoa gave up only two sacks last season, none of them in his fiinal 12 games, despite competing against some of the best teams in the nation late in the season. He was also above average in the run game. Assuming he makes the transition from riight tackle to right guard smoothly, that’s a big step up for the offensive line, and free agent signing Daniel Faalele as a depth piece is fine. Lucas Patrick was signed to replace Schlottman as the backup at center; he’s not as good, but he’s capable.
EDGE: 2026 interior offensive line
Cornerback
The Giants lost Cor’Dale Flott, who had become their best cornerback, in free agency, and I was not thrilled by the additions the Giants made to replace him. Specifically, Paulson Adebo, who was underwhelming in his first season as a Giant, and newcomer Greg Newsome II, who has played poorly after very good rookie and sophomore seasons, were the starters on the depth chart, with Deonte Banks as the prime backup. I rated the cornerback room as worse this year than last year’s.
That all changed with the Giants drafting Colton Hood at the top of Round 2. Hood may become CB2 by the end of training camp, and if not, it may be because Newsome has regained his rookie form. Either way, the situation should be better than it seemed to be a month ago. It’s hard to say that it will be better than last year, because Flott had become a very solid corner. But the Giants now have a viable option for CB2, and there is also the chance that Adebo will bounce back after a rough first season as a Giant. For now, I’ll be conservative and say:
EDGE: None
Receivers
A month ago I said: Deeper? Yes. Better? TBD. One thing has changed since then – the trade-up that allowed the Giants to select wide receiver Malachi Fields. It’s hard to project how good Fields will be as a pro, but he gives the Giants something that has been in short supply in recent years: A big target to keep drives alive. The Giants’ offense was pretty good last year before the injuries began mounting, but a lot of it was due to Jaxson Dart keeping the chains moving either by buying time with scrambles or running for the first down himself. Ideally what Fields will provide is a target that Dart can play pitch-and-catch with when it’s third down instead of running himself.
We’ll see how well Fields can perform against NFL-caliber cornerbacks, but I’ll tentatively say:
EDGE: 2026 wide receivers
Linebacker
Last month I graded this group better but not complete, because the addition of Tremaine Edmunds improved the run defense at the second level while not giving them much in pass coverage. I, like everyone else, assumed Arvell Reese would be off the board by the time the Giants were on the clock, so I never thought much about him in blue. Furthermore, it is TBD how defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson is going to deploy him. It sounds as if to start, Reese will primarily be an off-ball linebacker, and between Edmunds and Reese, run support at the second level should be miles ahead of what it was last season. Reese’s pass coverage was at best only adequate last year, though, so it remains to be seen whether the Giants have even one LB who can defend the pass well.
Still, Edmunds + Reese is a huge upgrade over Okereke + Muasau, the starters most of last season. Furthermore, with Micah McFadden returning from injury and possibly getting a decent number of snaps as Reese is sometimes utilized to rush the passer, the Giants for the first time in years have a deep linebacker room. The Giants also added Jack Kelly in Round 6 and they still have Darius Muasau for depth. So:
EDGE: 2026 off-ball linebackers
Final thoughts
So is the talent on the 2026 Giants roster greater than it was on the 2025 roster? Overall I think we can now say that the answer is yes. After 4 p.m. Monday I hope we’ll be able to change that to a resounding yes. The days of the Giants’ defense getting pressure up the middle just by having an uber-talented behemoth bowling over centers and guards are over. In its place, though, we should expect to see better run defense at the first and second levels, better pass coverage in the secondary, and even more pressure on opposing quarterbacks as the rush comes from anywhere and everywhere, just not so much from the interior defensive line itself. (And even there, we’ll see whether Darius Alexander takes the next step in his development.)
This is only about the talent level. The biggest expectation for the Giants is that the defense takes a big step forward simply because they now have a more aggressive defensive coordinator in Dennard Wilson. When we see the Giants start to hold onto fourth quarter leads instead of blowing them, we’ll know.
