New York Giants’ Biggest Roster Needs Starting to Take Shape

The New York Giants are off to a 1-3 start and are in last place in the NFC East. Although their 2024 season is still young, already it can be argued that some of the team’s most glaring draft needs have been exposed through the first quarter of the season. 

Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus offered his thoughts on what the Giants needs are, all of which are on the offensive side of the ball: quarterback, offensive tackle, and running back. 

Let’s run down each and offer some additional insight.

Quarterback

The Giants made it clear during Hard Knocks that they were looking to upgrade the position in the draft. When they couldn’t do so, they pivoted to receiver Malik Nabers. But that doesn’t mean the Giants have necessarily given up on the plan to find a new franchise quarterback. 

Daniel Jones is in a make-or-break season this year in that, as Sikkema pointed out, the Giants can get out of his contract after this season since all the guaranteed money will have been paid out. 

But the plan all along, even if the Giants had been successful in landing their next franchise quarterback, was to let Jones play out this year, given the guaranteed money owed plus a desire to let a rookie acclimate rather than be pushed into action before he was ready.

Jones, for his part, hasn’t looked like a walking disaster, but then again, he hasn’t been able to raise the level of play around him. He’s missing receivers deep, be throwing behind or in front of them. He’s still struggling with post-snap reads, and he’s telegraphing where his passes are going. His decision-making has been shaky at times, and he’s simply been unable to elevate the offense when it needs to. 

It’s hard to imagine the Giants continuing with Jones beyond this year. At worst, they’ll probably sign a bridge quarterback–perhaps Sam Darnold, who thus far is off to an amazing start with the Vikings? But if general Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll are ever going to prove their weight in gold, getting their voice of a franchise quarterback in here and developing that guy is the way to go, and should have been the way to start with.

Right Tackle

This suggestion by Sikkema was a surprise mainly because Jermaine Eluemunor is under contract for two years and has played well in place of Evan Neal thus far. While we would be in favor of adding to the offensive line to keep the cupboard stocked, we would go with cornerback here, given the state of the Giants’ cornerbacks.

Deonte Banks is stuck in a sophomore slump, showing time and again that he has no business covering the league’s top receivers. On the other hand, the team had to reach back to bring in Adoree Jackson, whom they initially wanted to move on from, when Cor’Dale Flott and Nick McCloud couldn’t settle that battle in training camp.

The Giants, remember, tried to sign veteran cornerbacks in free agency only to be rebuked. Again, on Hard Knocks, even Joe Schoen joked about the cornerback situation, telling defensive coordinator Shane Bowen that he (Schoen) would go play cornerback if they made the Brian Burns trade.

That all said, it would be a stunning development if the Giants don’t have cornerback as high up on their to-do list as a quarterback–and ahead of right tackle, as Sikkema has indicated.

Running Back 

Sikkema notes of this position that, “Running back might not be the team’s biggest priority, but with the 2025 class shaping up to be special, the Giants could look to make an addition there.”

We’re not so sure this position would be a higher need than the defensive line. Again, going back to Hard Knocks, Bowen mentioned Boogie Basham or Ryder Anderson as possible additions to a Dexter Lawrence-led defensive line. Anderson ended up injured and is no longer with the team, while Basham has yet to get a game-day uniform. 

Rakeem Nunez-Roches, who is currently starting on that defensive line, enters the last year of his contract next year and has no more guaranteed money. He hasn’t been bad, but the team could probably still use an upgrade there and benefit from the $3.6 million cap savings they’d gain if Nunez-Roches was trimmed from the roster. 

Final Thoughts

Sikemma’s choices of tackle and running back are not necessarily wrong. A 1-3 team that is headed in the wrong direction right now can use help across the board. We just don’t think that they should be or will be prioritized ahead of the positions we mentioned above.