The New York Giants are still riding high after that incredible, unprecedented, undefeated preseason. After a nightmare 3-14 season, the hot start in the season’s appetizer is exactly what this team and its fan base needed.
General manager Joe Schoen spent a considerable amount of time and resources upgrading the roster to ensure another catastrophic failure wouldn’t occur again. And it actually feels like he’s done just that. The rookie class looks wicked promising, and the free agent additions and subtractions have this team looking good and deep.
And yet, not everything is perfect in Giants land — shocking, I know. This is still an organization that just about everyone believes has no shot at being remotely competitive this year, largely in part to their daunting schedule. While no one knows how the season will ultimately play out, Week 1 against the Washington Commanders will be a great test to see how this team could fare moving forward. Here are three glaring weaknesses the G-Men didn’t address that could haunt them in 2025, starting with the season opener.
3 moves Giants ignored in the offseason that could come back to bite them vs Commanders
Running the interior offensive line back
Jon Runyan Jr., John Michael Schmitz Jr., and Greg Van Roten aren’t exactly the most productive interior linemen. It’s rather unfortunate, really, since these are the same three starters who already proved how much they couldn’t be relied on last year. Yet somehow, they’re back.
And it’s going to cost the G-Men.
Pro Football Focus ranked the offensive line 28th. PFF's Zoltán Buday even acknowledged that the ranking included Andrew Thomas, all but confirming this interior group might just be the worst in the NFL. The team drafted Marcus Mbow out of Purdue in the fifth round, but he’s been seeing time at tackle. The Evan Neal-to-guard experiment failed, and now they’re back at square one with no resolution — and a defensive front featuring Daron Payne, Jer’Zhan Newton, and Javon Kinlaw coming right at them in Week 1. What were they thinking?
Hoping the run defense magically fixes itself
It’s impossible not to notice how averse this defense can be to making tackles in the run game. Sometimes it looks like they’re just out there to occupy space. Whether it’s talent or lack of effort, Big Blue’s defense hasn’t been good at stopping the run in years... and it's looking like that's going to be a problem once more this season.
The defense did receive some upgrades: Paulson Adebo and Jevón Holland are now roaming the secondary, Abdul Carter and Darius Alexander are intriguing rookie additions to the front seven, and Chauncey Golston is a versatile chess piece who can be used anywhere along the front. But not one of them is coming in to solve their run-stopping issue.
Daniels and Co. are the perfect litmus-test opponent for the Giants in Week 1. Fans will find out pretty quickly if not bringing in a true run stopper was a massive mistake.
Putting all of the offense on Malik Nabers's shoulders
Lastly, we have a pretty obvious regret, one that’s already drawn concerns this offseason. Nabers is a truly special talent who could very well become the league’s best receiver. However, he can only do so if he stays on the field, and with the lack of high-end skill position talent still absent, it’s looking like another massive workload for the 22-year-old star receiver.
Darius Slayton and Wan’Dale Robinson will round out the receiver room, while Theo Johnson holds down the tight end position, and Tyrone Tracy Jr. commands RB1 honors. Is that going to be enough to avoid overextending Nabers? Well, it’s the same exact group as last season, so chances are relatively slim.
New York does have Wilson under center now, so maybe that is a fix in and of itself, but after Nabers was reportedly struggling with a toe injury and back stiffness throughout camp, it’s already looking like a really big oversight heading into Week 1.