How New York Giants Can Rebuild Their Defense This Offseason
The bird might be the word, according to Peter Griffin of Family Guy, but as far as the New York Giants defense is concerned, “yuck” is a much more appropriate adjective.
So opines ESPN in its “Way Too Early” power rankings. It has the Giants at No. 21, largely due to the offense and anticipating quarterback Eli Manning and receiver Odell Beckham Jr. returning more so than anything.
Defensively, ESPN notes “wholesale changes will hit the defense,” which, with all due respect to the worldwide leader in sports, comes as no surprise considering the Giants defense has finished at or near the bottom of the league two seasons straight.
The question is how do the Giants rebuild a defensive unit that needs help from front to back, in a single offseason? Here is a very, very early look at a plan that could help restore some of the glory to a unit once known as the “Big Blue Wrecking Crew.”
Defensive Ends
1 of 5
On paper, the Giants upcoming decision regarding whether to pay Jason Pierre-Paul or Robert Ayers Jr. appears to be open and shut.
Pierre-Paul, 27, is younger. Save for the issues with his right hand that developed from a fireworks accident, he's otherwise a picture of full health.
Ayers, the Giants' 2015 sack leader, with 9.5, will be 31 years old in September and has been plagued by both upper body and lower body injuries the last two seasons, making him a bit of a risk to sink big money into.
Logic would seemingly dictate the Giants should re-sign Pierre-Paul, but as noted previously, Pierre-Paul’s overall body of work, especially in 2014 when he was healthy, might not warrant making him one of the top-five highest-paid 4-3 defensive ends in the game.
OK, so what should the Giants do at the critical defensive end spot?
The first thing is to retain one of Ayers or Pierre-Paul, but not both. My choice would be Ayers who, despite his injury history, would probably come at a more cap-friendly figure plus offer value as both an end and as a tackle in pass-rushing situations.
Ayers, remember, just finished a two-year deal worth $3.75 million ($1.875 million per season). So a new deal that averages between $5 million and $6 million per year—not to exceed three years—might be the way to go.
Pierre-Paul? There are no guarantees that the surgery he’s had or may have in the future will address the range of motion in his hand, just as there are no guarantees he’ll be able to shed that huge protective club he had to play with all of last season.
As Pierre-Paul showed, he needs to be able to grab and hold onto guys with both hands, something that’s not guaranteed to be the case next year.
According to the NFL Network, Pierre-Paul had a $60 million contract offer on the table last year before his accident—a deal that, presumably, would have spanned five years, bringing it to an average of $12 million per season.
Given he has made it his mission to tout his comeback via his social-media channels, re-signing him for anything less than the $12 million might not be as cut and dry for a Giants team that needs to be proactive this offseason.
Because the Giants have so many holes to fill, they are not going to be in a position to overpay anyone. If another team comes along and backs up a Brinks truck filled with Benjamins, don’t expect the Giants to get involved in a bidding war.
If the Giants can re-sign Ayers to go along with Owa Odighizuwa, it would probably make sense to use their first-round pick on a young pass-rusher who can develop alongside Odighizuwa to give the Giants a strong young pass-rushing duo.
An intriguing prospect is Clemson's 6'3", 270-pound Shaq Lawson, who appears to fit the Giants’ prototypical defensive end mold size-wise.
Rounding out the rest of the defensive end position, Kerry Wynn should be back, though he has shown himself to be more of a run-stopper than a pass-rusher. The Giants will also probably look to pick up another veteran to round out this group.
Defensive Tackles
2 of 5
The Giants are probably going to give third-year man Jay Bromley a chance to win the starting job alongside Johnathan Hankins this year given he’s a third-round draft pick.
The problem with that thinking is, Bromley is a player who couldn’t beat out soon-to-be undrafted free agent Markus Kuhn for snaps, only getting onto the field once Kuhn was done in by injury. And when Bromley did get on the field, he provided yeomen-like work, showing some sporadic flashes as a pass-rusher and decent, though not explosive, sideline-to-sideline movement.
What probably makes sense at this position, if the organization is committed to Bromley’s continued development, is to re-sign 31-year-old Barry Cofield, who joined the Giants late in the season and brought not only an understanding of Steve Spagnuolo’s defense, but also fresh legs, ahead of Cullen Jenkins.
Let Kuhn, who turns 30 this year and who underwhelmed, walk, and see what they have in Louis Nix and Montori Hughes, two prospects who flashed some potential.
The other move the Giants should probably consider making now is signing Hankins to a contract extension. Per Over the Cap, Hankins is in the final year of his rookie deal, a deal of which $327,855 of his $1.282 million cap figure is prorated bonus money.
Give Hankins, who is coming off a season-ending pectoral injury, a contract extension now. That will save them from possibly having to franchise him in 2017 or, worse yet, losing him to free agency.
The cap space is there to do it, and if the team agrees Hankins is a key part of the defensive foundation, it makes no sense to wait another year to lock this young defensive stud up on a four-year contract.
Linebackers
3 of 5
If the NFL playoffs have taught us anything, it’s that having playmakers at linebacker really does make the difference.
The Giants know this, at least they used to back in the 1980s through the early 2000s. Of late, however, the team seems to have devalued linebackers, instead focusing more on pass-rushers and the defensive backfield.
This practice has to stop as does the practice of addressing the linebacker position on Day 3 of the draft. Another practice that has to stop is carrying guys who do not yield a return on the investment made in them.
Let’s start with Jon Beason. At one time, Beason was the type of player every team dreamed of having on the roster given his work ethic, his heart and the example he set on and off the field.
While none of those characteristics have changed since Beason entered the league in 2007 as a first-round draft pick of Carolina, the one thing that has changed is his health status.
Beason, 31 years old, has had one lower-body injury after another after another—each time having surgery to fix said ailments that have included his Achilles, knee, toe and foot.
After a while, it’s certainly a legitimate concern to wonder with these successive surgeries, combined with the fact there really isn’t as much time to rehab properly, not with the offseason starting up earlier than ever before—and this year because the Giants have a new head coach, they’ll get to start their offseason program two weeks earlier than usual.
While there is always a chance Beason, who has played in nine of the Giants’ last 32 games, could come in one year and not have to deal with any injuries that cause him to miss any games, that’s a risky gamble for a team that needs to turn things around to take.
The good thing about Beason is, he’ll be the first to admit if he can’t play at the high level he expects of himself.
Last month during an interview with Sirius XM Radio, (h/t Paul Schwartz New York Post), Beason admitted he might just retire if his body doesn’t respond following his latest surgery.
If he continues to be undecided regarding his future, the Giants might just make the decision for him, as it’s unrealistic for them to commit $6.5 million to a player who also has a $2.2 million roster bonus due on the fifth day of the 2016 league year.
So what to do at linebacker? The core of this group will consist of Devon Kennard, J.T. Thomas and Jonathan Casillas.
Assuming they move on from Beason, the Giants should look to re-sign Jasper Brinkley, who as the replacement in the middle, was productive. Give Brinkley a two-year deal worth $2 million per season.
Both Mark Herzlich and Uani 'Unga are signed for 2016. Both have proven they’re primarily special teams players, so it might behoove the Giants to move on from one of these two, ('Unga is due to count for $525,000 against the cap; Herzlich is due to count for $1.4 million.)
Although Herzlich has a higher cap figure, because he can play both inside and outside in addition to special teams, he would be the choice over 'Unga to keep, especially given Kennard’s injury history.
There are then a couple of options the Giants can pursue here. The first is to land a pass-rusher type like Seattle’s Bruce Irvin—an outside linebacker whose presence would push Kennard inside (where Brinkley would back him up).
If the Giants don’t want to spend on a veteran linebacker—a strong possibility given the other needs on the team and the fact the linebacker draft class looks to be a very promising one—why not pluck Ohio State’s Darron Lee off the board in the second round?
Lee, like Irvin, is an outside linebacker whose presence can push Kennard to the middle. In addition, adding a youngster on the starting unit gives the Giants a solid and relatively young starting core, with two of those starters. Kennard and Thomas have the experience to help bring a rookie along.
As for Super Bowl 50 heroes such as Denver's Von Miller and Danny Trevathan, it’s highly unlikely Miller makes it to free agency.
What about Trevathan, who played in a 3-4 defense at Denver, but told NFL.com’s Mark Sessler he believes he can fit in any scheme? It would be surprising if the Giants dish out a huge free-agent contract at this position given the depth available in the draft.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Cornerbacks
4 of 5
Prince Amukamara is another one of the key decisions the Giants must make regarding their own free agents.
While Amukamara told reporters during “baggy day” (the day after the regular-season finale when non-playoff teams clean out their lockers) he’d like to re-sign with the Giants, those comments were made before the team and head coach Tom Coughlin parted ways.
In the days following Coughlin’s stepping down, Amukamara, in a radio interview with Fox Sports Radio’s Jay Mohr, was singing a much different tune:
"Since I already saw it coming by like Week 14, I wasn’t as surprised. I don’t know. I really didn’t have no feeling towards (Coughlin’s removal as head coach) I think only because I was playing my last game as a Giant and I probably wasn’t going to be coached by him anyways.
"
When talking about players who haven’t really lived up to their contract, Amukamara has to be included in the discussion. A first-round pick in 2011, Amukamara has delivered just one full season, that coming in 2013, since being drafted.
And while he has been a solid player compared to some of the others they’ve had at that position who were not named Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Amukamara just hasn’t taken that next step up to be in the same class as the NFL's Richard Shermans, Patrick Petersons, Darrelle Revises and Josh Normans.
Amukamara, who earned $6.89 million last season in what was the option year of his rookie deal, could be looking for a deal in excess of $7 million per season.
That figure, by the way, is what Rodgers-Cromartie, who has been a more consistent performer than Amukamara, is currently averaging.
Thus, it’s highly unlikely the Giants will give Amukamara a deal on par with or worth more than what Rodgers-Cromartie, their No. 1 cornerback, is getting.
With that said, if Amukamara departs, that will obviously create a bigger hole on a unit that already has some depth issues—Jayron Hosley and Trumaine McBride, both unrestricted free agents, are unlikely to be re-signed.
If this is indeed how the scenario plays out, this is why, as noted on the linebackers slide, there’s a better chance of the Giants attempting to fill that unit via the draft, as New York will probably look toward free agency to add some cornerback depth.
There are a few interesting names that as of right now are due to hit free agency, including Norman.
Some potential UFA targets include Sean Smith of the Kansas City Chiefs, Casey Hayward of the Green Bay Packers and Trumaine Johnson and Janoris Jenkins of the Los Angeles Rams.
Landing one of the two Rams cornerbacks could be the most realistic scenario of all. Per Over the Cap, the Rams are currently projected to have $31 million of cap space with which to work. They also have some key free-agent decisions to make, including starting safety Mark Barron and starting defensive end William Hayes in addition to Jenkins and Johnson.
With the Giants also potentially seeking to upgrade their nickelback role—Trevin Wade tried to fill that spot—New York might stick with Wade for another season and maybe look toward slotting a younger player into that role at some point.
LSU’s Jalen Mills could be one prospect to consider as could Xavien Howard from Baylor, whom NFL Draft Scout (h/t CBS Sports) projects to be available in the third round.
Safeties
5 of 5
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: No, I do not believe the Giants will bring back veterans Brandon Meriweather or Craig Dahl.
I’m also not convinced Cooper Taylor, who, remember, at one point was cut from the 53-man roster last year, is a solution.
Is the answer at free safety already on the roster—a young player who spent 2015 on injured reserve, perhaps?
Yes and no.
Let’s rewind for a moment. Of those young safeties—Nat Berhe, Bennett Jackson, Mykkele Thompson, and Justin Currie—who were on injured reserve, only Berhe has actually logged any NFL experience—as a rookie in 2014.
Berhe might very well be the complement the Giants are hoping to find to flank Landon Collins, but a more realistic scenario will probably see the Giants signing a veteran player—of the “popular” names such as Eric Weddle and Tashaun Gipson, I actually like the idea of Kurt Coleman of the Panthers, followed by Gipson if the former doesn’t make it to the open market.
Weddle, while still a very good player is on the wrong side of 30 and has had some injury issues. If this sounds familiar, it’s because this has been a pattern—an unsuccessful one at that—the Giants have followed in trying to fill some of their roster holes.
It’s time to think younger and healthier and to drop “cheaper” from the equation. This is a Giants team that, with the right move, can really add a lot of good, solid and young core pieces to the foundation, which is the first step toward building consistency and continuity.
A young veteran will give this position some leadership that was lacking as well as some experience that is still very much in the upside.
Berhe, if he is over his injuries and if he has a solid spring and summer, would project well as swingman—a guy who can play free or strong.
As for the fourth safety, if the Giants go with four, I could see that coming down to either Thompson or a 2016 draft pick.
Why not consider Jackson? He’s coming off two significant knee injuries in as many years, so it would be a legitimate concern to wonder if he has lost any speed or quickness.
Going back to Thompson, a knock on him coming out of college was he took poor angles in coverage, this per NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein. While it’s possible coaching will help correct some of these issues, it’s probably still a good idea to draft at this position in addition to signing a young veteran free agent.
In this year’s class, Jalen Mills at LSU, projected by NFL Draft Scout (h/t CBS Sports) to be a second- to third-round pick, might be too hard to pass up if he’s there. Per College Football Focus, Mills allowed just two touchdowns in 79 pass targets over a two-year span, which would suggest he takes better angles and doesn’t let guys get behind him.
Given the safety group's struggles this year, letting receivers and tight ends roam free, finding a legit center fielder is likely at the top of the list of the league’s 32nd-ranked defense.
Salary and salary-cap information provided courtesy of Over the Cap.
Patricia Traina covers the Giants for Inside Football, the Journal Inquirer and Sports Xchange. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced.
Follow me on Twitter @Patricia_Traina.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
