The New York Giants’ defense, led by a front seven many thought would be among the best in the league, was supposed to be the strength of the team in 2025. Many believed that with the assembled talent, the Giants should be a top 10 defense.
Things have, as every Giants fan knows, gone horribly wrong.
- The Giants keep blowing fourth-quarter leads, sometimes in historic fashion.
- They give up 27.3 points per game, 29th in the NFL.
- They are last in the league in run defense, giving up 5.5 yards per attempt.
- The Giants are tied with the Bears for last in the NFL in yards before contact allowed per rushing attempt at 1.9.
- The Giants are 29th in the league in defensive Expected Points Added (EPA) per play at -0.11.
- The Giants are tied for second-last in the NFL in takeaways with just six. No defensive back seems capable of playing a ball in the air, and no pass rusher seems able to dislodge the quarterback from the ball.
- Brian Burns is having a career year, and Cor’Dale Flott has been a surprise. Otherwise, the defense is filled with players underperforming expectations.
Why? Why have things been this disastrous?
It is easy to point the finger at defensive coordinator Shane Bowen and say, “his fault.” His schemes are too soft. The players don’t listen. They don’t learn.
Mistakes never get fixed. Maybe all of that is true, at least in part.
If you believe Bowen should have been fired after last season when co-owner John Mara publicly gave ex-coach Brian Daboll opening to do that … or after the Week 2 meltdown against the Dallas Cowboys … or the Week 7 Denver Debacle .. or after the Giants gave up 34 points to a San Francisco 49ers team quarterbacked by Mac Jones … or any other time, I am not going to argue.
Maybe, for better or worse, Daboll would still have a job if he had taken any of those well-marked off ramps to move on from Bowen.
Still, not everything that has gone wrong with the defense is a Bowen problem, or an issue caused by the defensive coordinator.
Here is a list of eight questions that have contributed to the defense under-performing its perceived talent level. I don’t have the answers to any of them. The purpose here is to simply raise the questions, lay out some of the possible causes or explanations, and let you see where you stand on all of them.
Let’s dive in.
Why has Dexter Lawrence played below standard?
In the annual NFL Top 100 survey, players voted Lawrence the 17th-best player in the league entering the season. The only interior defensive lineman ranked higher was Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs, and there are plenty of analysts who had Lawrence rated as the better player.
Stunningly, after three straight dominant seasons in which he totaled 21.0 sacks, made the Pro Bowl each time and was a second-team All-Pro twice, Lawrence might not be the 17th-best defensive tackle in the league this season.
Pro Football and Sports Network, in fact, has Lawrence ranked at the No. 41 defensive tackle in the league using its proprietary Impact Score. He ranked No. 5 in 2023 and No. 19 last season.
Among 83 qualifying defensive tackles, Pro Football Focus has Lawrence ranked No. 14. Last season, he was No. 3. In 2023, Lawrence was No. 1.
Lawrence might think he is playing well, but he is not playing up to the standard he set the previous three seasons. Over the past three seasons, he averaged 3.75 tackles per game. This year, 2.09. Over those three years, he averaged a sack every 2.09 games. This year, he has a half-sack in 11 games. From 2022-2024, he averaged 2.29 pressures per game. This year, 1.5. From 2022-2024, he averaged 2.32 STOPs per game. This year, 11 STOPs in 11 games for an average of 1.0.
He clearly is not the same player. Why?
Is the dislocated left elbow that landed him on IR last season still a problem? Maybe. Is Lawrence heavier than he was a year ago? Maybe. Is it how Lawrence is being used? Maybe. From 2022-2024, Lawrence played 69.7% of his snaps as a nose tackle. In 2025, he has been at nose tackle just 50.09% of the time.
The only thing I know with certainty, because I witnessed it with my own eyes, is that Lawrence did not take many snaps during the spring or summer.
Why has Abdul Carter not been as advertised?
In his pre-draft scouting report on Carter, Dane Brugler of The Athletic authored this summary:
Carter is a disruptive presence, because of his explosive nature and how he mixes up his rushes to win with speed, force and a budding arsenal of moves. He projects as a 1A pass rusher, with a gift for consistently making the quarterback move his feet and making plays in the run game.
Andre Patterson, the defensive line coach who has worked with many great pass rushers during his long career, was effusive in his praise of Carter during offseason workouts.
“I think he’s explosive. He’s quick. He’s sudden,” Patterson said. “But I think the thing that’s unique in him, when they had me look at him and evaluate him before the draft, is he has an uncanny ability to feel how to win at the top of the rush.” …
“A lot of guys blow the rush when they get to the top of the rush,” Patterson said. “A lot of guys are quick. A lot of guys are explosive. A lot of guys can go edge to edge. But when they get to the top of the rush, they become mechanical. And as a coach, it takes guys two, three, four years to figure that out.
“Well, he was born with that. That’s the thing that he was born with, that just naturally when he gets to the top of the rush, he has a feel of where to go. And I think that’s the thing that makes him unique.”
Carter was expected to have a Micah Parsons-like impact on the Giants’ defense. Parsons, also out of Penn State, had 13.0 sacks, was a First-Team All-Pro, and AP Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2021.
Carter has a half-sack through 11 games and is now defending his behavior after missing a practice when he didn’t know the schedule had changed. Former Giants great Carl Banks asked on the Bleav in Giants podcast this week why Carter, supposedly with that vast repertoire, has, in his view, been reduced to simply trying an inside move over and over without much success.
Carter leads Giants edge defenders with a 13.1 pass rush win percentage. That, though, is just 28th among 64 qualifiers in the Pro Football Focus grading system. You can say that he leads all rookie edge defenders in pressures with 35, which he does. Still, he was drafted to be a game-changer. Maybe he will be someday. So far, he has not been.
Did GM Joe Schoen blow this pick? Did the Giants and the rest of the football world overestimate what kind of player Carter would be? Does Carter need more development time than thought? Is Bowen misusing him? Is outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen not getting the best out of him? There have been reports that former coach Brian Daboll looked the other way this season when Carter, the youngest player on the Giants’ roster, was making a habit of being late for meetings. If true, has that perhaps contributed to Carter not performing to his expected level?
Why has Deonte Banks regressed?
When Schoen engineered a draft day trade to make sure he was able to select Banks in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft, then-defensive coordinator Wink Martindale almost broke the GM in half with a hug.
Banks had a promising rookie season. He started 15 games, gave up just 53 completions in 96 targets (55.2%), had an excellent passer rating against of 79.6, and had a pair of interceptions along with 11 passes defensed.
It has been all downhill for Banks since. A passer rating against of 124.2 last year and 141.8 this year. Completion percentages allowed of 70.3% last year and 75% this year. No interceptions. Questions on multiple occasions last season about his effort — questions that have continued into this season. A lack of accountability is shown by not making himself available all season during the designated 45-minute media availability held three times a week. Losing his starting job to Cor’Dale Flott.
The reality that the Giants would not only rather play Flott, but at times rookie Korie Black, a seventh-round pick.
Was this all because Martindale, who’s press-man scheme fit Banks’ style, left after Banks’ rookie year? Is this because Banks, as former defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson once said, needs to improve his “Football 101.” Is it because former coach Brian Daboll, rather than holding Banks’ feet to the fire for his transgressions, fired Henderson for trying to do exactly that? Is it because the Giants misjudged the player and never should have drafted him?
What the Giants have now in a former first-round pick is a good kickoff returner. As a cornerback, he can’t play the run, tackles poorly, seems to have issues communicating with teammates if asked to do more than play straight man, doesn’t find the football, and can’t be trusted to give his best effort on every play.
Whose fault is all of that?
Why did Paulson Adebo play better in New Orleans?
The Giants gave cornerback Paulson Adebo a three-year, $54 million contract to be their best cornerback. Adebo has missed four games now with a knee injury, and that has been a problem for a team stuck playing a failed first-round pick in Deonte Banks and a seventh-round rookie in Korie Black.
Still, when healthy, Adebo was not matching the production he had the last two seasons with the New Orleans Saints. In New Orleans, Adebo had seven interceptions, 32 pass breakups (1.45 per game), and two forced fumbles in his last 22 games. In seven games with the Giants, he has no interceptions and four pass breakups (0.57 per game). His 2025 passer rating against of 92.8 is nowhere as good as the 62.7 he posted in 2023 or the 71.9 he posted last season.
Was Adebo a bad signing by GM Joe Schoen? Is he being coached poorly by defensive coordinator Shane Bowen and defensive backs coaches Marquad Manuel and Jeff Burris? Is he being incorrectly used in the Giants’ defense?
Adebo played man-to-man coverage 38.0% of the time last year. He has played it 39.1% this season. So, that isn’t the answer.
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Why did Bobby Okereke have more impact with Wink Martindale?
Veteran linebacker Bobby Okereke had the best season of his career with Wink Martindale running the Giants’ defense in 2023. Okereke had 149 tackles, two away from his career-high, and established career highs in passes defensed (10), fumbles forced (4), tackles for loss (11), STOPs (56), and quarterback pressures (14).
After an injury-plagued 2024, Okereke is on pace for 146 tackles this season. It is hard, though, to say he has been an impact player. He has just one quarterback hit and four hurries, he is on pace for 40 STOPs, and has just one tackle for loss and one pass defensed.
Is that because Okereke was a better fit for Martindale’s aggressive scheme than he is for Bowen’s? Are the players around him not clearing lanes for the inside linebacker to make plays? Was 2023 just a career year for Okereke, and he isn’t the impact player he looked like that season? Most of his other seasons have looked like the one he is having now.
Why isn’t Darius Alexander developing?
When the Giants drafted Alexander in Round 3 of the 2025 NFL Draft, the pick was widely praised. That seems to be a theme with many of the picks Schoen makes. The other theme is that too many have not paid the hoped-for dividends.
Schoen called Alexander a “freaky athletic” player with “a high ceiling” on draft night.
Giants’ defensive line coach Andre Patterson is one of the best in the business and has worked his magic with several great players. He said in September that Alexander is “going to be a really good football player for us.”
Patterson also urged patience.
“We just have to be patient and let him develop, let him bloom,” Patterson said. “If you let him bloom, we’re going to have a beautiful flower.”
Alexander has played in 10 games and has just a half-sack, nine tackles, five hurries, and a below-average 39.3 Pro Football Focus grade. Patterson has played just 197 snaps in 10 games (19.7 per game).
Was Schoen wrong in his evaluation? Was Patterson wrong? Is more patience than imagined required? Is Patterson’s magic not working on Alexander? Is Alexander not listening?
The only obvious thing is that the Giants need more from Alexander than they are getting.
Why has Dru Phillips regressed?
The Giants drafted Phillips in Round 3 a year ago, and he quickly became the team’s primary slot cornerback. He showed physicality against the run and was good enough in coverage, with a 91.9 passer rating against.
This year, Phillips’ passer rating against has actually improved to 85.6, but it is clear that he is falling out of favor. Over the first seven games this season, Phillips played 56 snaps per game — never fewer than 43. Over the last four games, Phillips has played just 29 snaps per game, with a high of 40. All of that, while injuries have hit the defensive backfield.
Phillips has been targeted 57 times, giving up 40 completions (70.2%) this season after being targeted only 50 times and giving up 41 completions (82%) a year ago. Why is he being targeted far more? Why has he committed nine penalties after committing just two as a rookie? Why is he playing less?
Phillips’ PFSN Impact score (74.7) is actually nine points higher than it was a year ago. That would indicate that he is playing better, but that certainly does not seem to be the reality.
With Bowen in his second year as defensive coordinator, this is basically the same scheme Phillips played in last season. Is he not as good as we thought he was a year ago, when he looked like a fixture in the defensive backfield? Does he miss defensive backs coaches Jerome Henderson and Mike Treier, fired after last season and replaced by Marquand Manuel and Jeff Burris? Is there something else going on?
Why has Tyler Nubin not become what he was advertised to be?
After the Giants lost Xavier McKinney to the Green Bay Packers in free agency after the 2023 season, they selected Nubin in Round 2 of the 2024 NFL Draft. He was supposed to be an alpha who would become a defensive leader. After grabbing 13 interceptions in 55 games at Minnesota, he was also expected to be a ball-hawking playmaker who would make throwing the ball in his direction dangerous for both quarterbacks and wide receivers.
Things are not working out that way, especially on the latter count.
Nubin is unquestionably an alpha. He could one day be a defensive captain — if he ever plays well enough to earn it. In 23 games as an NFL player, Nubin does not have an interception. He has only two passes defensed in 73 career targets.
It might have been expected that Nubin’s play-making would begin to show up as he gained more experience. That has, obviously, not been the case in 2025.
Nubin’s passer rating against has risen from 91.7 in 2024 to an unacceptable 138.3 this year. His completion percentage against has risen from 65.0% last year to 75.8% this year. Nubin has surrendered four touchdowns as the primary defender after not giving up any in 40 targets as a rookie. The 24-year-old’s missed tackle rate has risen from a solid 4.9% to an alarming 10.8%.
What gives? Like Phillips and Banks, he appeared to be a good player as a rookie. In Year 2 of the same scheme, you would expect him to improve. Not to get worse.
Did the Giants draft a bad player? The overall way that he played would indicate that is not the case. Is he being used differently? He has played free safety 59% of the time this year. He was there 54.6% of the time last year. So, that has not really changed.
At first glance, Nubin’s somewhat subpar athleticism for the safety position has been exposed a couple of times this year. Further examination, though, reveals that on those occasions he was desperately trying to cover up for someone else’s mistake.
Nubin’s Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 3.72 out of 10.0 is not impressive. There are, though, precedents for free safeties succeeding with similar scores. T.J. Ward made three Pro Bowls in an eight-year career from 2010-2017 with a 3.89 RAS. Vonn Bell started 117 NFL games from 2016-2024. His RAS was 3.68, lower than Nubin’s.
Is Nubin suffering from Henderson and Treier being replaced by Manuel and Burris? Whatever the reason, he is yet another player who is not getting better and is, in fact, playing worse.
