The period form early June to late July is the NFLs only true “off-season”. This is the time of year when no news is good news, and nothing of consequence should be happening.
And while that leaves (hopefully) us bereft of real news regarding the New York Giants, the lack of a daily or weekly grind does give us a chance to step back and look at the NFL as a whole.
Matt Okada of NFL.com offered his offseason grades for every NFL team. He has the Giants setting the bell curve and gives the Giants the only
“A+” in the entire NFC, and one of just two such grades in the whole NFL.
With the help of NFL Pro data and insights and NFL IQ, I’ve evaluated every franchise’s signings, releases, trades and picks — and the ones that weren’t made — to grade the overall offseason effort and highlight what it could mean for the 2026 campaign (and beyond).
Let’s take a look at just what Okada likes so much about the Giants’ offseason.
New York Giants: A+
Standout moves:
- Hiring HC John Harbaugh
- Trading DT Dexter Lawrence
- Drafting LB Arvell Reese, OL Francis Mauigoa
The Giants started the 2026 offseason with a bang, hiring Harbaugh after his departure from Baltimore. The new coach wasted no time rebuilding the roster in his image. New York signed four players who played for the Ravens last year — including breakout TE candidate Isaiah Likely — and notable defenders like LB Tremaine Edmunds, CB Greg Newsome II and DTs DJ Reader and Shelby Harris.
Then Big Blue proceeded to absolutely crush the draft, picking up Reese at No. 5, Mauigoa at No. 10, CB Colton Hood at No. 37 and WR Malachi Fields at No. 74. My colleague Gennaro Filice ranked their draft class second among all 32 teams. The G-Men arguably improved in every facet this offseason and are one of my favorites sleeper teams in 2026.
Chris’ thoughts
As I wrote in response to Seth Walder’s offseason grades for ESPN, this offseason is all about Jaxson Dart. From getting the foundation and culture set by John Harbaugh, to improving the coaching staff to help raise Dart’s game as well as that of the players around him, building around Giants’ young quarterback and putting him in position to succeed is the Giants’ only priority in 2026.
If the Giants can successfully do so, then the A+ grade is more than earned.
That said, I definitely agree that the Giants seem to have done very well this offseason. We might eventually look back on hiring John Harbaugh as a turning point in franchise history. Likewise, it’s possible that the Ravens being just bad enough to fire Harbaugh while the Giants lose enough games they should have won to fire Brian Daboll and get Arvell Reese, Francis Mauigoa, and Colton Hood, could be one of the strokes of luck that create a “team of destiny.”
As Okada says at the start of his piece, having a good (or in this case, great) offseason doesn’t guarantee a playoff berth. However, it certainly seems like the Giants have made good moves at almost every opportunity this year.
Granted, their free agency period was “whelming”, but it was more about filling in the mortar between the building blocks than rebuilding the roster. The decision to create the Matt Nagy/Brian Callahan/Greg Roman triumvirate is confusing. I suspect that the plan is for Callahan and Roman to cover each other’s blind spots in play design, while Nagy balances the offense as a whole, but we’ll have to wait and see how that plays out.
The Giants’ first three picks have the potential to become core pieces for them at three premium positions, which would be a home run however you slice it. I have concerns about Malachi Fields, but he has the potential to be a good, useful player if he can consistently play up to the flashes we saw at Notre Dame and the Senior Bowl. We shouldn’t put expectations on the Giants’ three sixth-round picks (DT Bobby Jamison-Travis, OL JC Davis, and LB Jack Kelly) but they all have the traits to be useful players. Getting even solid depth and rotational play is a win at that stage of the draft.
I’m not going to argue with anyone who says they like what the Giants did this offseason, and not just because they’re saying things I want to hear. I think the Giants have made at least “good” moves at just about every turn, with several that have the potential to be legitimate home runs. If they can get the existing roster to play up to it’s potential, this team has the chance to really surprise some people.
