Pre-Draft Needs for the Giants
- By Mike Wilson
- mwilson@profootballtechs.com
This is part of an ongoing team-by-team review of NFL team rosters heading into the 2022 season. Continue following us on twitter: @FootballTechs for more.
The New York Giants are projected to be prime players in the NFL draft this offseason and a look at their depth chart shows their secondary, and receiver corps need reinforcements while their interior offensive line needs upgraded.
From a broad, bird’s eye view, the Giants lost 7 players during Free Agency (DE, DT, 2 CBs, S, TE, G).
They added 10 players during Free Agency (DE, DT, TE, 3 Gs, T, QB, RB, WR).
DEFENSE
Currently the Giants are really thin at Safety depth with 0 true Safety backups. Their Roster consists of 6 total CB, and 2 S. Look for them to draft Kyle Hamilton (Notre Dame) at S to replace Love in the starting lineup. If Hamilton is gone, then the Giants can wait a bit to draft a Safety. There are several quality CBs that can be drafted from the 2nd-6th rounds to fill a starting spot or backup role.
CB: James Bradberry (62.8 PFF Grade, ranked #58 out of 116), Adoree Jackson (74.9 PFF, #15/116), Darnay Holmes (55.8 PFF, not ranked).
FS: Xavier McKinney, 2nd Round 2020 (75.4 PFF, #15/92)
SS: Julian Love (55.4 PFF, #80/92)
DE: Leonard Williams (71.2 PFF, #25/109) and Jihad Ward (free agent from Jaguars) (53.4 PFF, #94/108). This position will need to be upgraded via the draft.
NT: Justin Ellis (49.2 PFF, #84/109) (free agent from Baltimore), and David Moa (30.3 PFF). This is a position of high need for upgrade via draft.
DT: Dexter Lawrence (68.7 PFF, #29/109) and Raymond Johnson III (39.6 PFF, not ranked). This position will also need quality depth via draft.
OFFENSE
The Giants have depth at OL including both Tackle spots. They added Mark Glowinski (70.1 PFF Grade, ranked #21 out of 82), G, from the Colts. He should be the starting RG. They added Max Garcia (54.3 PFF, #66/82), G, from the Cardinals. He should be their starting LG. They also added Jon Feliciano (56.9 PFF, #59/32), G/C, from Buffalo, who struggled before getting cut on March 9th. At this point, he could be a starter. The starter at LT remains Andrew Thomas, 1st Round 2020 (78.9 PFF, #19/83), who made a huge leap from 2020. At RT is Matt Peart, 3rd Round 2020 (63.0 PFF, #58/83)
PFF Grades across the Offensive Line. LT 78.9, LG 54.3, C 56.9, RG 70.1, RT 63.0
The interior of their Offensive Line (LG and C) is weak, and could use some major upgrades. The RT spot also needs to improve. There are four high quality OT’s in the 2022 Draft (Ikem Ekwonu, Evan Neal, Charles Cross, and Trevor Penning).
There are also some really good Guards/Centers available (Kenyon Green, Zion Johnson, and Tyler Linderbaum). Most mock drafts have these 7 offensive lineman being drafted in the 1st round.
QB: Daniel Jones (71.6 PFF, #21/37) and Tyrod Taylor (59.2 PFF, not ranked) free agent from Houston. The QB position might need to be addressed depending on how Jones performs during the 2022 season. But that sets up the Giants to reevaluate prior to the 2023 draft when several big QB prospects will be available.
WR: Kenny Golladay (68.3 PFF, #59/115), Kadarius Toney, 1st rounder in 2021 (72.8 PFF, not ranked), Sterling Shepard (64.6 PFF, #81/114). With the amount of good quality WR draft prospects, the Giants should be drafting at least 2 WRs in this draft. WR Draft Rankings.
TE: Ricky Seals-Jones (62.3 PFF, #44/70), free agent from Washington. Could the Giants possibly draft a TE this year?
RB: Matt Breida (70.9 PFF, not ranked), was brought in from Buffalo to help the run game. He should be the primary backup for Barkley.
