Pat Shurmur enters his 2nd season as Giants head coach after finishing 5-11 in year one. This resulted in the front office making many changes this offseason one of them was choosing not to give Landon Collins the franchise tag and he eventually signed with the Redskins. The biggest move by far this offseason was trading Wide Receiver Odell Beckham and Olivier Vernon to the Browns for Kevin Zeitler, Jabrill Peppers and a 1st round pick (which became Dexter Lawrence). In the draft they finally found a successor for Eli Manning taking Daniel Jones with the Number 6 overall pick.
At the Quarterback to position its not a question if Daniel Jones will play this year but when Eli is 38 and his play has declined over the last couple of years and Jones was great in the preseason. For the rest of the offense we all know how good Saquon Barkley is as he won Offensive Rookie of the Year last year, one thing that no one is talking about is the improvement of the Giants offensive line they acquired Kevin Zeitler from Cleveland in the offseason and he should be their best o-linemen. The left side of O-line should be better with Nate Solider and Will Hernandez being together for their 2nd year and they get Center John Halapio back who missed most of the year last year with a broken ankle. The player that needs to have a breakout year on offense for the Giants is Evan Engram he has showed flashes of being really good in his first couple years in the league but this has to be his break out year for this team to have success. Lastly the Giants got a tough break when they found out Golden Tate who they signed to a 4 year 37.5 Million Dollar deal after they traded Odell Beckham was suspend for the first 4 games of the season this is going force guys like Cody Latimer, Bennie Fowler and Russell Shepard to step up in Tate's absence to take the pressure off Sterling Shepard.
GM Dave Gettleman really has his fingerprint on this defense they are only two starters that were on the team in the Jerry Reese era Dalvin Tomlinson and Janoris Jenkins.
On the defensive line the Giants are going to have to rely on inexperienced guys who have potential at defensive end B.J. Hill showed some promise last year with a huge game against the Bears in December, Dexter Lawrence who's going to be starting on the other side was a first round pick for the Giants this year. Dalvin Tomlinson who the Giants took in the 2nd round in 2017 is going to be starting at nose tackle.
At linebacker they got a mixture of youth, experience and a few guys who played for defensive coordinator James Bettcher in Arizona. Outside linebackers Kareem Martin and Markus Golden who both played for James Bettcher with the Cards and Lorenzo Carter who the Giants drafted in the 3rd round in 2018 need to provide a pass rush for the Giants defense to function. At inside linebacker Alex Ogletree needs to be more consistent this year and Tate Davis in his 2nd year gets a chance to start.
Lastly the secondary should be the strength of the Giants defense with Janoris Jenkins, Deandre Baker who they traded up draft in the first round this year to get and Grant Haley at corner. The Giants acquired a promising young safety in the Odell Beckham trade getting Jabrill Peppers they also signed veteran safety Antoine Bethea who also played for Bettcher in Arizona.
Season Prediction: 6-10 3rd in NFC East with Eli's best days behind him and the defense being below average it won't be enough to make up for how great Barkley is, the potential of Engram or the improvement of the O-line.
Up Next: the Giants head to Dallas to take on the Cowboys for their opening game.