Throughout the Giants 7-4 start to the season, they have had a couple of stars help propel them to this level of success. Most notably, players like Saquon Barkley, Dexter Lawrence, and Andrew Thomas have not only all taken massive leaps, but have been arguably the three best players on the Giants.
Despite this, NY would not be nearly as successful without some help from their role players. These guys have given it their all this season and have been absolutely crucial to the Giants success, but we do not hear their names nearly as much.
What makes this even better is that nearly all of these players are newly acquired through free agency, or the draft, showing just how well Joe Schoen has done despite limited resources. Regardless, here are four underrated players who have been critical to the Giants success this season.
4. DB Fabian Moreau
Prior to the start of the season, one of the biggest questions surrounding the Giants was who would be the CB2 opposite of Adoree’ Jackson. Combine this with some poor play from Darnay Holmes and an injury to Aaron Robinson and you have the recipe for a potential disaster.
However, Schoen made the genius decision to sign free agent Fabian Moreau to the active roster, and since then, the team has reaped the benefits. In nine games, Moreau has allowed 24 receptions on 45 targets for 290 yards and two TDs while also racking up 35 combined tackles and six pass breakups.
Moreau has been critical to the success of the Giants defense since joining the team and has really helped glue the secondary together. In fact, in the Giants most recent game against the Cowboys, they were without Moreau, and it did not look pretty.
Obviously it didn’t help that Jackson did not play in this game either, but the rest of the Giants secondary without these two simply couldn’t hang with the Cowboys offense. This really helped put into perspective just how important Moreau is. While we still would have seen struggles from the rest of the secondary if he had played, it likely wouldn’t have been nearly as bad.
Hopefully Schoen manages to re-sign Moreau after this season because while the Giants secondary is young, what they have shown us this season is not very promising.
3. TE Daniel Bellinger
Following the loss of Evan Engram, Kyle Rudolph, and Kaden Smith, the Giants quickly needed to find a TE to man the position. With that in mind the front office opted to draft Daniel Bellinger in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft and since then, he has been nothing but amazing for the Giants.
Not only has Bellinger been a great receiving threat, but his ability as a blocker has been very solid for a rookie. However, an eye injury has forced Bellinger to miss the last four games, and in this time you can tell the Giants offense hasn’t been the same.
While it’s obviously hard for QB Daniel Jones to throw the ball without any reliable receivers, the play from the TEs since Bellinger’s injury has not been that great either.
Prior to his injury, Bellinger was arguably the most reliable receiving threat on the Giants, which was funny considering he was drafted because of his ability as a blocker. Regardless, in the seven games before his injury, Bellinger caught 16 passes for 152 yards and three total TDs while also posting a run blocking grade of 62.3 per PFF. He’s been fantastic.
2. S Julian Love
Following three mediocre seasons, fans were not all that happy at the beginning of the year when it was made clear that Julian Love would be staring opposite of Xavier McKinney.
While Love had always shown promise as a run defender and tackler, his ability in coverage was very questionable and no one knew how well he would play. Well, we’re 11 games into the Giants season and you can say that fans love their new starting safety.
In the course of an offseason, Love has really rounded out his game and has become one of the most solid safeties in the league, racking up 68 combined tackles, two interceptions, and two pass breakups. In addition to this, Love has allowed 24 receptions on 33 targets for 286 yards and two TDs. While his ability in coverage may still not be the best, it is certainly much better than it has been in prior seasons.
He certainly hasn’t been perfect, but Love has done everything the Giants have asked him to do and more. This includes a couple of big-time plays like his clutch interception against the Ravens in Week 6.
Considering the low expectations surrounding him this season, Love has done a fantastic job at safety and likely earned himself an extension at the end of the year. The newest captain of the NY Giants has certainly impressed when the team needed him the most.
1. WR Darius Slayton
Following an extremely disappointing 2021 season, alongside a pretty noteworthy paycut, it seemed almost certain that NY Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton would not make it past Week 8 of the NFL season.
Whether the team cut him, or traded him, the odds were not in Slayton’s favor to remain on the team, especially with the lack of playing time. However, due to injuries to players like Sterling Shepard and Kadarius Toney (now with the Chiefs), alongside extremely disappointing play from Kenny Golladay, Slayton saw his usage spike against the Bears in Week 4.
Since then, Slayton has been the team’s WR1 and has been extremely solid in this time frame. In 10 games, Slayton has caught 27 passes for 476 yards and two TDs. He hasn’t been perfect, but considering how horrid the Giants receiving core is, he has been getting the job done at a pretty high rate.
Slayton has been the diamond in the rough for the Giants offense this season, if they had ended up trading him, this Giants offense would be much worse than it currently is. So, good on Schoen for not having moved on from him.
While previously we were talking about Slayton as a potential player to move on from, it is more than likely that the Giants will look to extend him after the season in case they have similar issues in the receiving core next season. It has been amazing to see Slayton’s redemption this campaign – hopefully he can continue his solid level of play as the season enters its final stages.
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