Football
Three New York Giants Facing Most Pressure in 2024
The 2024 New York Giants team as a whole is under enough pressure to get back on the winning track in head coach Brian Daboll’s third season, especially given all the roster upgrades made by general manager Joe Schoen.
But for some on the roster, the heat will be cranked up worse than the heatwave currently gripping the Northeast because their performance could help make or break the team’s chances.
Here are the top three players whose performances must be on point this season.
Might as well start with the most obvious one, right? Regardless of whether one is for or against the Giants running it back with Jones, that is the decision the team’s brass has made, leaving it up to Jones, who has been working his tail off this off-season to not only recover from a torn ACL but to also get his game right within the offense.
While it’s true that last season, Jones was victimized by poor offensive line play and injuries to his top skill position players (Saquon Barkley and Darren Waller), Jones became far too skittish in the pocket. He continued to stick mostly with his first read, sometimes telegraphing where he was going with the ball and sometimes trying to force a play that wasn’t there to be made.
He finished with 4.1 percent of his passes being of the “turnover-worthy play” variety, (with former Washington quarterback Sam Howell) for the highest turnover-worthy play percentage among the 38 quarterbacks with a minimum of 200 dropbacks.
His average depth of target (6.39 yards) was among that same sample group, suggesting a reluctance to throw the ball deep even on those occasions when there was time.
Jones also posted career lows in success rate (37.4 percent), yards gained per pass attempt (5.7), and yards gained per pass completion (8.4).
The hope is that a revamped offensive line and the addition of Malik Nabers will get Jones back to looking more like the quarterback he was in 2022.
He had better as if he stumbles out of the gate, the team’s brass may not hesitate to pull the plug on him midway through the season to avoid putting him at risk with that $23 million injury guarantee in his contract next year.
The heat is on the entire Giants offensive line, but perhaps none more so than right tackle Evan Neal, who, due to a combination of factors, including injuries, has not lived up to his top-10 draft pedigree.
Last year, Neal played 309 pass-blocking snaps, who had a minimum of 300 pass-block snaps. He finished fourth in pressures allowed (29th), which comes to allowing a pressure once every 10.6 pass-block snaps.
Injuries aside, one of Neal’s biggest issues has been he’s never really looked comfortable playing right tackle at the NFL level. That lack of comfort has resulted in inconsistency in technique and approach, where balance issues have cropped up.
The first step for this very big, still very young (23) athlete is his health. Neal did not do any team drills in the OTAs, and the coaching staff went so far as to back off him in the latter OTAs and all of the mandatory minicamps, saying that they wanted to ensure he’d be ready to go for training camp.
That might be true, but given how much Neal was doing before their backing off him (based on what the media witnessed, it was individual drills and walkthroughs against air), it’s fair to wonder if he had a setback, which head coach Brian Daboll denied was the case.
Okay, then, is he certain that Neal can be counted on this summer?
“That’s what we’re hoping for,” Daboll said. “He’s in here, he’s working his butt off. … Evan is on his program in terms of trying to get back as soon as he can. He’s doing everything he can do. Participating in the meetings. So very hopeful really with all our guys, when we get back, we’ll all be ready to go.”
Neal needs to get healthy, stay healthy, and play with more patience and attention to detail. Raw size and talent aren’t enough at this level; he’s got to become more of a technician in his approach and find that comfort level that has eluded him thus far.
If he can’t, then the Giants have a backup plan in Jermaine Eluemunor, who currently projects as one of the starting guards. But if injuries hit the tackle position hard, the Giants could be in trouble if Neal doesn’t finally show progress.
After the Giants reportedly tried to sign three established veterans (Tre’Davious White, Darious Williams, and Steven Nelson0 to man the perimeter spot opposite of Deonte Banks, the team decided to throw their full support behind third-year man Flott, their third-round pick in 2022 who mostly played in the slot last season.
There’s enough to like about Flott’s game. He’s a natural football player who doesn’t hesitate to stick his nose into the action, which doesn’t always serve him well healthwise, as he’s suffered some dings due to that.
He’s an aggressive press corner with more than enough catch-up speed to match up with anyone, and he plays with instinct and toughness.
Durability concerns aside, there are some other areas in his game Flott needs to clean up. Last year, he finished third on the Giants defense in penalties with five (two declined), two of which resulted in first downs for the opponent.
The two penalties that were accepted involved illegal contact, suggesting that Flott may have lost track of where he was on the field regarding the permissible contact zone at times.
Flott also saw his missed tackles , another area he needs to clean up. There are some other things he’ll need to continue working on, but Giants defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson said he was pleased with the progress being made by the former LSU defender.
“He’s been tremendous this off season studying, working and, and he’s been really good about pulling (Deonte Banks) with him as he does stuff,” Henderson said.
“That’s the type of relationship that I love to see them two, pushing each other and helping each other and being with each other through a lot of the things they’re going through. And I expect Flott to have a productive good year for us.”
If Flott can deliver the goods as is hoped, the Giants should be set at the cornerback spot for a while. But if he can’t, the team will have to turn to one of the veterans they signed to a one-year deal to serve as a stop-gap while figuring out their next step.
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