Despite the massive amount of success the NY Giants had last season, some players were pretty disappointing and, at times, made life difficult for New York on both sides of the ball due to their poor play.
However, entering the 2023 season, the Giants have the chance to be even better than they were in the previous campaign, and a lot of this relies on the improvement of certain players on the roster.
If these players can up their game to another level, the Giants’ offense and defense will reap the benefits. However, if not, it could be a pretty long season for them. These four players all play pivotal positions on either side of the ball and simply must play better than they did in 2022:
4. S Dane Belton
While Dane Belton wasn’t necessarily awful last season, he is likely going to have to step up into a potential starting role this season considering that Julian Love will now be suiting up for the Seattle Seahawks.
In 13 games Belton played last season, he racked up 29 combined tackles and two interceptions. In addition to this, Belton allowed just 16 receptions on 24 targets for 194 yards and zero touchdowns.
Belton was an incredibly solid coverage safety last season, which was expected of him coming out of the draft. However, Belton struggled against the run and must improve in that area if he wants to consistently see snaps next season.
While the addition of Bobby Okereke will make life easier in the run game for the Giants’ safeties, this does not excuse Belton from working on his run defense. A two-man safety game of Belton and Xavier McKinney could be incredibly deadly to opposing teams in coverage and would make life very difficult. However, this will not happen if Belton doesn’t fix his ability to track ball carriers and make simple form tackles.