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New York Giants Offensive Report Card

Image: nypost.com

In Year One of the NEW New York Giants regime Brain Daboll, Joe Schoen, and company certainly impressed and that isn’t always easy to do in NY. With the ninth worst odds to make the Super Bowl and the over/under for wins for the G Men set at 7.5, which I’m sure (but not surprised) the majority of the public with the under on, they pleasantly surprised many fans. Finishing the season at 9-7-1 including a win over the offensive juggernaut known as the #3 Seed Minnesota Vikings but having our hearts broken the following week at the hands of #1 Seed Philly was still all things considered a heck of a season. With a roster sorely lacking in talent all over the place, a playoff win, New York’s first one in the last five seasons was quite the first impression in NY for COY Brain Daboll and GM Joe Schoen. Both men came over from Buffalo this previous offseason and have left their mark already in MetLife.

Quarterback

QB Daniel Jones, who the Giants declined to pick up a team fifth-year option before this season began, has shown the Giants he is definitely worth another look. Jones, who hasn’t had a winning season since entering the league certainly showed out this year. He set career highs in numerous categories this year including, Passing Yards (3205) Completion Percentage(67.2) Rushing Yards (708) Rushing TD’s (7), and more. Jones also has seemed to fix his ball security issues too, with a career-low 6 Fumbles (lost?) and 5 INTs Jones looked a lot more comfortable in the pocket this season. It wasn’t all gravy? For Jones this year, he was fifth in the league in sacks taken with 44, some of which can be attributed to Joneses scrambling tendencies but a lot of which can be blamed on the Giants’ offensive line. DJ was also at the bottom half of all QBs in Yards per attempt (6.8) but again not all the blame can fall on Jones here. With no true number-one receiving option in NY, Jones didn’t have all that much to work with. High-priced FA signing Kenny Golladay of the Dave Gettleman era has been massively underwhelming in his time with the Giants. With 6 catches for 81 yards and one touchdown this season, yes you read that right, Golladay was virtually non-existent in 2022. In year one of this new, already more competent Giants regime Daniel Jones has all but secured his next contract in NY, the only question is now for how long? Help (especially on the offensive end) certainly has to be on the way for Jones to continue to build on his successful 2022 campaign but Coach Daboll has to be happy his QB situation at least for the next season is solidified.

Grade: B+

Running Back

The Giants lone (not including LT Andrew Thomas) offensive weapon Pro Bowler RB Saquon Barkley had himself a terrific year. With 1650 Total Yards and 10 TDs Barkley carried the Giants’ offense all season long. Saquon with the second-highest yardage output of his young career plays with the exact urgency and grittiness you would expect of a star running back that is looking for a long-term deal. Saquon is going to be entering free agency for the first time in his young career and could be in line to be Franchise tagged if no long-term deal can be reached. Negotiations have been ongoing since training camp but no real progress has been made. If he were to get franchised, Barkley would stand to make a little over 10 million dollars, a slight raise from his current number of 7.8 million. There were certainly plenty of questions about Saquon heading into this season. After a stellar rookie year, one in which he won OROY honors, Barkley’s production dipped, especially in his previous two seasons one of which he missed all but two games due to torn ACL. Barkley bounced back in a big way this season all while being the focal point of a rather average Giants offensive unit. With 9 runs of 20 or more yards this season ( tied for 5th in the league) Saquon showed that his homerun ability was back and did the Giants offense that was desperately in need of playmakers ever need it? It was a spectacular 2022 campaign for the soon-to-be free agent Barkley, but after matching a career-high 352 total touches can Saquon retain his workhorse role for long enough to not make GM Joe Schoen and the front office weary of signing Barkley to a multi-year deal? Another Pro Bowl nod for the New York Native makes it seem all the more likely Barkley will continue his career with the Giants.

Grade: A

Offensive Line

The Giants’ Offensive line woes have been noted all season long. Rookie OL Evan Neal, although not alone, has struggled mightily in his rookie season. The First Rounder out of Alabama was part of a fairly disappointing unit that ranked fifth in the NFL in sacks allowed (49), not surprisingly the only team in the bottom 5 that made the playoffs! Although the Giants were in the top five in Completion percentage this year they also finished in the bottom ten in the league in YPA (6.6) but that might be more a product of a young QB in a new system not necessarily all the O-Lines fault. The lone bright spot on this unit would have to be stud LT Andrew Thomas. The third-year man out of Georgia notched his first Pro Bowl berth and solidified himself on the blindside this year after having an underwhelming start to his career that was riddled with injuries up until this point. With questions about next year’s starting C ( both Jon Feliciano and Nick Gates are set to hit FA) and where Evan Neal is best suited to line up, Neal played the majority of his freshman season in Bama at Guard before finishing his collegiate career at RT can the Giants retool this unit enough through the draft and free agency to make it a formidable group? or will the O-Line continue to be a sore spot for Big Blue?

Grade:  C+

Wide Receivers

If any one group truly stands out for the 2022 New York Giants, it would have to be their pass catchers. Finishing the season inside the bottom 10 of total receiving yards (sixth worst) and dead last in receiving plays of at least 20 yards, this was a group that was sorely missing an explosive element and a true downfield threat. Darius Slayton led the team with a modest 724 Rec. Yards and 2 TDS ranked just inside the top 50 of pass catchers in the entire league (47th). The rest of the receiving unit was equally uninspiring for the Giants with Veteran Richie James finishing second on the team with 569 yards and 4 TDs and RB Saquon Barkley being third with 338 yards. With veteran slot man Sterling Shepard suffering yet another season-ending injury ( Torn ACL – week 3) and 2021 First Rounder Kadarius Toney getting shipped off to KC midseason the pass-catching group was thin all year long. The wide receiver corps will certainly be a top priority for the Giants this off-season. With 9 picks in this year’s NFL Draft and with approximately 44 Million in cap space entering free agency there are sure to be major changes made regarding all personnel this offseason, no doubt that the pass-catching group will be one of the first and biggest needs addressed.

Grade : C

 

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