3 underrated moves made by the NY Giants this offseason

Despite a lack of cap space, the NY Giants were able to make some very solid moves that could potentially help make the team really improve this season. While no “stars” were inked, general manager Joe Schoen and the rest of the front office were still able to bring in some veterans to this somewhat young team.

Guys like Mark Glowinski, Jon Feliciano and Matt Breida will likely make a pretty decent impact on the squad. However, there are some players the Giants signed and/or drafted who could potentially turn plenty of heads as well. In this piece, we take a look at 3 underrated moves made by the G-Men this offseason.

3. Drafting Cordale Flott

This move became a little less underrated after the release of James Bradberry. However, with the good chance that Flott comes in and is either the CB2 or CB3 of the team, you begin to see how important of a draft pick he will be considering he was selected in the third round.

While Flott will likely start his career in the slot due to his lack of size, he still has the potential to make a big impact for new defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. Coming in at 6-0, 175 pounds, Flott is a Nickel/slot corner with good reaction and ability in the zone. It may take some time for Flott to develop, however, but we still believe he can contribute right away.

It’s looking as if the Giants will be quite thin at the corner position this season, meaning that some of the younger CBs like Darnay Holmes, Aaron Robinson and Flott will need to step up big time. We believe that Flott has a ton of potential to come out and have a big impact on the NY Giants defense, especially with Martindale running things for the D.

2. Signing Jihad Ward

With Dexter Lawrence likely moving to his more natural position of nose tackle, the Giants will need a new guy on the outside to put opposite of Leonard Williams. This new player will not need to make a massive impact in the pass-rush game, as Azeez Ojulari, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Williams will take care of business there. With that said, signing Jihad Ward to fill the gap was key.

Last season, Ward played for the Jaguars. In 45 percent of the team’s defensive snaps in 2021, Ward tallied two sacks, 32 combined tackles, three tackles for loss and seven quarterback hits. Despite these stats not being the most “eye popping,” Ward still had a decent season considering the limited amount of snaps he played.

As previously mentioned, Ward will likely not need to play a giant role for the defense, with the majority of the pass-rushing work going to Ojulari, Thibodeaux and Williams. If Ward can just have a decent enough season where he tallies several sacks, the fans will be excited and the coaching staff would take that kind of production too.

1. Signing Mark Glowinski

It’s hard to call this underrated, as everyone knows how good Glowinski is. We feel like some people are starting to forget how important this signing is, though. The NY Giants have not had a “good” offensive guard since they let Justin Pugh walk in free agency in 2017.

Glowinski has started every game of the last three seasons and has been very solid in said seasons, especially in the last two. While Glowinski is no Pro-Bowl guard, he is still a very, very solid starter, and a massive upgrade from Will Hernandez. Not to mention the very elite second half of the season Glowinski had last year:

We highly doubt he will maintain this level of play. However, as previously said, he is still a massive upgrade over Hernandez. The thing that has us the most excited about Glowinski is his ability as a run blocker. The Giants have been without a good run-blocking offensive lineman for quite some time now. If Glowinski can manage to at least continue his play as a great run blocker, the whole team will benefit, especially Saquon Barkley.