After an offseason filled with significant additions via free agency and the draft, the NY Giants have a number of players poised for a breakout season.
NY Giants general manager Dave Gettleman, head coach Joe Judge, and the remainder of the team ownership and management group have had an extremely busy offseason in their quest to significantly upgrade the roster of the Giants amidst a rebuilding process.
It appears that they have been extremely successful in filling a number of glaring holes on their roster through both free agency and the draft. These moves have provided Giants fans with reasons to be more optimistic about the future of the franchise than they have had in recent memory.
The GMEN were able to significantly upgrade their offensive line by drafting Andrew Thomas, Matt Peart, and Shane Lemieux, as well as by adding Cameron Fleming via free agency. The injection of young players should represent a massive upgrade of the talent level of the starting group while adding valuable depth and versatility along the entire offensive line.
The NY Giants secondary is vastly improved from last season with the addition of the top-rated safety prospect in the draft in Xavier McKinney, an excellent slot corner prospect in Darnay Holmes, and additional depth in Chris Williamson via the draft.
This was in addition to adding a lockdown number one cornerback in James Bradberry via free agency. These additions will provide the Giants defense with a number of players with positional versatility and will also provide depth at the safety and cornerback positions, which lacked depth last season.
Additionally, the NY Giants exponentially upgraded their linebacking corps this offseason with the additions of Blake Martinez and Kyler Fackrell via free agency and Cam Brown, Carter Coughlin, T.J. Brunson, and Tae Crowder via the draft. As a result, their linebacker group is more athletic and talented than in years past.
While the offensive line, secondary, and linebacker group received the most notable upgrades this offseason, the NY Giants were able to address other needs to a lesser degree at running back, backup quarterback, tight end, and special teams.
While these weren’t as impressive on paper as the other aforementioned moves, as a whole they make Big Blue exponentially better going into the 2020 season.
As a result of these moves, a number of NY Giants players should see significant improvements in their performance due to an increase in talent around them and the fact that they can be put in situations that are tailored more to their strengths with the additional depth that is now available.
With that in mind, let’s examine five players who could be in for breakout campaigns next season for the NY Giants.
5. CB Deandre Baker
The massive improvement showed late last season by one of NY Giants fans’ favorite punching bags, Deandre Baker, may have gone unnoticed by many. Nonetheless, despite struggling mightily to begin his rookie campaign, as the season progressed, Baker showed flashes of why the Giants moved up into the first round to draft him.
While the blame for some of the struggles that Baker endured can be placed directly at his own feet due to his reported lack of attention to the game film and playbook studies. However, a lot more of the blame needs to be directed to former defensive coordinator James Bettcher and former head coach Pat Shurmer for their misuse of the talented cornerback.
Coming out of the University of Georgia, Baker was known as one of the best collegiate cornerbacks in the nation in press coverage situations and man coverage situations. His draft profile noted that he would be a scheme cornerback who would struggle in zone coverage and off-ball coverage due to his lack of elite speed.
In college, Baker excelled in coverage when he could use his physicality to neutralize the speed of opposing wide receivers by jamming them at the line of scrimmage. Inexplicably, Bettcher and Shurmur decided to use him in soft zone coverage lined up 10-yards away from opposing wideouts early on. By taking away his biggest strength, they set Baker up for failure in coverage.
After allowing 602 receiving yards and four touchdowns (as many as he gave up in four years as a starter at Georgia) on 38 completions through his first ten games, Baker would allow just 248 yards and two touchdowns on 16 completions through his last six games of the season.
The biggest improvement was in his completion percentage, which dropped from 70.4% through ten games to 48.5% in his last six, which is an excellent sign for the NY Giants.
It should be noted that Baker was forced to be the top cornerback for the Giants for the last few weeks of the season after Janoris Jenkins was released. The 48.5% completion percentage that he was able to put together the last third of the season was more indicative of the player that was a first-team All-American in his final year at Georgia.
The late-season improvement that the NY Giants saw from Baker isn’t the only reason to believe that 2020 could be a breakout year for the sophomore cornerback. He will likely be the number two cornerback on the roster next season with free-agent acquisition James Bradberry assuming the role as the team’s top cornerback.
This should take a lot of pressure off of Baker, as he will not be expected to match up against top opposing receivers.
The addition of Darnay Holmes and Chris Williamson to a cornerback group that already included Sam Beal, Corey Ballentine, and Grant Haley should provide the Giants would solid depth at the position, allowing the Giants to limit the snap count of Baker, keeping him fresh throughout the game.
Additionally, the safety group providing help over the top for Baker should be greatly improved with the return of a healthy Jabrill Peppers, the addition of Xavier McKinney, and Julian Love benefiting from another year of experience at safety after converting from cornerback during his rookie campaign. Having confidence that the safeties will have his back should prove beneficial to the play of Baker.
If Baker is able to break out in 2020 as expected, the NY Giants may surprise a lot of pundits with a vastly improved young secondary. It should be expected that many of the young players will take a giant step forward with another year under their belts.
With the improvement in talent around him, the increased likelihood that Joe Judge and new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham will play to his strengths, and the fact that he will be more acclimated to the professional game, Baker is an ideal breakout candidate in 2020.
4. TE Evan Engram
We move from one punching bag of NY Giants fans in Deandre Baker to another in tight end Evan Engram. There is a lot of reason to believe that Engram could finally have the breakout season that the Giants expected when they drafted him in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
Unfortunately for the Giants and for Engram, the talented young tight end has not been able to live up to expectations early on in his NFL career. The lackluster overall performance that Engram has provided hasn’t been a result of lack of talent, but rather is due to him being injury-plagued through his first three seasons in the league.
Evan Engram’s rookie season was his best season statistically. That is primarily due to the fact that he was able to play in 15 games that season. In 2018, that number dropped to 11 games and last season it dropped down to only eight games played.
When Engram has been healthy, he has been an offensive weapon for the Giants. In 2017, the wide receiving corps for the Giants were decimated by injury, which left Engram as the primary receiving target for Eli Manning, a role he performed capably in, catching 64 passes for 722 yards and six touchdowns.
Last season, despite missing half the year due to injury, Engram still had two games where he recorded over 100 yards receiving. Additionally, he has 17 games in his career where he has recorded six or more receptions, including one against the Dallas Cowboys last year where he had 14 receptions.
Incredibly, despite missing a16 games in his first three seasons, Engram has managed to have double-digit reception totals in seven of the 34 career games that he’s played in.
To put that in perspective, Zach Ertz has double-digit receptions in seven of the 45 games he’s played in since 2017, Travis Kelce has double-digit receptions in three of the 47 games he’s played in since 2017, and George Kittle has only one double-digit reception game in 45 games played since 2017.
Despite playing in 11 fewer games than Ertz and Kittle, Engram has the same number of double-digit receptions as Ertz and six more than Kittle, and with 13 fewer games than Kelce, Engram has four more double-digit reception games than Kelce.
That’s impressive when comparing Engram to the three best tight ends in the NFL. It also indicates that Engram has the potential to be one of the best tight ends in the league when he is healthy.
Sadly, many NY Giants fans focus only on the inability of Engram to remain on the field the past two years, which caused many of them to suggest the team should trade him or decline his fifth-year option. Luckily, the team recognized the level of talent that they had on the team and wisely picked up the fifth-year option on Engram.
Predicting injuries to players is difficult. So far Engram has missed time due to a hamstring pull, MCL sprain in his knee, a concussion, bruised ribs, and a foot injury that resulted in surgery. The concussion and foot injury are the most concerning because of their propensity for reoccurrence. However, many of Engram’s other injuries were flukey in nature and shouldn’t be a concern moving forward.
With injury being the biggest concern surrounding Evan Engram living up to his full potential, it was promising to see the emergence of backup tight end Kaden Smith following the Giants signing the rookie after he was placed on the 49ers practice squad. The addition of another former San Francisco tight end, Levine Toilolo should also be a positive indication of a breakout season in 2020 for Engram.
If the Giants can limit the snap counts of Engram by giving him a breather in the receiving game by utilizing Smith, who was impressive in limited action with New York last season, Engram’s injury risk should be reduced. That risk could be mitigated further by removing Engram from any blocking schemes, where he struggles mightily, and placing the 6’8″ and 270-pound behemoth Toilolo in instead.
If Joe Judge and the Giants can reduce the injury risk of Engram and keep him on the field like they did his rookie season, he has certainly shown he has the talent and ability to be mentioned amongst the elite tight ends in football, which makes him a legitimate breakout candidate in 2020.
3. DL Leonard Williams
It seems as though punching bags are more abundant on the NY Giants roster than at an Everlast warehouse these days. Keeping with the theme, the next player that could have a breakout season for the GMEN is a name who has become almost a four-letter word for some Giants fans, Leonard Williams.
The issue that the majority of NY Giants fans have with Williams isn’t regarding the talent that he brings to the roster, but rather the circumstances in which he was acquired and the financial resources and draft capital that were required to land him.
While the trade factors aren’t the fault of Williams, the fact that general manager Dave Gettleman gave up a third-round and fifth-round pick and then had to use a $16 million franchise tag to keep him on the roster has unfairly caused many fans to direct their anger towards the former first-round pick of the Jets.
It is easy to site the lack of sack production as a reason to not give up draft capital and an enormous amount of cap space for Leonard to be a member of what many people thought was an already talented young defensive line with Dexter Lawrence, Dalvin Tomlinson, and B.J. Hill.
However, the real issue with bringing in Williams was the 2-6 record of the Giants at the time. There is no doubt that he made the defense better and was a solid addition, it is simply a tough pill to swallow given what Gettleman sacrificed.
Regardless, love it or hate it Williams will be a member of the 2020 NY Giants. While he may not live up to the $16 million price tag that he is currently receiving due to being franchised, there remains an excellent chance that Williams has a breakout season this year.
Obviously, Leonard Williams will have the incentive of playing for a massive contract extension to motivate him during the upcoming season. He has already stated that he feels he should be paid among the elite defensive ends in the game, so the upcoming season is his chance to further that point.
Despite not putting up prolific sack totals that Giants fans had hoped for when he arrived in the trade with their cross-town rivals, Williams did provide a significant upgrade once he arrived and the defensive line was able to generate a lot more pressure on the quarterback. Additionally, the statistics of both Tomlinson and Lawrence improved once Williams was added.
This season, Williams should be able to get to the quarterback with greater frequency due to the vastly improved secondary and linebacker groups being able to provide better coverage.
A nominal improvement in coverage should allow Williams to convert a few of those quarterback pressures and hits from last year into the sacks that Giants fans have been clamoring for. If the coverage from the secondary is vastly improved, look out because Williams may be poised for a monster year.
In addition to the improved coverage skills of the linebacker and secondary groups of New York, Williams should also benefit from his defensive linemates taking a step forward this season. Dexter Lawrence should continue to improve upon his impressive rookie season, Dalvin Tomlinson like Williams is also in a contract year, and B.J. Hill will be motivated to make a name for himself in an effort to press for playing time that was lost when Williams arrived.
Due to all of these factors, it is easy to make the case that Williams is as poised as any NY Giants player on the defensive side of the ball to have a breakout season in 2020. If he is able to have a standout season, he will quickly make Big Blue fans forget that they were ever angry that Gettleman traded for him.
2. RB Saquon Barkley
When Dave Gettleman opted not to trade back in the 2018 NFL Draft and instead used the second overall selection to take running back Saquon Barkley, many experts and fans felt it was a reach to grab a skill position player that early in the draft, especially in the midst of a rebuild.
In his rookie year, all Barkley would do was rush for over 1,300 yards, while catching 91 passes for 721 yards, score a total of 15 touchdowns, en route to a Rookie of the Year Award, a Pro Bowl selection, and a first-team All-Pro selection. He looked very much like the “generational talent” that he had been hyped as.
Barkley’s sophomore season would be a trying one, as he would miss three games due to a high ankle sprain and would not look as explosive as he was in his rookie campaign until late in the season. Despite the injury proving to be detrimental, Barkley would still rush for over 1,000 yards and catch 52 passes for 438 yards, while scoring eight total touchdowns on the year.
As impressive as Barkley has been in his first two years in the league, he has had to labor behind an offensive line that has lacked the presence of a solid tackle on either side of the line and has struggled to find holes in which to run through due to shoddy offensive line play.
That should change this year with the number of assets that Gettleman and the NY Giants have brought in to solidify their offensive line. With first-round draft pick Andrew Thomas, third-round pick Matt Peart, fifth-round pick Shane Lemieux, and free agent Cam Fleming joining Will Hernandez, Kevin Zeitler, Nate Solder, Nick Gates and Spencer Pulley, the Giants should be able to put together a strong offensive line with solid depth and versatility to deal with potential injuries and ineffectiveness.
This may be the most talented and deepest offensive line group that the Giants have had in over a decade. There are some legitimate road graders that excel at getting to the second level in blocking schemes. This should mean a lot bigger holes for Barkley to run through in the run game and significantly better blocking on screen passes, where Saquon is a dangerous threat to opposing defenses.
If the vast improvement on the offensive line wasn’t tantalizing enough of a reason to think Barkley is a candidate for a breakout year in 2020, then perhaps the addition of excellent blockers at the tight end position will push you over the edge.
Rhett Ellison was known for his blocking ability, but struggled to remain on the field due to injury and retired after the conclusion of the 2019 season. Evan Engram was awful at blocking as previously mentioned and did not fare well in Ellison’s absence.
Adding Levine Toilolo to the tight end group will give Barkley a massive improvement in run blocking from his tight end position. At 6’8″ and 270-pounds, Toilolo essentially gives the Giants an extra offensive lineman, who is a threat to catch a pass downfield.
After being an integral part of the dominant run game in San Francisco last season, New York hopes Toilolo can have the same effect in front of Barkley this year.
It should be noted that Kaden Smith is also a very good blocker and that the improvement that Barkley had late in the season last year coincided with the addition of Smith to the roster. Having two big, young, tight ends who are excellent blockers bodes well for potential improvement in Barkley’s game.
The loaded stable of running backs behind Barkley should also help him stay fresh this season. The NY Giants added veteran running back Dion Lewis via free agency, as well as former Maryland speedster Javon Leake and Austrian football standout Sandro Platzgummer as undrafted free agents who will act as much needed depth at running back that last year basically only included fellow returning back Wayne Gallman.
Due to the NY Giants being so shallow at running back and with Gallman dealing with injuries of his own, Barkley was forced to shoulder nearly the entire load at running back when he was healthy last season.
Having capable backups behind him to ease some of the burdens should help prevent Barkley from wearing down late in games and as the season wears on.
Now that he is fully healed from the ankle injury, the offensive line is significantly improved from the pathetic state that it was in last season, with the addition of excellent blockers at tight end, and addition of depth at running back, there is no reason to believe that Saquon Barkley isn’t poised to have an incredible breakout season in 2020.
1. QB Daniel Jones
It’s difficult to imagine any NY Giants player owning a better chance of having a breakout season than quarterback Daniel Jones. Jones is adept at proving doubters wrong and has shown the ability to thrive in the face of adversity.
Many fans of the NY Giants and football “experts” alike were highly critical of Jones after he was selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. However, Danny Dimes would quickly put to rest any questions over whether or not he was talented enough to justify such a high pick.
After excelling early and often in the preseason last year, the Giants decided to make the move to their quarterback of the future just four games into the regular season. After winning the first two games started in his NFL career, it was rough sledding for Jones throughout the majority of the remaining games last season.
However, it should be noted that Jones was not expected to start for at least a year or two according to Dave Gettleman and he faced an uphill battle immediately through no fault of his own.
The Giants’ offensive line was atrocious in front of Jones last season, allowing him to be sacked 38 times and to be hit another 119 times on the season. It seemed as though there was always a pass rusher breathing down the neck of Jones on every passing play.
The lack of time that Jones was given in the pocket on a regular basis played a major factor in the alarming number of fumbles that he had last season (18). It also played a role in the 12 interceptions that he threw because he was forced to get rid of the ball before his receivers could get open.
Given that the NY Giants were often playing from behind, throwing the ball out of bounds wasn’t always an option, as Jones had to hope to make something happen to attempt to erase large deficits his team was typically facing.
Despite the fact that the offensive line performed poorly in front of Jones on a regular basis, he was still able to throw for over 3,000 yards and 24 touchdowns in just 12 games started. In addition, Jones became the first rookie quarterback to throw for 350+ yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions in a game.
Jones should benefit greatly from the major overhaul of the offensive line this offseason. Most notable will be the improvement at the tackle position where Mike Remmers and Nate Solder allowed Jones to be pressured a total of 97 times last season.
New York now has a number of options with what they can do at the tackle position with the addition of Andrew Thomas, Matt Peart, and Cam Fleming to holdovers Nick Gates and Nate Solder.
In addition to improving at both tackle positions, the Giants should also see a significant upgrade at center after last year’s center Jon Halapio allowed two sacks and 18 pressures last season, which was the third-most amongst all centers in the league. The team hopes that either Gates, Spencer Pulley, or Shane Lemieux will provide more viable upgrades to what Halapio was able to do last season.
Improved pass protection should help Daniel Jones immensely, as he showed uncanny ability to thread the needle and make big plays when the line was able to afford him time in the pocket. The amount of talent that has been added should allow him ample time to find open receivers in 2020.
Speaking of receivers, the wide receivers of the New York Giants should play a major role in Daniel Jones having a breakout season in 2020. So should the other skill players on an offense that is busting at the seams with talent.
Last season Jones was forced to play much of the season without the majority of his weapons. Saquon Barkley missed three games due to an ankle injury, Evan Engram missed eight games due to injury, Golden Tate missed four games due to suspension and another two due to injury, Sterling Shepard missed six games due to concussions, and Darius Slayton missed two games due to injury.
As a result, Daniel Jones rarely had all of his top weapons playing at the same time. The likelihood that the team is decimated by injury as badly as they were last season is extremely low, which should give Jones a significant boost alone.
The fact that Jones was a rookie is important to note as well, as there is an extreme learning curve for any quarterback making the transition from the collegiate level to the NFL. Given the seeming ease that Jones was able to make that transition while taking over for a legend in Eli Manning, dealing with a porous offensive line, and a plethora of injuries to key players is a testament to how good he can be in the future.
Also, New York made a significant upgrade at offensive coordinator, going from former head coach Pat Shurmur struggling to try to simultaneously call offensive plays and perform game management duties, to an offensive coordinator who is regarded as one of the brightest offensive play-callers in the NFL in Jason Garrett. Jones should benefit immensely from having Garrett call plays for him during the game.
If Daniel Jones can receive improved play from his offensive line, his weapons can remain healthy this season, and he can continue to progress as he learns the NFL game, the sky is the limit for the young Giants quarterback.
Rather than it taking multiple years, we could witness a major breakout campaign as early as next season from Danny Dimes.