Conclusion:
It is likely true that the NY Giants don’t currently have any superstar pass rushers on their roster as most analysts predict. However, given the additions that Dave Gettleman and the Giants staff have made to the defensive unit both through free agency and the draft, there is a very good chance that the pass rush is going to be better than many anticipate.
This defense seems a lot like the defenses that we have witnessed in New England during Bill Belichick’s tenure as head coach. The highly successful Belicheck defenses haven’t historically had many big-name superstars. Instead, they had a lot of solid players at every position and didn’t have glaring holes anywhere. His defenses were typically blue-collar guys who came out and did their jobs. In addition, Belichick was able to secure a number of players who fit the defensive scheme of his team.
It seems as though new Giants head coach Joe Judge was paying attention to his mentor during his time coaching in New England, as this Giants team is solid at nearly every position, despite not having any huge names on their defensive unit. That’s a far cry from recent years where the Giants paid big-name guys exorbitant contracts, that left other areas of the defense with glaring holes.
The 2020 Giants defense, despite being extremely young, seems to have the athleticism, versatility, and talent to allow new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham to be extremely creative when drawing up defensive game plans.
While many people (myself included) were screaming that Gettleman and the Giants needed to add more pass rushers to the roster, perhaps we didn’t realize that they already had a number of talented young players who fit that mold. Perhaps that’s why they opted to fill other needs via free agency and the NFL Draft.
While it seems unlikely that any individual player on this defense will put up eye-popping sack totals next season, it does seem that as a collective group that they are capable of putting up very respectable sack totals from every level of the defensive unit.
While it is certainly easy to get excited about a team when examining it on paper, it will be interesting to see what this talented young defensive unit can do under the tutelage of new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and head coach Joe Judge.
I for one do not believe that the pass rush will be as poor as many are predicting. However, only time will tell.