Folks, it seems like the NFL regular season just ended an we were staring into the void of another long offseason but we blinked our eyes a couple of times and now free agency is just about a week away. While there are a lot of questions about what the Giants are going to end up doing in free agency, including whether or not they will re-sign Dalvin Tomlinson or Leonard Williams, there are still some massive holes that this roster needs to fill.
Now before someone misconstrues what I’m saying here, I don’t think that the Giants should try and address all of these holes during free agency this year. In fact, doing so would likely mean that they overpaid a player that they should not have overpaid which is part of the reason why this team is in shambles right now. I’m simply stating that these are the team’s biggest needs.
So here is how I’d rank the Giants biggest needs, in order, heading into free agency. The Giants MUST address all three of these positions between free agency and the draft if this team is going to be successful next season.
1. Edge Rusher
Since Dave Gettleman became General Manager in 2018, he has completely decimated the edge rusher position. for the Giants. We all know he loves defensive tackles but he fails to realize that defensive tackles are simply not a premium position. This team went from having two good edge rushers in Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon to having fringe backups playing the edge positions.
With the strength of this Giants team being their defense and the quarterback play on offense likely not improving much in the next season, they need to strengthen what is arguably the most important position on defense. They need to find an alpha pass rusher either via trade, free agency, or the draft. They simply can not go into next season without getting a significant upgrade at this position.
2. Alpha Wide Receiver
The reason that I put alpha wide receiver is because there are all kinds of rumors floating out there that the Giants are interested in signing a guy like Curtis Samuel. That makes me want to puke. This team doesn’t need another gadget guy who isn’t able to beat corners 1v1 on the outside or create separation. They need to go get one of the big dogs either in the draft or in free agency.
If they want Daniel Jones to have a fighting chance of becoming a decent NFL quarterback then they will address this need this offseason. There are no excuses not to. The free agency class should be deep and this is one of the deepest receiver draft classes ever.
3. Offensive Line
It’s incredible to me that this position is still a problem for the Giants. It seems like all this team does is swing and miss at offensive line prospects in the draft and in free agency. It’s a position group that Dave Gettleman has vowed to fix but it just keeps getting worse and worse.
Now it may be set to get even worse as there are rumors circulating that the Giants are trying to trade or potentially release their best offensive lineman in Kevin Zeitler. This would likely mean that they plan on moving up Shane Lemieux, who was terrible last season, to be a full time starter. Will Hernandez seems more and more like a guy who will not live up to his draft position. If Zeitler is not on the team next year then this unit drops down significantly.
There are still massive question marks at tackle. Andrew Thomas will get his shot at left tackle again next season but has to improve. Is Matt Peart ready to become a full time right tackle? Maybe, but the Giants can’t afford to not add more depth there in case he isn’t. They also shouldn’t bring back Cam Fleming or Nate Solder next season as they’re both revolving doors.
The only position that really has no questions is center as Nick Gates had a good season there last year. Aside from him and Zeitler who may be on his way out the door, this unit is still not stable.