It’s been an interesting first week of free agency for the New York Giants under their new head coach John Harbaugh. The Giants have made quite a few additions while losing quite a few players as well. The number depends on how you treat different free agents. To be sure, re-signing right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor, linebacker Micah McFadden, and several others, and at a reasonable average annual value, is a win. That hasn’t made the team better, though, it’s just avoided making it worse than it was
in 2025 by running it back from last season.
For this post I want to address a different question – how good are the 2026 Giants, at the moment, compared to the 2025 Giants? The answer to that also depends on how you’re thinking about it. Most people feel that John Harbaugh will be a big upgrade over Brian Daboll as a head coach (although it remains to be seen whether Matt Nagy is an upgrade over the Daboll/Mike Kafka offensive coordinator tandem). Everyone believes that Dennard Wilson will be a big improvement over Shane Bowen as defensive coordinator.
Let’s instead just focus on the players and ask the question in the title of this post. It’s of course premature to definitively answer it with more of free agency to come plus the NFL Draft next month. This post simply asks whether free agency and the draft can indeed address the remaining roster holes and give the Giants a better roster than they had in 2025.
It’s convenient after the first week of free agency to just punt and say, oh we can fix what’s left to do in the draft. This year, though, the Giants only have two Day 1 and Day 2 picks, and you don’t want to depend on Day 3 draftees becoming impact players at the NFL level. So, barring Ty Simpson having an Anthony Richardson-like ascension into the Top 10 and Joe Schoen being able to exploit that with a trade-down that nets a second or third round 2026 pick, they will only have two chances in this draft to address remaining immediate needs. The problem with that of course is that drafting for need alone is poor strategy.
One note: The Giants do indeed seem to have upgraded on special teams with punter Jordan Stout, and with either late-2025 incumbent Ben Sauls or newly acquired Jason Sanders. I doubt the Giants will use a draft pick on either position.
Thus, the best time to address remaining needs, at least at the “remedial” level of plugging holes with capable starters, is now. That allows you to swing for the BPA (best player available) fences in the draft. What are those needs at the moment? I’d say interior defensive and offensive line, cornerback, and wide receiver, plus linebacker. Let’s look at each, with my assessment of whether a given position has improved, stayed the same, or gotten worse relative to 2025.
Interior defensive line
2026 vs. 2025: No change
The Giants have done nothing here in free agency to date, despite the IDL being one of main culprits in their run defense being among the league’s worst. D.J. Reader, most recently a Detroit Lion, would provide the run-stuffing that the Giants desperately need inside. He doesn’t give you much in the pass rush, but that’s not what the Giants need.
Alternatively, the Giants might be a great fit for the NFL’s Dorian Gray, the ageless Calais Campbell. It’s not known whether Campbell is going to play another year, and he’s not the elite defender he once was, but he is still above average and gives you something in the pass rush as well as run defense. Campbell only made $6M last season. He played for Harbaugh from 2020-2022. How about a reunion for a year?
Longer term, No. 5 seems to be too rich for this year’s IDL crop, but someone like Caleb Banks might be in play if he lasts until Round 2.
Interior offensive line
2026 vs. 2025: Worse
There is considerable buzz about the Giants using the No. 5 pick on running back Jeremiyah Love. In my opinion that would be a mistake for reasons that have nothing to do with Love, who looks like the best running back prospect to enter the league since…Saquon Barkley. You remember Barkley – great running back who’d break long runs and make highlight reel jukes that embarrassed defenders, but who also was often indecisive and unproductive at the line of scrimmage, because of an offensive line that couldn’t open holes for him. Barkley’s 2024 renaissance as an Eagle had everything to do with the gigantic holes the Eagles’ offensive line created that let him get to the second level untouched, where he could perform his magic. When the Eagles’ line declined last season, so did Barkley’s production.
The Giants’ 2025 offensive line, while much improved over previous years in pass protection, was still at best mediocre at run-blocking other than Andrew Thomas. The Giants have done nothing yet in free agency, and miracle worker Carmen Bricillo and valuable backup center Austin Schlottman are now Tennessee Giants, er, Titans. Greg Van Roten, their best IOL in 2025, remains unsigned. Perhaps Harbaugh is simply counting on newly-signed fullback Patrick Ricard to solve the problem, but you wouldn’t want to assume that is enough.
Barring an Easter-like resurrection of Evan Neal under new offensive line coach Mike Bloomgren, the Giants need to do something about the IOL. Van Roten should be brought back, but as depth rather than as a starter. The free agent pool by now is getting thin; former Brown Wyatt Teller is probably the best they can hope to do in free agency, but he’s declined in recent years due to injuries. This may be a problem they just have to solve in the draft, but unless they do it by Day 2, don’t expect any draftee to just step in and start. It follows then that if they use No. 5 on Love without upgrading the IOL, he’s likely to disappoint through no fault of his own, relative to the high expectations for a No. 5 pick.
Might Francis Mauigoa or Vega Ioane be in play for the No. 5 pick?
Cornerback
2026 vs. 2025: Worse
The Giants lost Cor’Dale Flott in free agency….to Tennessee, of course. He was probably their best corner in 2025. Their big free agency addition to date has been Greg Newsome. It’s hard to know what to make of that. Newsome’s production has really tailed off the past two years:
Newsome has seen alarming increases in missed tackle rate, catch rates, TDs, and passer rating against, and decreases in pass breakups. The alternative to Newsome is of course Tae Banks, who has gone through a similar devolution since his rookie year. In principle, both first round players should be upgrades over the third round Flott. In practice, they haven’t been. The Giants unfortunately missed out on free agent Jamel Dean. I doubt we’ll see the Giants sign another free agent cornerback. That puts new defensive backs coach Addison Lynch on the hot seat to make at least one of those two players starter-caliber, as they were in their rookie years. If not…
Will Mansoor Delane be in play for the Giants’ No. 5 pick?
I didn’t include safety in this discussion. As the old saying goes, there’s safety in numbers. The Giants instead have opted for numbers in safeties. In addition to Jevon Holland and Tyler Nubin, the Giants have compensated for the loss of Dane Belton to the Jets by adding free agents Ar’Darius Washington and old friend Jason Pinnock (plus Elijah Campbell, for completeness). Are there two good safeties in that group? Maybe. Is Caleb Downs still in play at No. 5? Maybe – none of those signings rules that out.
Wide receiver
2026 vs. 2025: Deeper, yes. Better? TBD
Many Giants fans have been surprisingly sanguine about the loss of Wan’Dale Robinson to…who else, Tennessee. I get it after Wan’Dale’s first three years. While you were sleeping, though, Wan’Dale had a 1,014 yard season with 11.0 yards per catch. That’s more than “just a slot receiver” (and by the way he lined up outside a career high 31.1% of snaps in 2025).
You don’t replace that easily, and the Giants haven’t, at least not with any one player. Instead they’ve decided to throw numbers at it. The first attempt was (nominal) tight end Isaiah Likely. Likely is obviously the anti-Wan’Dale at 6-foot-4 and 241 pounds, and it follows that we can expect to see lots more 21 and 22 personnel and much less 11 personnel in 2026. Other than his size, though, he’s not very much like what we think of as a tight end – he’s more a big slot receiver. Here’s how Likely and Robinson compared in 2025, per PFF:
Robinson: Slot 67.9%, wide 31.1%, in-line 0.0%, ADOT 9.0 yards
Likely: Slot 73.2%, wide 11.2%, in-line 14.5%, ADOT 7.9 yards
So Likely, if used the way he was last year in Baltimore, will be mostly a “big slot,” replacing Robinson’s WR3 usage with a bigger target for Jaxson Dart but not giving much in the way of what Robinson provided as in effect the Giants’ WR2 a decent part of the time. Likely had 603 receiving yards in 2024 and has not broken 500 yards in any of his other seasons. What he has done, though, is to improve his hands, going from 10.0% and 10.5% drop rates his first two years to 2.0% and 3.6% the past two years.
The Giants instead have opted for WR2-by-committee. Darius Slayton of course is still around. He is the fans’ favorite whipping boy because of his drops, but in the absence of Malik Nabers most of the season, he was their primary deep threat (83.5% of snaps lined up wide, 14.5 yds/reception). Slayton had only 538 yards last season, but he has had previous seasons with 740, 751, 816, and 770 yards.
To that the Giants first added Calvin Austin III on a bargain $3M one-year contract. Austin split his time almost evenly between the slot and wideout as a Steeler. He only had 330 receiving yards, though, and has never reached 500. Next the Giants signed Darnell Mooney, most recently an Atlanta Falcon. Mooney spent his time about 2-to-1 lining up wide vs. in the slot last season, though that ratio has been reversed in a couple of his other seasons. He has had seasons with 1,055 and 992 receiving yards, though in 2025 he had only 443 despite only missing two games.
Mooney would seem to be the nominal WR2 heading into camp, with Slayton dropping in the pecking order. There’s just one problem. Mooney had 6 drops, the same number as Slayton, in 2025 in 70 vs. 60 targets. If Mooney does become WR2, the potential is there for him to become the new focus of the MetLife boo birds. Here are the primary receiving targets for the Giants, Steelers, and Falcons last year, ranked by drop rate:
Mooney, Slayton, and Austin all ranked pretty high in drop rate; Wan’Dale did not. In fact, Mooney’s 15.8% drop rate was second in the NFL among receivers with at least 50 targets, while Slayton’s 14.0% ranked 6th.
So I ask: Is this the receiving corps Harbaugh’s Giants are going to ride with in 2026, or is a wide receiver still in the cards for the No. 5 pick? If so, it’s worth noting that Carnell Tate had zero drops in 66 targets while Makai Lemon had only two in 109 targets. Nothing kills drives more than third down drops. Somewhere, the Giants need to find a sure-handed receiver.
Linebacker
2026 vs. 2025: Better but not complete
Linebacker, you say? A need? The Giants’ biggest new free agent signing to date has been Tremaine Edmunds, and they brought back Micah McFadden on a team-friendly $3.75M deal. They’re set at linebacker, right? Well, except for two things:
- Edmunds and McFadden are both primarily MIKE rather than WILL LBs
- Both are better against the run than in pass coverage
It’s really too bad the Giants couldn’t snap up free agent Leo Chenal, who was very good in coverage last year and is now a Washington Commander. Sure, the Giants have Darius Muasau as depth, but his play over two seasons does not indicate he is a starting-caliber WILL LB.
Sonny Styles, on the other hand, was excellent in pass coverage as well as run defense last year. Is he still in play at No. 5 despite the Edmunds signing? He should be.
The bottom line
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.
