New York Giants: Ranking Remaining Offseason Priorities
Following an active, but non-splashy free-agency period and a productive (at lest on paper) draft, the New York Giants' roster appears to be several steps closer to having everything it needs to compete in 2015.
There are still some holes that need to be addressed, some of which are more pressing than others for varying reasons.
Let’s look at what those remaining needs are and rank them in order of importance starting with the least pressing.
5. Tight End
1 of 5
The Giants are at a bit of a crossroads with their tight end position.
None of the three players from last year—Larry Donnell, Adrien Robinson and Daniel Fells—are signed beyond 2015. That fact, along with the upcoming OTAs and rookie minicamp, could leave the door open for massive turnover at this position after the season.
The good news is the Giants do seem to have a promising young prospect in undrafted free agent Matt LaCosse out of Illinois.
In the recently completed rookie minicamp, LaCosse stood out in both position drills and team drills. However, he still needs to make the team; even if he does, he is just one player.
If Robinson, the team’s 2012 fourth-round draft pick, fizzles out, and/or if Donnell doesn’t show progress, this unit will suddenly become a more pressing need than it is now.
4. Defensive Tackle
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The Giants might have depth at defensive tackle, but it’s far from being solid.
Locked in for the long term are Johnathan Hankins and Jay Bromley. Kenrick Ellis is on a one-year “show me” contract, while Cullen Jenkins and Markus Kuhn are in the final years of their respective contracts, and Dominique Hamilton is still an unknown.
Let’s focus on Ellis, the only true plugger on the team even though Jenkins has played some of that role and Hamilton is said to have the body type for it.
It would be surprising if Ellis isn’t the starter opposite of Hankins, the athletic penetrator who showed he can rush the passer last year.
What happens if Ellis goes down with an injury? Do the Giants move Bromley, who’s really not the prototypical plugger, to that spot?
Do they count on Jenkins, who at 34 years old is among the oldest members of the defense, and who last year—admittedly a tough one for him health-wise—saw his run defense grade from Pro Football Focus slip to minus-7.1, this after finishing with a minus-4.6 run defense grade when he was healthy in 2013?
Let’s hope the Giants don’t have to answer this question.
3. Safety
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It’s not so much that the Giants don’t have talent at their safety position—they do, and it’s very promising talent at that, what with Landon Collins, Nat Berhe and Cooper Taylor being among the names who will compete at the position this summer.
The problem is that other than Josh Gordy, who was signed last month, they don’t have a lot of experience at the position.
As such, they really don’t have a leader in that room just yet, someone who has been there, done that and who can coach up the younger teammates on basic things such as technique, angles and other aspects that a veteran usually acquires via experience.
It’s very likely that Giants safeties coach David Merritt, a former NFL linebacker, will be taking on more of that “big brother” role in the safety meeting room.
However, if injuries hit or the youth can’t get it done, having a seasoned veteran on board, even if that veteran is strictly on special teams, might not be such a bad idea.
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2. Inside Linebacker
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The Giants have a pair of veteran players in Jon Beason and Jameel McClain who can play this all-important role in Steve Spagnuolo’s defense.
The problem, though, is that Beason has a well-documented injury history that includes Achilles, knee and toe issues, all of which have prematurely ended three of his last four seasons dating back to 2011.
Given his history of lower-body injuries, it’s certainly understandable if people have doubts about whether Beason’s 30-year-old body can make it through a 16-game season and, perhaps even more importantly, play at a high enough level.
McClain, meanwhile, stepped in for Beason at middle linebacker and didn’t miss a beat as far as the leadership aspect was concerned.
Performance-wise was another story, according to Pro Football Focus, who credited McClain with an overall 8.4 tackling efficiency, putting him 19th out of 25 inside linebackers who took 75 percent or more of their team’s snaps last season, this despite McClain finishing with a career-high 116 total tackles.
Grade-wise, he finished with a minus-12.1 overall mark that included grades of minus-9.4 against the run and a minus-4.8 in coverage.
Performance aside—it remains to be seen how the role of the middle linebacker changes in Spagnuolo’s defense—there is another factor that makes this position a need.
McClain is in the final year of his two-year contract, while Beason is entering the second year of his three-year pact. It will be interesting to see if the Giants decide to move on from McClain next offseason in favor of a younger, to-be-determined free agent.
As for Beason, while the hope is he’ll be able to finish out his contract at a high level, if he should end up injured again, it would not be a system shock if that spelled the end of his Giants career.
What can the Giants do in the meantime?
Besides doing a sacrificial dance to the powers that be in order to ensure Beason makes it through 16 games, there isn’t much that can be done right now.
New York did sign undrafted free agent Cole Farrand out of Maryland, but at 6’2”, 229 pounds, Farrand probably needs a year in the weight room to add some bulk to his frame to better disengage from blocks, especially in the run game.
If the unthinkable should happen and both Beason and McClain are unable to go, the Giants’ best option would probably be to move J.T. Thomas, the projected weak-side starter, to the middle, a position he played last year for the Jaguars.
Ultimately, though, they would probably be best served if they added some younger talent at this spot sooner than later.
1. Slot Cornerback
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Although Walter Thurmond III only played in two games for the Giants last season before a season-ending pectoral injury knocked him out, his loss via free agency is not only one of the most significant for the Giants, but it’s also the one they have yet to really address.
Apparently defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo agrees. “That’s one we’re trying to feel through, to be honest with you,” he told reporters at last week’s rookie minicamp.
For their sake, they had better have some answers soon because as Spagnuolo pointed out, the slot cornerback is vital to a defense’s success.
“In this league nowadays, there are a lot of three wide-out sets,” he said. “That means you’ve got to match them in a lot of cases and put another DB out there, so I’m not sure I have an answer for that right now.”
Until further notice, Trumaine McBride, who stepped in for Thurmond last season until he too was shelved by a season-ending injury (hand), appears to be the incumbent.
“I thought he showed a pretty good feel for being there,” Spagnuolo said of McBride, who, per Pro Football Focus, played 117 snaps as the slot cornerback (second-most on the team, behind Mike Harris’ 139).
However, his hold on the position is far from being secure, perhaps because as part of his 95.3 NFL rating, he allowed 12 of 15 targets to be completed for 123 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Spagnuolo confirmed there will be an open competition for that spot.
“Josh Gordy has done it. Mike Harris did it a little bit last year,” Spagnuolo said. “We’ve got some guys that we can try, but we need to get that solved and we need to identify who the nickel is.”
Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand for this article unless otherwise sourced.
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