New York Giants Have One of Youngest Rosters in 2024

The New York Giants brass won’t come right out and say it, but the team is currently in the midst of a rebuild. For proof, look no further than the average age of the roster.

According to the 33rd Team (h/t Adam Schefter), the Giants have the fourth oldest roster, with an average age of 25.70. And of their projected starters, they have the second youngest group at 25.50 years of age, behind the Green Bay Packers, who have both the youngest full roster and the youngest projected starters.

A closer look at the Giants roster reveals that New York currently has six players who are 30 or older (offensive lineman Aaron Stinnie, defensive lineman Rakeem Nunez-Roches, tight end Chris Manhertz, long snapper Casey Kretier, guard Greg Van Roten, and kicker Graham Gano).

Two of the Giants’ rostered players who are currently 29 years old (fullback Jakob Johnson and tackle Jermaine Eluemunor) will both turn 30 in December.

The Giants have 23 players under the age of 25 or 43.3 percent of their roster. The youngest is first-round defensive tackle pick Malik Nabers (21 years old), followed by second-year receiver Jalin Hyatt and reserve cornerback Andru Phillips, both of whom are currently 22 years old.

Giants general manager Joe Schoen has completely revamped the roster he inherited in 2022, and only six draft picks made by the previous regime (Dave Gettleman) remain. 

Those are defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence II, quarterback Daniel Jones, left tackle Andrew Thomas, receiver Darius Slayton, outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari, and linebacker Carter Coughlin.  

Two free agents remain from the Gettleman era: long snapper Casey Kreiter and kicker Graham Gano, both among the oldest players on the 53-man roster.

The Giants, who went 9-7-1 in the first season of the Schoen and Brian Daboll era, fell to 6-11 last season. While the roster appears far from being a Super Bowl contender, the hope is that it will be better than last year’s underachieving, injury-ravaged group.

Despite the youthfulness of the roster, Schoen realizes there is pressure to produce favorable results.

“You have pressure to win every game. There’s only 17 of ’em. They’re all important,” he said this week. “We would love to get off to a fast start. We did year one and we didn’t in year two…. There’s low margin for error in this league.”