5 New York Giants who need to make an impact against the Jets

The New York Giants face the New York Jets in their annual preseason game on Friday night.

It’s the 50th consecutive preseason meeting between the two franchises. The third preseason game is typically the most important in terms of evaluation of starting players, but as New York Giants first-year head coach Pat Shurmur points out, every game matters in determining the final 53-man roster, via New York’s team website.

"“It’s one of the four games we look at. It’s just like any other game. I think you’ve got to put equal stock in all the games. It’s not like old Catholic school, you know. You can’t throw out your worst test (laughter). They all count, everything counts. What you hope to see is players play better as they go. If they played quite a bit at this point, and they’ve kind of had a good performance, you like to them play better.”"

There have been plenty of players who have taken advantage of their preseason snaps through two games. There are also multiple players that still need to leave their mark in the preseason with the hope of making Big Blue’s regular season roster.

Starters and key backups still need to perform against Gang Green on Friday night, but most of them have already secured their spots with the 2018 New York Giants. It’s the players who still remain on the roster bubble that need to make an impact in the team’s third preseason outing.

Here’s a look at five of those players that can potentially lock up a roster spot with a strong performance against the Jets:

No. 5 – A.J. Francis

The New York Giants have plenty of talent along the defensive line. Damon Harrison, Dalvin Tomlinson, and rookie B.J. Hill are currently slated to be Big Blue’s starters up front, but Kerry Wynn and Robert Thomas have also shown the impact they can have coming off the bench this preseason.

All five are expected to be on New York’s roster come Week 1, leaving A.J. Francis, Josh Mauro, Josh Banks, Tyrell Chavis, and Izaah Lunsford to compete for one or two possible roster spots. Mauro is set to serve a four-game suspension at the outset of the regular season but is likely to rejoin the roster ahead of the team’s Week 5 matchup against the Carolina Panthers.

Francis is the favorite to lock down the sixth spot on New York’s defensive line, but he still must prove it on the field. The four-year veteran is currently listed as a third-string defensive lineman on the team’s unofficial depth chart. He has recorded two tackles and one quarterback hit this preseason. His biggest competition in making the 53-man roster is likely Banks.

Both players need to make the most of their snaps against the Jets. It’s likely to play a significant factor in who makes the team.