The NY Giants will look to significantly upgrade a defense that ranked towards the bottom of the league all year through free agency and the draft. Here’s how they can actually accomplish that.
There is a definite need to make some significant moves to improve the defense of the NY Giants heading into next season. The Big Blue defense has been suspect all year and currently ranks 28th out of 32 teams in the league in total defense.
The Giants defense has struggled to come up with big stops throughout the season and has not been able to force opponent turnovers with any consistency. They have also dealt with injuries to key players with Alec Ogletree, Jabril Peppers, Ryan Connelly, Oshane Ximines and Lorenzo Carter all missing time due to injury.
The New York defense is extremely young, as six of its eleven starters on defense are either rookies or second-year players. As a result, the Giants have a good young core of defenders, who will surely get better with experience.
While they have made their share of rookie mistakes, the Giants have gotten positive play from rookie contributors Dexter Lawrence, Deandre Baker, Ximines, Julian Love, Connelly, Sam Beal, and Corey Ballentine. In addition, sophomore players such as B.J. Hill, Carter and R.J. McIntosh. The steady improvement of the young players gives hope and optimism that they will take giant leaps forward in their progression next season.
The Giants are poised to improve their defense with what will be a high draft position in next year’s draft, as well as with free-agent acquisitions bolstered by being able to spend due to their hefty slashing of salary allowing them to flush with cash with over $75 million available in cap space next season.
As a result, here are five potential moves New York could make to improve their defense before next season.
1. Sign free agent defensive end Yannick Ngakoue
You may see a common theme emerging in regards to the additions that the NY Giants need to make this offseason; ADD PASS RUSHERS!
New York possesses good young interior defensive linemen in B.J. Hill, Dalvin Tomlinson and Dexter Lawrence. They have invested in young cornerbacks Sam Beal, Corey Ballentine and Deandre Baker in the draft and have a good young safety tandem in Jabril Peppers and Julian Love. In addition, they have solid young linebacking options in Ryan Connelly, Oshane Ximines and Lorenzo Carter. What they lack are elite pass rushers. As a result, they should target free agent Yannick Ngakoue.
Yannick Ngakoue, much like Shaq Barrett, is going to be an expensive free-agent signing. He is projected to receive over $20 million annually when he signs in the offseason. The 24-year-old Ngakoue has earned a major pay raise with his disruptive play for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
This season, he has 40 tackles, eight sacks, three forced fumbles and an interception. Now in his fourth year in the league, Ngakoue has totaled 37.5 sacks, 13 forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and two interceptions in his career. Those numbers are certainly indicative of a player who can be a game-changer on defense.
While potentially adding over $50 million annually in salary for the likes of Barrett, Golden, and Ngakoue is a lot of money, it would give the Giants an elite pass rush that they haven’t seen since the days of Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, and Osi Umenyiora.
Given the number of players on rookie contracts for the foreseeable future and the positive state of the offense, the Giants would be warranted to spend big to improve their defense and add proven veteran talent to a young core of players. Plus the cap room they are expected to have going into next season would allow for them to sign all three players, their draft picks and have additional money left to fill holes on the offensive line and other areas of need.
2. Sign free agent linebacker Shaquil Barrett
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came out this past week and said they don’t plan on letting Shaquil Barrett walk, but realistically they may not have a say in the matter. Jameis Winston is also up for a franchise tag, and if there’s ever been someone who embodies why the tag exists in the first place, it’s him. The team will likely have to pick between one, and the QB usually wins in that regard.
The NY Giants will finally depart salary cap purgatory next season and are expected to have a minimum of $75.7 million available to spend on free-agent signings, following the league increasing the cap space $8 million next year & the Giants recently cutting Janoris Jenkins.
The cap space could increase further if the Giants decide to part ways with players such as Alec Ogletree, Golden Tate, Rhett Ellison, Antoine Bethea or Kareem Martin. Moving on from these veterans would take the cap space up to approximately $100 million next year. Regardless of the final number, they will be flush with cash and should break the bank to sign free-agent linebacker Shaquil Barrett, as previously suggested.
Barrett is currently one sack away from breaking the Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise single-season sack record, currently held by Hall of Famer Warren Sapp. Currently, Barrett has 52 tackles, 16.5 sacks, six forced fumbles and an interception on the year. With this breakout performance, he has positioned himself to be a Pro Bowler, a defensive player of the year candidate and to be paid handsomely in the offseason.
If the Giants are able to draft Chase Young and sign Shaq Barrett, their lackluster pass rush instantly becomes imposing. Barrett could then mentor pass-rushing linebackers Oshane Ximines and Lorenzo Carter, who despite being young and inexperienced, have shown solid pass rushing abilities themselves. Adding the 27-year-old Barrett to the young linebacker corps would provide the Giants with depth and talent at the position that they have not had in a long time.
Barrett is expected to receive a multi-year offer that is worth north of $18 million per year. That is certainly a steep price, but is definitely warranted for a Giants team that has been lacking legitimate pass rushers for nearly a decade. Given the flexibility New York will have, $18-20 million annually for a player of Barrett’s ability should be a no-brainer, assuming Tampa does not lock him up with a franchise tag.
3. Give Markus Golden a contract extension
Markus Golden has resurrected his career in New York this season, amassing 60 tackles, 10 sacks and a fumble recovery so far this year. With this stellar performance, the Giants should reward their soon-to-be free agent linebacker with a contract extension.
Golden was signed on a one-year $3.75 million contract by the Giants in the offseason. He had a breakout year in 2016 with the Arizona Cardinals, where he notched 12.5 sacks on the year. However, he would suffer an ACL injury that would cause him to miss time and lack production the two seasons following his breakout, resulting in him signing the show-me deal with the Giants last offseason.
Golden has certainly shown that he can be a productive player, living up to the caliber of play he demonstrated in 2016. He is expected to receive a multi-year deal in the $9-11 million a year range, which is extremely affordable for a player of his skill set.
Offering a contract extension to the high-motor pass-rushing linebacker would assure that the Giants keep their best pass-rushing weapon around for the foreseeable future. Letting him go to another team would serve as a detriment to a young Giants team that already lacks in the pass rush department.
4. Get Chase Young by any means necessary
The NY Giants held the second-overall pick all the way up until this past weekend when they lost the Chase Young Bowl to the hated Washington Redskins. While their chances have reduced dramatically of landing the generational player, it’s still possible, and we outlined those possibilities earlier this week.
The most realistic scenario will likely include trading up, and it’s something that should be seriously considered. The Redskins already have a solid stable of pass rushers, and Young could be worth parting with a 2021 first-rounder.
Young possesses the type of talent that allows him to single-handedly determine the outcome of games. He is extremely disruptive as a pass rusher and currently has 16.5 sacks and six forced fumbles for the Buckeyes, despite often drawing double and triple-team protection from opposing offenses.
In his three year career at Ohio State, he has totaled an eye-popping 30.5 sacks and eight forced fumbles, despite having limited action in his freshman year and missing two games this season due to an NCAA infraction.
Chase Young is the ideal pass rusher, possessing an abundance of size, speed and strength for the position. The 6’5″ and 265-pound pass rusher is extremely polished at pass rushing and has few, if any, weaknesses to his game. Adding him to a Big Blue defense that has lacked much semblance of a pass rush, fills a critical need.
By allowing Young to get after the quarterback, it will enable the young secondary and linebacker corps of the Giants to perform much more effectively, as opposing quarterbacks will have less time in the pocket to find an open receiver. The addition of a player of Young’s caliber by itself would exponentially improve New York’s defense.
5. Let Leonard Williams walk in free agency
The NY Giants will need to allocate a lot of money to upgrade their defense this offseason. However, that money should not be wasted on the likes of Leonard Williams. It is bad enough that general manager Dave Gettleman inexplicably wasted a third-round and a fifth-round pick on Williams, with the third-rounder likely being a top 70 pick in the draft. However, simply throwing stupid money at what has proven to be a horrible move would make matters worse.
The Giants are already flush with young talent on the interior portion of the defensive line with Dexter Lawrence, BJ Hill, and Dalvin Tomlinson, making Williams expendable (and unnecessary for a 2-6 team to trade for to begin with). Williams has been essentially non-existent in all but one game since the New York Jets fleeced Gettleman and sent the underperforming first-round draft pick to their cross-town rivals.
Williams has zero sacks on the year and has produced a measly 17 sacks in five seasons as a pro. Despite the lack of production in the pass rush, Williams is expecting to receive a massive contract in the offseason. Currently, he is on a franchise tag contract making $14.5 million this season.
It is anticipated that Williams will make $18-20 million annually when he signs in the offseason. The Giants would be wise to use that money on someone like Barrett or Ngakoue who possess elite pass-rushing abilities, rather than an older and less productive version of the interior defensive linemen they currently have on the roster. This is especially true because signing Williams to an extension would give the Jets the fourth-round pick of the Giants in 2021 instead of their 5th round pick, per the terms of the deal.
It is important that the Giants recognize that just because they made an awful decision in trading for Williams, they should not double down on stupidity by signing him to a lucrative contract. Signing the underwhelming lineman would set the franchise back even further than trading their valuable third and fifth-round picks has already done.